VEG Education aims to improve safety on farms by creating a collaborative network of growers that takes action and leads change on safety issues in farming businesses. The overall aim is to change mindsets and attitudes towards safety and improve safety behaviour, including managing risks on farms.
Our Objectives
● Engage grower partners and empower them to influence the culture, attitude, and behaviour of other farmers towards good practice safety systems on farms
● Develop growers understanding of mental capacity and decision fatigue and how this impacts safety
● Target a regional and commodity-based approach in facilitating the Safety Learning Network (SLN)
● Develop safety systems and initiatives that are built on models easily replicated throughout Victoria
● Build knowledge and capacity in our four target regions, setting a benchmark standard for farm safety
Project Overview
VEG Education has been successful in our application to be a Lead Organisation for the WorkSafe project piloting a Safety Learning Network (SLN) in Victorian farming communities.
Our application focuses on the Horticulture Industry as a sub industry of Agriculture.
VEG Education proposes to develop a regional and product-based approach in facilitating the SLN.
Our aim is to change mindsets and attitudes towards safety and improve safety behaviour, including managing risks on farms.
Safety initiatives will be focused on the primary prevention of unsafe work practices, with regard to the major causes of fatality and injury.
Key project aims:
- identify barriers for farmers to incorporate improved safety systems in farm business operations;
- develop and implement initiatives that address these barriers;
Too many injuries occur on farms
• Horticulture workers comprise only a minority of the Victorian workforce but have accounted for up to half of the State’s workplace fatalities in recent years.
• Farmers are passionate, non-conformist problem problem-solvers who value freedom, straight-talking and ingenuity.
• Growers are resistant to outside influences and can be dismissive of individuals and organisations who do not have a proper understanding of their industry.
• An increased focus on workplace safety feels like an added burden to farmers.
• Farmers feel increasingly misunderstood, misrepresented and under pressure – making them more resistant to outside influence.
Deliverables
The VFPN will be an active collaboration between horticulture growers, businesses across the supply chain, subject matter experts AUSVEG and VEG Education.
VEG Education will lead this initiative and target four key growing regions across Victoria focusing on different products and the risk points associated with each practice. This approach allows for the development of specific safety initiatives that are relevant to the produce, growing and harvest methods and environmental factors. We are about developing and fostering local communities to drive culture change when it comes to safety in the horticulture industry.
Initiatives
Focus on initiatives that meet the WorkSafe Agriculture Strategy 2020-23:
- Plant
- Chemicals
- Vulnerable Workers
- Mental Health & Wellbeing
We will engage farm partners and empower them to influence the culture, attitude, and behaviour of farmers towards good practice safety on farms in their local area.
Safety initiatives will be built on models that can be replicated throughout Victoria, building capacity in all regions, and setting a benchmark standard for farm safety.
What does success look like?
A successful outcome would be no major deaths or injuries on the 12 pilot farms in the next 2 years, and a shift in farmer culture; this will be evaluated through tracking changes throughout the life of the project.
Farm Visits
Discussions around safety and the importance of developing a safety culture across the industry.
Spoken directly to 60+ growers about safety processes and systems, what the project is trying to achieve and how safety systems can not only protect their business but help them become more efficient.
Farm Visits
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Funded
Farms
Project Partners
