Around 30 people attended the Traprock Group Safety Information Day held at Currajong Wool Shed on Friday 5th May 2017. Everybody took the last-minute change of venue in their stride and in fact, the Currajong shed proved to be a great location for the day’s events.
A range of presenters covered a host of topics relevant to personal and employee safety and safety responsibility specifically targeted at rural businesses. Each presenter proved to be both professional in their delivery of the subject matter and able to deal with the robust discussion that developed because of the topics being discussed. It was clear however, that the area of responsibility around workplace health and safety and also workers’ compensation is somewhat grey. The point was made several times during the day, that those businesses who do employ people need to provide adequate training, safety gear and identify and make known any hazards. Keeping brief notes is also important. Work Place Health and Safety officers can provide a range of services to business owners to assist them. Many of these services are free of charge.
Some participants initially thought that discussion around employee safety and compensation was not relevant to them as they do not have employees. However, an example was given where the business owners’ children are home on holidays. If that child is injured while helping with work on the property, they would likely be considered an employee for workers’ compensation purposes.
We also had a very emotional and confronting presentation from Gary Nicholls who lost his leg in a tractor roll-over incident. Gary had the entire room absolutely silent as he talked about his accident, showed pictures in graphic detail of his injury and talked about what helped him cling to life in what was an horrific accident and a long and difficult recovery period.
Some examples of quad bike helmets were on display and a quad bike roll over bar. As one can imagine, issues around quad bike safety, helmets and roll over bars, generated a lot of discussion.
Many thanks to David Bartlett for organising what proved to be a successful and informative day.