Strategies

An Agricultural Safety Strategy for New Zealand?

There are no specific national strategies focusing on agricultural safety although, as a workplace, employers in the agricultural industry do have duties under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992.

The Department of Labour have provided general guidelines providing useful information to enable employers in the agricultural industry to comply with their duties under the Health & Safety Act 1992.

Workplace injuries have been identified by the New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy (NZIPS) as one of six national injury prevention priorities.

NZIPS notes that to realise the vision of ‘A safe New Zealand, becoming injury free’ we need to:

• achieve a positive safety culture; and

• create safe environments

Farms and other agricultural workplaces are one such setting where action can be taken to achieve a positive safety culture and safer environment.

The Workplace Health and Safety Strategy to 2015 sets out to provide a framework for the health and safety activities of government agencies, local government, unions, industry groups, employers and other stakeholders to prevent injury in the workplace, including agricultural workplaces.