08:08 pm, Sunday 5 June, 2011

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) has issued an alert regarding tractor use.

Injuries and deaths associated with tractors continue in rural Queensland and across Australia.

Tractors are integral to the rural industry. They are versatile and can have numerous functions.

Tractors are heavy and powerful machines that can lead to a serious injury or death through only a minor mistake.

Tractors have been involved in more accidents which have resulted in death or injury than any other piece of rural machinery.

Incidents can be associated with:

• rollovers
• power take-offs
• falls from tractors
• hitching equipment
• tractor operation
• towing.

Employers should consider each type of tractor hazard and associated risk.

Control measures should be implemented and regularly reviewed to ensure the health and safety of all tractor operators. Adequate training should also be provided to all tractor operators.

The WHSQ tractor code of practice governing use of tractors on and off the farm spells out in clear terms what safety measures can be taken to prevent injury and death.

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02:37 pm, Thursday 16 September, 2010

The Department of Education has been fined by the Geraldton Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday after a tractor caused life-long injuries to a female student.

The Department pleaded guilty to two charges under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984. It was ordered to pay fines of $50,000 and costs of $6702.

The case involved two students and a teacher of an agricultural college at Morawa, who were trying to operate a faulty tractor on 16 May 2007.

The court heard the three were trying to attach a hoe to the tractor. The correct procedure involved attaching “link arms” on the tractor to the hoe then connecting a central shaft that carried power from the tractor to the hoe.

The procedure was not followed on the day of the incident due to the tractor’s faulty link arms. The teacher decided to attach the shaft before trying to manoeuvre the link arms into position.

He instructed a 17-year old female student to hold a link arm on one side of the shaft while he held the end of the link arm at the other side, and told another student to start the tractor.

When the tractor started, it sent power through to the hoe, moving it forwards towards Ms Perceval and the teacher. The movement caused the teacher to fall to the ground, while the 17-year-old student got pulled into the hoe.

She was then dragged into the machine from the waist down. She is still undergoing treatment for the injuries she suffered three years ago, which included four severed toes, severe leg wounds and abdominal lacerations.

The court heard the school’s then farm supervisor was already informed by the teacher of the faulty tractor teacher. However, the supervisor told him their funds were insufficient to undertake the necessary repairs.

The Education Department was charged due to its failure to provide and maintain a working environment in which its employees were not exposed to hazards. It also failed to ensure the safety or health of a person, other than its employees, was not adversely affected as a result of a hazard that arose from or – was increased by – its system of work.

According to WorkSafe Commissioner Nina Lyhne, the case shows how failure to implement proper safety procedures and maintain equipment could bring tragic consequences.

“In this case a young woman’s life has been shattered by an event that could so easily have been prevented,” she said.

“She was following the directions of her teacher and using equipment at the school that was faulty and unsafe.

“Employers have a duty to identify hazards in the workplace and manage those risks.

“This duty extends to both employees and others in the workplace.”

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06:47 pm, Monday 6 September, 2010

A Rollingstone farmer has pleaded guilty in the Townsville Industrial Magistrates Court to failing to ensure workplace safety.

He was fined $8,000 and ordered to pay $3,029.10 in court costs after a worker was seriously hurt in a tractor-related incident in May 2009.

The court was told the worker tried to mount the tractor when the vehicle veered off course. He hit the gear lever and was run over.

The worker suffered a broken right leg as a result. He had to undergo surgery.

A Workplace Health and Safety Queensland investigation found that the tractor’s design was modified to allow it to be controlled remotely during harvesting.

The new design did not provide any way to stop the tractor aside from physically getting on the vehicle while it was moving.

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06:25 pm, Monday 6 September, 2010

A man has died in a tractor incident on a private property at Giru in north Queensland on Friday.

According to police, the 36-year-old man died at the scene just before 7am (AEST).

According to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ), he used a tractor to tow a trailer that was carrying a piece of earthmoving equipment.

The tractor and trailer rolled while crossing a river.

Investigations are being conducted to find out why the trailer and tractor overturned. Police are preparing a report for the Coroner.

WHSQ is also looking into the incident.

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09:32 am, Wednesday 21 July, 2010

A 13-year-old boy suffered serious injuries after being crushed by a tractor at Landsborough on Thursday.

Reports said he was run over by the tractor’s front tyre in Hapgood Road at the Sunshine Coast around noon.

According to a Department of Community Safety spokeswoman, the boy was conscious and breathing when emergency crews arrived at the scene.

He is believed to have suffered pelvic and hip injuries, the spokeswoman said.

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01:36 pm, Tuesday 20 July, 2010

A man has suffered serious internal injuries following a tractor incident at Japoonvale, south of Innisfail, on Wednesday.

The incident happened around 12.30pm on Warrakin Road in far north England, where it is believed the 59-year-old man was run over by a tractor.

He was transported to the Innisfail Hospital.

Workplace Health and Safety officials are looking into the incident.

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12:17 pm, Tuesday 20 July, 2010

A man has been taken to a hospital after being run over by a tractor on a farm near Lake Clarendon, west of Brisbane on July 13.

The 73-year-old man was injured just before 4pm at his property in Lockyer Valley. He sustained broken ribs, a fractured skull, cuts to the head and abdominal injuries.

He was taken by helicopter to the Towoomba hospital and was stabilised by medical staff. He was later transported to Princess Alexandra Hospital to be treated by specialists.

He is in a serious but stable condition.

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08:35 am, Monday 19 July, 2010

WorkSafe Victoria has announced that 26 fatalities had been recorded in the 2009/10 financial because of breaches in workplace safety.

Among those who died, all but one was male – a female vineyard worker in Woori Yallock died when a falling a branch struck her during heavy storms in June.

Nine deaths were reported in Melbourne, while 17 were in regional Victoria.

Regional deaths included the double fatality of a father and son at Rainbow, who were electrocuted after the windmill they were transporting hit an overhead powerline.

The 09/10 death toll was one lower than the year before, where 27 workplace deaths were tallied.

“The workplace fatality toll serves as a continual reminder to employers and workers that health and safety can be a life or death matter,” WorkSafe’s Strategic Programs Director Trevor Martin said.

“We know the overwhelming majority of deaths and workplace injuries can be predicted and therefore prevented – however, complacency and simple mistakes are still killing people needlessly.”

A third of the workplace deaths for 09/10 took place in farms, compared to seven in the previous financial year. Five of the nine farm fatalities in 09/10 involved tractors.

“Farmers are greatly over-represented in workplace fatalities – this is something we’re aware of and have discussed with the farming community.

“It’s why WorkSafe has just launched a campaign of inspector visits to farms across Victoria over the next 12 months. Inspectors will be targeting the most common causes of serious injury and death, with a particular focus on tractor safety,” Mr Martin said.

The death toll for 09/10 included three falls from heights ranging from a little over two metres to 20 metres. Five workers were electrocuted after contact with exposed wires on machinery, and striking underground and overhead power lines. Four people died after being struck by sheets of glass, a bag of salt, computer equipment that fell from a forklift, and a tree branch.

One worker died after being hit in the head by the metal rod he was shaping with a metal lathe. Another man died after being overcome by a gas leak in a hotel cellar.

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08:26 pm, Wednesday 12 May, 2010

WorkSafe has stated that farmers in Victoria over 60 years old are nearly twice as likely to be killed from work-related injuries as younger farmers.

In April, a 78-year-old man became the fifth farming casualty in Victoria for the year. His quad bike overturned on a steep hill at Maude, north-west of Geelong.

Seven farmers over 60 years old have died on the job since 2009. Among the fatalities, three were in their 70s while two were in their 80s.

Tractors were the most common contributing factor in deaths in older farmers, followed by quad bikes.

WorkSafe is reminding older farmers to acknowledge their limits and consider safety first before taking on a job.

Acting Executive Director for Health and Safety Stan Krpan is prompting farmers not to let everything they have worked for be destroyed just because they haven’t thought about safety.

“At the start of the year, WorkSafe asked Victorian farmers and their families to make a concerted effort to be safer in 2010. Now we’re asking all farmers, particularly older farmers, to renew this effort,” he said.

“We know that Victoria’s farming community is getting older. The average age of a farmer at the last census was 52, and a number of factors mean farmers are staying on the land for longer than before.

“It’s clearly time for Victorian farmers to review who is doing what on the farm and how safe it is. What we want people to do is ask themselves ‘do I have the right equipment, can I still do the job safely, and have I thought about what could go wrong?’.

“We’ve said it before – this is an issue that affects families, friends, and entire communities. Families and loved ones need to be talking to their farmer relatives, particularly if they are older, about changing their ways,” he said.

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05:45 pm, Tuesday 30 March, 2010

WorkSafe is set to prosecute to the Department of Education following an accident at the Western Australian College of Agriculture involving a year 12 student.

The 16-year-old student nearly lost her leg when it was caught in a farm equipment at the Morawa campus in the state’s mid-west three years ago.

The woman was connecting a rotary hoe to a tractor when she was caught in the machinery. She sustained serious foot and leg injuries because of the incident.

The Education Department is now facing two charges to failing to provide a hazard-free workplace.

It marks the first time WorkSafe has prosecuted another government department.

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