The Victorian Farmers Federation have launched this website in conjunction with the University of Ballarat's Farm Safety Centre and with the support of the Geoffrey Gardiner Foundation.
Acknowledging that a dairy is not as safe as it could be is the first step to improving the working conditions and safety of farm workers and visitors. This website will help farmers identify the hazards and risks on their farms, and act to remove them.
The website emphasises practical solutions to dairy farming hazards and illustrates safety solutions that are easy to implement and cost as little as possible. It will also help farmers meet their legal obligations to maintain a healthy and safe work place.
The website design includes many links to other occupational health and safety information related specifically to dairying.
No website can replace the need for farmers to talk about workplace safety with their employees, suppliers of equipment and products, milk factories, contractors, family and fellow farmers. However, it may help them begin those discussions.
On the Home page, there is a list of hazards in the dairy. The information under each of these topics provides practical safety information on controlling the hazard. It also includes hyperlinks to other websites for more detailed information.
The approach within this website is to ensure you know what the issue or hazard is, why it is an issue and what could happen if you ignore or don't do something about it.
As part of determining how safe your dairy is, you can decide what action to take. This website provides you with some immediate ways to reduce the risk of injury while you consider your next steps and longer-term, more sustainable actions. The best solution often takes time, money and effort to achieve.
To assist you in your decision making, the information under each hazard shows what actions must be legally taken and gives links for further information.
The website also provides you with some records and tools that will help you manage the health and safety requirements in your dairy.
The site will be updated regularly to ensure that you have the best information available to help with your safety decisions. It will also include new hazards and solutions as they become apparent.
Dairy farmers have a legal obligation to provide a safe and healthy work environment to everyone who works on the farm, including both employees, contractors and visitors.
WorkSafe Victoria strongly encourages - and sometimes requires - dairy farmers to assess the safety risks of working in the dairy and on the farm. The process does not need to be complex. The basic criteria for an assessment of a hazard is to:
determine the likelihood of someone being injured or killed; and
estimate the probable severity of the injury.
Some hazards, such as chemicals, manual handling or noise, may require a more formal and technical risk assessment method. There are many OHS publications and farm safety training courses that can provide more assistance in this process, if necessary.
For instance, in a dairy there is a frequent risk of being kicked by a cow and the injury could be serious or life-threatening. The frequency of the hazard and the severity of the injury would identify the hazard of being kicked as a HIGH Risk, and one that should be controlled as soon as possible. Most dairies have already controlled this type of risk by installing suitable barriers and kickrails.
Once a risk assessment has identified the risks in a dairy, the most appropriate control measures need to be determined. The most common of these processes, is often referred to as a Hierarchy of Controls.
The Hierarchy of Controls is a step-by-step way to identify the most effective measure to reduce a hazard:
ELIMINATE the hazard.
Introduce ENGINEERING CONTROLS that isolate the hazard (e.g. install guards, fences or barriers).
Apply ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROLS that provide information about a hazard, perhaps, training, signs, written procedures, safety induction information, etc.
Supply and wear PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE). This can provide a personal barrier to hazards such as dust, noise and diseases.
Many dairy hazards are best controlled using a combination of these measures. For instance, traffic management is best controlled by using signs, barriers, high-visibility vests and safe work procedures.
Some hazards require different control measures that may not quite fit with this particular hierarchy.
The identification of hazards (through an Inspection Record), the assessment of risks and the introduction of control measures are three essential elements to establishing a Safety Action Plan.
This plan provides a useful and simple management tool that also demonstrates to WorkSafe and your employees that you take safety seriously and that you have a timetable in place to improve safety.
Successful management of a Safety Action Plan requires that it is developed in consultation with employees and contractors, that its timetables are followed, and the plan is reviewed regularly or as new hazards appear.
