April 21, 2025 • 6 mins
Safer Farms chairwoman in the wake of two more devastating on-farm deaths over the long weekend. We look at how to have the safety conversations on-farm, plus revisit the “Farm Without Harm” campaign.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tragically. We've had two on farm deaths over Easter weekend,
one in Closer and one in Topel. I'm not going
to go into details. A lot of you will know
those involved, but I will just say our sincere's thoughts
are with their loved ones at the moment. Joining me
now is Safer Farms Chair Lindy Nelson. Good afternoon, Lindy,
welcome in.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thanks Verena, and we're as Safer Farms our hearts go
after those people that are involved. You know, every tragedy,
every farm death we have, at least two hundred people
are immediately affected. And why do three thousand people? So
today we're all feeling, We're all feeling how do we
do this? How do we keep our people safe? Now?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
New Zealand farms are one of the best places in
the world to work, but they are also one of
the most dangerous.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yep, they are. And you know, a couple of years
ago we launched the Farm Without Arm Strategy, which is
about us coming together collectively as farmers as industry recognizing
we've got to improve how we think about and then
act around safety. And every one of us doesn't eye
(01:09):
roll when we think about the word self and safety.
But really safety is just an outcome of really good
work design, and so we have to start to have
different conversations on our farms, we have to have different
conversations with our families.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And if maybe we haven't had this safety conversation for
a while, Lindy, you know, what are some ways of
introducing that topic to have that conversation with our workers,
with our bosses, with our loved ones.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Can we start with none of us go to work
intending to get injured. We all want to get home
safe at night. And so at the start of a task,
it's how do we assess risk here? What's changed? You know,
we've had a lot of rain throughout New Zealand in
(02:00):
the last few days. That's a dynamic risk that's suddenly
there that wasn't there a week ago. So I think
start with a culture of caring and don't make it
about our policies and procedures necessarily when we were not
used to that way of thinking and talking. Start with
(02:23):
how do we get home safe? What are the risks?
Involve everybody in assessing those risks and whether that's a
skill risk, whether that's a change in environments at risks
it's simple row and I think if we start from
we care, we all care, and we all are responsible
for this. I think that changes conversations.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Putting myself in the role of a farmer, often you're
trying to prioritize different tasks throughout the day. Often you're
thinking about what's coming next, what do I need to
do to be able to get to that, and you're
not always necessarily focusing on the job at hand. I've
heard that mentioned is something to maybe be aware of.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think ultimately it's developing those pauses
throughout the day, which actually are really good for our
mental health as well. You know that whole take five
and stop between those tasks and prioritize thinking about actually
having a break. What's coming up. What's an outcome of
(03:25):
really good work is safety. So start with that focus
and then prioritize those breaks and just think about pausing.
Is there a new risk here? I need to think about.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Something I've also had mentioned to me lending, and the
topic of safety has been just because we're wearing helmets,
we might have a rollover protection on our quad bikes,
we're wearing our seat belts, doesn't mean we're invincible.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
No, but if we were doing all those three roads,
we'd actually been doing incredibly well as a farming sector. No,
we're not invincible, and the fatalities that we're having proved that,
so we do have to think about how we do
this differently. There is some great resources on our farm
(04:13):
with our home website and particularly around safety alerts, so
we're sharing things that have gone well but also things
that have gone wrong for other farmers around New Zealand,
and it's a good place to start get used to
looking at that website, discussing it with your team or
your partner, around those safety alerts that come out and
(04:35):
just assessing that against Hey, have we got everything covered here?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah? And I guess even you know, once a month,
once every two months, and stuff actually just having the
team around, getting in a morning tea or something, popping
a batch of SCons in the oven or you know,
pick up a packet of mini pies from the supermarket,
have a meeting and just say, has anyone got something
they'd like to raise anything you've seen as everyone okay
with everything that happening around here at the moment, and
(05:01):
just normalizing that as part of your your yearly routine.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I guess you're completely right. I personally like to set
more than every two months.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I was being generous here, Lindy.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Once a week's most. I just stopped as the whole
team is a great culture thing to do in any cases,
people together. But ro you're absolutely on the money there.
It's involving everybody because we get kunnel visioned as farmers.
You know, we got to do a task and we
stop seeing things. And I think involving everybody in that
(05:34):
discussion is an as excellent place to start. It's about
caring for one another and all getting home safely at night.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, and just making it seem as normal as possible.
You know, from my perspective, it's even hard to talk
about on the radio and trying not come across as
as preacher or telling people what to do because I'm
not out there on the farm every day anymore. But
it's just as you said at the start, everyone cares.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, And you know, it's a really good point. And
that's part of what we're trying to do it safe
for farms is we're not preaching. It's not our job
to do that. We're about sharing stories, sharing what's working
and trying to help find solutions to that, and talking
about health and SAILY sometimes does make us uncomfortable. It's
(06:22):
not wrong. It's a lot less uncomfortable than turning up
to someone's funeral, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Absolutely London Nelson's share of Sofer Farms. Really appreciate your
time on the country and your wisdom there go well,
James Brow
Tragically. We've had two on farm deaths over Easter weekend,
one in Closer and one in Topel. I'm not going
to go into details. A lot of you will know
those involved, but I will just say our sincere's thoughts
are with their loved ones at the moment. Joining me
now is Safer Farms Chair Lindy Nelson. Good afternoon, Lindy,
welcome in.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thanks Verena, and we're as Safer Farms our hearts go
after those people that are involved. You know, every tragedy,
every farm death we have, at least two hundred people
are immediately affected. And why do three thousand people? So
today we're all feeling, We're all feeling how do we
do this? How do we keep our people safe? Now?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
New Zealand farms are one of the best places in
the world to work, but they are also one of
the most dangerous.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yep, they are. And you know, a couple of years
ago we launched the Farm Without Arm Strategy, which is
about us coming together collectively as farmers as industry recognizing
we've got to improve how we think about and then
act around safety. And every one of us doesn't eye
(01:09):
roll when we think about the word self and safety.
But really safety is just an outcome of really good
work design, and so we have to start to have
different conversations on our farms, we have to have different
conversations with our families.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And if maybe we haven't had this safety conversation for
a while, Lindy, you know, what are some ways of
introducing that topic to have that conversation with our workers,
with our bosses, with our loved ones.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Can we start with none of us go to work
intending to get injured. We all want to get home
safe at night. And so at the start of a task,
it's how do we assess risk here? What's changed? You know,
we've had a lot of rain throughout New Zealand in
(02:00):
the last few days. That's a dynamic risk that's suddenly
there that wasn't there a week ago. So I think
start with a culture of caring and don't make it
about our policies and procedures necessarily when we were not
used to that way of thinking and talking. Start with
(02:23):
how do we get home safe? What are the risks?
Involve everybody in assessing those risks and whether that's a
skill risk, whether that's a change in environments at risks
it's simple row and I think if we start from
we care, we all care, and we all are responsible
for this. I think that changes conversations.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Putting myself in the role of a farmer, often you're
trying to prioritize different tasks throughout the day. Often you're
thinking about what's coming next, what do I need to
do to be able to get to that, and you're
not always necessarily focusing on the job at hand. I've
heard that mentioned is something to maybe be aware of.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think ultimately it's developing those pauses
throughout the day, which actually are really good for our
mental health as well. You know that whole take five
and stop between those tasks and prioritize thinking about actually
having a break. What's coming up. What's an outcome of
(03:25):
really good work is safety. So start with that focus
and then prioritize those breaks and just think about pausing.
Is there a new risk here? I need to think about.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Something I've also had mentioned to me lending, and the
topic of safety has been just because we're wearing helmets,
we might have a rollover protection on our quad bikes,
we're wearing our seat belts, doesn't mean we're invincible.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
No, but if we were doing all those three roads,
we'd actually been doing incredibly well as a farming sector. No,
we're not invincible, and the fatalities that we're having proved that,
so we do have to think about how we do
this differently. There is some great resources on our farm
(04:13):
with our home website and particularly around safety alerts, so
we're sharing things that have gone well but also things
that have gone wrong for other farmers around New Zealand,
and it's a good place to start get used to
looking at that website, discussing it with your team or
your partner, around those safety alerts that come out and
(04:35):
just assessing that against Hey, have we got everything covered here?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah? And I guess even you know, once a month,
once every two months, and stuff actually just having the
team around, getting in a morning tea or something, popping
a batch of SCons in the oven or you know,
pick up a packet of mini pies from the supermarket,
have a meeting and just say, has anyone got something
they'd like to raise anything you've seen as everyone okay
with everything that happening around here at the moment, and
(05:01):
just normalizing that as part of your your yearly routine.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I guess you're completely right. I personally like to set
more than every two months.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I was being generous here, Lindy.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Once a week's most. I just stopped as the whole
team is a great culture thing to do in any cases,
people together. But ro you're absolutely on the money there.
It's involving everybody because we get kunnel visioned as farmers.
You know, we got to do a task and we
stop seeing things. And I think involving everybody in that
(05:34):
discussion is an as excellent place to start. It's about
caring for one another and all getting home safely at night.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, and just making it seem as normal as possible.
You know, from my perspective, it's even hard to talk
about on the radio and trying not come across as
as preacher or telling people what to do because I'm
not out there on the farm every day anymore. But
it's just as you said at the start, everyone cares.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, And you know, it's a really good point. And
that's part of what we're trying to do it safe
for farms is we're not preaching. It's not our job
to do that. We're about sharing stories, sharing what's working
and trying to help find solutions to that, and talking
about health and SAILY sometimes does make us uncomfortable. It's
(06:22):
not wrong. It's a lot less uncomfortable than turning up
to someone's funeral, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Absolutely London Nelson's share of Sofer Farms. Really appreciate your
time on the country and your wisdom there go well,
James Brow
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