THE Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) Making our Farms Safer Project (MOFS) is aiming to boost public awareness and highlight the on-farm risks for children through a new safety campaign.
VFF president Emma Germano said the launch of the ‘Making Our Farm Families Safer’ campaign coincided with the current National Farm Safety Week 2022, on until Sunday.
The campaign includes a dedicated safety guidebook launched for farming families.
“The Australian agriculture industry sadly represents the highest proportion of accidents causing death in any workplace, with children tragically making up one quarter of these numbers,” Ms Germano said.
“We need to do all we can as an industry to ensure no one has to endure the heartbreak, pain, loss and emptiness that losing a child to a preventable on-farm accident results in.”
The campaign and guidebook are driven by findings of a 2021 Coronial Inquiry which revealed in the six-years from January 1 2016 to December 21 2021, seven Victorian children died using farm machinery.
“I encourage all farmers to familiarise themselves with the Making Our Farm Families Safer campaign and guidebook, there isn’t an issue more important than this for farming families,” Ms Germano said.
The theme for 2022’s National Farm Safety Week is ‘Recipe for Averting Disaster’, and it focuses on a number of intangible risks and hazards such as fatigue, complacency, the blurred line between the home and work environment, labour shortages and the aging workforce, wellbeing and many other issues that combine to make Australian farms one of the most dangerous work environments.
You can follow the Making Our Farm Families Safer campaign across all MOFS social media platforms, or download a free copy of the guidebook at makingourfarmssafer.org.au
