Farming prosecutions need to be part of health and safety programme

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, May 13th, 2015 - 9 comments
Categories: health and safety, workers' rights - Tags:

I am conflicted by this farm safety story.  It is great to see a farmer talking about the impact on him of a death on his farm.  It is rare and important that stories accompany these deaths.  They humanise them and move people to action.  This farmer needs to keep doing this work – speaking up about his story and supporting change.  But his message is mixed and while I run the risk of shutting up others for trying, there is a tougher lens that needs to be put on the stories told by the industry, and my worry is that because the farming safety discussion is so dominated by the farmers (in a non-unionised sector), some of the tough issues get washed over.

Half the workplace deaths in NZ last year were in agriculture.  Already this year the toll has been massive.  Every week someone is seriously hurt or killed.  Virtually no one is prosecuted.  Federated Farmers vehemently advocate no prosecutions and lobby without principle in my view when Worksafe do take any form of enforcement action. Recent made up stories by MP Chester Burrow about farm safety enforcement action lead the front page of the Whanganui Chronicle.  A quick OIA to Worksafe proved Mr Burrows was doing the farmers dirty bidding and instead of calling him on his attempts to undermine Worksafes good work, the Chronicle allowed him to continue his campaign.

So what about this story.  Its a multi-farm business.  The farmer himself says that the farm had no health and safety policies but had invested in some helmets and chainsaw chaps. The helmets were not regularly being worn and he was aware of that including from a previous serious near miss. The farmer concludes he had done just enough to avoid prosecution – but that he should have documented staff refusal to wear a helmet to be sure that in todays climate he would still be safe from charges.  But in reality what had he done?  The second quad accident in months – both related to head injuries from lack of a helmet?  What had he done to avoid prosecution in an industry out of control in regards to injuries.  Surely buying the helmets is not taking all practicable steps?

Of the hundreds and hundreds of accidents on farms in the last few years, there have been fewer than 10 sets of charges laid, and the accident rate is increasing.  As the Pike inquiry showed – enforcement is an important part of the system, and has been largely absent, contributing to an appalling record across NZ.  The reality is, this farmer had not done enough to avoid prosecution – but he was not prosecuted regardless.   The farmer rightly laments how hard it is to change the farm safety culture –  but why is that.  Maybe we can look at forestry, where over 300 enforcement actions have now been taken by Worksafe in one year, where prosecutions now appear to be part of the mix, where education and support continues to be part of the package, and where workers now are beginning to have an expectation and demand that they be kept safe, the accident rate is reducing dramatically and cultural change is slowly occurring.

The NZCTU is stepping more and more into this area of health and safety.  We don’t trust the farmers to do it themselves.  Like forest owners and contractors – there has to be a push and pull and we hold the role of speaking up for workers and families in this country -even where the law conspires to ensure union membership protection is not available to them.  We are now looking at a recent death with a view to ensuring enforcement action occurs – Worksafe hopefully will beat us to it, but if not – its time to push culture change from up the chain.

9 comments on “Farming prosecutions need to be part of health and safety programme ”

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  1. dukeofurl 1
    13 May 2015 at 11:16 am

    Great to hear of the work you and your team are doing in this area Helen.

    On top of the poor safety practices on farms there is poor compliance with wage records and or payments, often affecting migrant workers.

  2. McFlock 2
    13 May 2015 at 12:26 pm

    As we’ve seen in other workplaces, changing to a culture of safety is always achievable if we follow the “shit flows down hill” rule: prosecute the top, and suddenly they have an incentive to make their employees work safely.

    Thanks for all your excellent work.

  3. philj 3
    13 May 2015 at 1:56 pm

    The unwillingness or inability of authorities to handle the quad bike safety issue is shocking. It would be instantly improved by having compulsory roll cages (like a speedway stock car) and seat belt/ harness. This is unnecessary stupidity, misery and loss of life. Cockies, and all involved, wake up.

    • b waghorn 3.1
      13 May 2015 at 3:25 pm

      The employers I have now have gone away from 4 wheelers to the side buy side type of vehicle ,and I can tell you they are so much safer to operate then a 4 wheeler .(more comfortable to.)
      Maybe work safe should be working on getting employers to go away from bikes 2 and 4 as I believe landcorp is doing.
      They come with roll cages ,seat.belts and if you’re boss has any decency a roof and windscreen to!

  4. greywarshark 4
    13 May 2015 at 3:20 pm

    This isn’t a farm workplace story. But it demonstrates the bad effects that laissez faire approaches to safety and respect for the worker have caused.
    This man was working for a contractor and no-one on site would take action to assist him because he was Someone Else’s Problem. This happened in Oz but I bet we could competitively do as well as the Aussies on this shameful practice, when it comes to being bastards to workers needing help.

    During the stroke, Carlos first lost feeling in his legs. One carpenter saw him hanging from a window, but after saying he needed help the carpenter walked away. This moment still haunts him.
    He fell inside and landed on his back, but believes he lay there for a long time before two carpenters passed him – one saying ‘he doesn’t look right’. They called the Builder in, who said this looked serious but the first people he rang were Carlos’ painting boss, then his foreman. The painting foreman arrived and said he would pack Carlos’ gear so he could drive him home. Carlos was passing in and out of consciousness. He could barely move or talk. He could hear those present chatting about whether he might have diabetes.

    It was 40 minutes before anyone called an ambulance. It was more than an hour before the ambulance arrived….
    yet still Work Safe haven’t investigated their dangerous behaviour.
    Carlos was denied compensation, with WorkCover arguing his stroke was unrelated to work. It has been one let down after another.
    To add insult, the company took months to return Carlos’ tools, and half of them were missing.
    Australian Work Safe
    edited

    • AmaKiwi 4.1
      14 May 2015 at 1:53 am

      Wow has farming changed since my days! In my day you helped anyone in need. WTF is this world coming to?

  5. Saarbo 5
    13 May 2015 at 5:26 pm

    It is great to see a farmer talking about the impact on him of a death on his farm. It is rare and important that stories accompany these deaths. They humanise them and move people to action. This farmer needs to keep doing this work – speaking up about his story and supporting change.

    I agree, this story will really help save lives on farms because it is relatable. It is difficult to wear a helmet if you’ve spent 30 years plus not wearing one…good on this farmer for speaking out like this.

    The second quad accident in months

    I could be wrong but Im pretty sure that this accident was on a 2 wheel bike rather than a quad.

  6. Richard@Down South 6
    13 May 2015 at 6:35 pm

    If this was any other work place, the boss would have the book thrown at him

  7. Sable 7
    14 May 2015 at 7:40 am

    Just look at who butters Nationals bread and you can see why this happens. Just another day in dirty, corrupt little New Zealand.