Queensland tractor injuries rising with ageing and untrained workforce

Tractor-related injuries on Queensland farms are on the rise due to an influx of inexperienced recruits and an ageing workforce, according to Farmsafe Queensland's executive director, James Cupples.

"Tractors are still our number-one cause of injuries across all [agricultural] sectors," Cupples told OHS Alert.

While the farm industry has seen a sharp drop in tractor fatalities since the introduction of legislation (such as s255 of the State health and safety Regulation) requiring tractors to be fitted with roll-over protective structures, there has been an increase in the number of run-over incidents, he says.

Such incidents are more common among older farmers, Cupples says, who are increasingly forced to operate properties short-staffed as younger workers seek more lucrative jobs in the mining sector and other industries.

Inexperienced workers from overseas are also proving to be vulnerable, particularly where they are inadequately inducted or trained, he says.

Injuries relating to run-over incidents, Cupples notes, are more difficult to contain than roll-over injuries - which can be limited by the modification of plant.

The vast majority of run-over incidents, he says, are the result of "unsafe practices", which are largely controlled by less proactive, "administrative" processes, such as recommendations or advice.

Recent prosecutions

Cupples comments follow two recent tractor-related prosecutions in the Queensland Industrial Magistrates Court.

At Gayndah, north of Brisbane, a citrus fruit producer was fined more than $32,000 after a worker was caught and run over by the rear wheel of a tractor after he started it from the ground with a screwdriver.

The Shepherd Citrus Pty Ltd employee sustained a fractured pelvis which required the insertion of screws.

A subsequent investigation found that it was common practice to start the tractor in such a way; that the start button and starter motor were known to be faulty; and that there was no system for reporting defective machinery.

The employer was charged and pleaded guilty to breaching s24 of the State Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, for failing to ensure workplace safety.

And at Innisfail, in the State's north, banana plantation employer Denis James Murphy was fined $6,500, plus more than $3,300 in costs, after a worker fractured a thigh and collar bone leaping from an out-of-control four-wheel-drive tractor.

The worker encountered difficulties while towing a trailer down a slope, and jumped from the tractor before it came to rest in adjacent crops.

An investigation found that the employer had no system to adequately assess the competency of drivers, and had "made assumptions" about the worker's skill based on his experience with similar equipment.

The employer pleaded guilty to breaching s24 of the Act. This is why it is best to get legal advice from a professional