Farm safety: WorkSafe campaign targets ag workers ‘she’ll be right’ attitude

Farmers are being warned a ‘she’ll be right’ attitude could lead to their tragic death in a new campaign. Watch it here and tell us what you think. Warning: Distressing images

WorkSafe has launched an emotional agriculture campaign with the message: "It's never you, until it is".

AN EMOTIONAL campaign about farm deaths that aims to challenge the mindset among agriculture workers that a serious incident won’t happen to them has been launched by WorkSafe Victoria.

The campaign – with the key message “It’s never you, until it is” – will run for six weeks across regional television, print, radio, digital and social media channels.

WorkSafe executive director of health and safety Julie Nielsen said the campaign would show that experience alone does not prevent workplace incidents on farms.

“Farmers know their land and machinery like the back of their hand, but that doesn’t make you bulletproof,” she said.

“It might be easy to think that a tragic incident will never happen on your farm, but if safety is not your top priority then the chances are high that it will.

“Farmers owe it to themselves, their families, their workers and communities to always keep safety front of mind and make it a permanent part of their daily life.”

A WorkSafe campaign that aims to change the “she’ll be right” mindset of farmers.

Screenshot of WorkSafe campaign "It's never you, until it is".

Last year, 424 people working in agriculture, the equivalent to about eight people every week, were injured seriously enough to make a worker’s compensation claim.

In the past three years, 24 people died after on-farm workplace incidents.

The campaign, which is rated M, is part of WorkSafe’s Agriculture Strategy 2020-23.

It focuses on high-risk hazards such as machinery, livestock and chemicals and will collaborate with industry to improve the safety of vulnerable employees, including migrant and seasonal workers.

The strategic approach also includes collaborative education programs, new guidance and targeted compliance and enforcement activities.