The agriculture and construction industries have the highest number of workplace fatalities than any other industry.
According to data collected by Victoria’s open data directory, more than half of the total workplace fatalities between the year 2000 and 2015 have occurred in the agriculture and construction sectors.
Since the year 2000 there were a total of 408 workplace deaths recorded. The highest being the agriculture industry with 124 fatalities, and the second highest being the construction industry with 89 fatalities.
The next highest was the manufacturing industry who recorded 45 fatalities, a dramatic decrease from the aforementioned industries.
According to Safe Work Australia, the agriculture sector employs a higher proportion of older workers than any other industry.
“While increasing age brings increased experience and skills, it also brings a diminution in some areas – reflexes aren’t as quick, physical strength is lessened and hearing is not as sharp,” Safe Work Australia states.
68% of people who died while working in the agriculture industry were aged 45 or older.
Steven Fotiadis, a farmer who is 44 years of age has been raising field crops in Narre Warren for nearly 20 years and he says he never feels quite safe when he’s working.
“Since I’m self-employed, much like many other Victorian farmers, I’m by myself for long periods of time. If I miss something that could be potentially dangerous, there’s no one to point it out to me,” he said.
“My biggest fear is my tractor tipping over and me being stuck under it with no one to call for help”.
With the workplace fatalities in the agriculture industry not decreasing, WorkSafe Victoria has revised their previous quad bike safety scheme and now all quad bikes will have operation protection devices fitted to all quad bikes to help control the risk of a rollover.
Quad bikes are not the only causes of death. Other variables include tractors, motorcycles, being struck by a falling object, falls and electrocution. The reduction of workplace fatalities in the agriculture industry is crucial for the future of the industry.
According to the Graduate Careers Australia website, the future for agriculture in Australia is “extremely bright”.
“It’s estimated that Australia needs 2000 agriculture graduates per year to continue to drive agriculture forward” they said.
It is clearly an important and growing industry so it is important that agriculture workers are well supported.
The construction industry is also a growing industry, employing up to 275,000 workers in Victoria according to WorkSafe Victoria.
A Construction Safety Focus initiative has been implemented by WorkSafe Victoria to reduce the number of deaths, injuries and near misses in the construction industry.
The initiative involves WorkSafe inspectors visiting work sites, focussing on a specific hazard, issue or sector, assessing safety measures and providing information to builders and sub-contractors to risk-controlled measures.
It commenced in July 2016 and is a three-year, state-wide safety campaign. The construction safety focus will look at the most prone areas that have plagued construction workers in the past 15 years.
These include prevention of falls, musculoskeletal injury prevention, demolition, hire yards, falling objects and electrical safety.
WorkSafe have also partnered up with organisations such as the Australian Workers Union, Energy Safe Victoria and the Victorian Trades Council in holding trade information breakfast sessions in particular regions throughout the year.
These information sessions are free to attend and will keep everyone in the construction industry informed on the latest news regarding safety in Victoria.
Attendees will hear from construction industry experts about safety obligations and how you can comply, be updated on the latest campaigns and have the chance to talk to representatives from a range of key suppliers.
The next trade information breakfast will be held in Echuca at the Dahlsens Building Centre from 7:00-8:30am on Friday 11 November 2016. You can read about other trade information breakfasts at www.worksafevic.gov.au/events/trade-information-breakfast-sessions.
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