It’s woven into every aspect of their farming business and has been for a long time.
Almost 16 years ago Shirlene completed a health and safety paper as part of a diploma in business, motivated originally by the number of credits that could go towards the diploma.
She was so impressed with the course content, she came home and together with David began implementing what she’d learned including a 30km/ hour speed limit around the farm.
“Straight away the change was dramatic. The staff were going slower and they had time to think more clearly. There were fewer accidents, repairs and maintenance costs went down, they were more effective at their jobs,” she says.
Shirlene combines administration duties on the farm with work teaching human resources courses and has long been an advocate of mindfulness, something that’s become in-vogue in business circles lately.
“It’s about being present in the moment, having the time to think about what you’re actually doing right now and not thinking about what you have to be doing later today or worrying about something that happened before.”
This is the couple’s 11th season on the 630-cow, 183ha effective farm near Geraldine – the same farm they took out the national farm manager of the year title on in 2006.
They’re now variable-order sharemilking the property and employ three staff. Often one of those staff members will be an overseas trainee.
Health and safety comes into play right from recruitment and is an inextricable part of their overall human resources policy.
Their prospective employees are made very clear about their focus on it right at the interview stage and their reaction is closely watched by David and Shirlene.
“We don’t want people who roll their eyes at the prospect of that – we want people who will buy into this,” Shirlene says.
In 15 years they’ve only ever had one staff member who wasn’t keen and didn’t like to wear their helmet on the motor bike.
“It just wouldn’t happen now – it’s just part of the culture,” she says.
Once they’ve been offered the job, but before day one of employment, new staff are introduced to the health and safety policy information along with their employment agreement and job description.
‘I can tell you we certainly spend a lot less time dealing with it than we did when the systems were just the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff approach.’
Assessing people’s skills and training needs is part of the health and safety strategy and happens at the outset of what can be up to a two-month induction process.
Dave will put them through their paces to assess their skills with machinery or motorbikes and vehicles.
He’s worked as a tractor and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) skills instructor and will never just hand someone the keys to any vehicle or machine without first assessing their skills himself.
“Even if they’re experienced people, I want to see how they operate it as well as if they can operate it,” David says.
He’ll set up a course in the paddock with cones for new staff if need be, especially young overseas staff, and won’t let them ride the motorbikes or drive the tractor until they’re proficient.
“They can spend hours out there on the tractor backing the trailer,” he says.
Any further training needs are noted in their personnel folder and timelines set for when that’s to be done.
It can be time-consuming so you have to plan well ahead to make sure it gets done, David says.
But he has a passion for training and sees it as a natural part of being a good employer.
Their health and safety policy folder is a thick ringbinder, indexed and categorised so policies can be easily located and updated as necessary.
Staff must familiarise themselves with the policies and then sign off their acknowledgement and acceptance.
The policies include topics such as a code of conduct – which includes very little tolerance of bad language as well as words that just aren’t tolerated, a smoking policy, hazard identification, operating farm vehicles and machinery, emergency procedures, induction and training records and even a pandemic plan.
Shirlene Cochrane and herd manager Daniel Cleverley – keeping staff safe onfarm.
Shirlene and David have written the policies themselves but taken note of and included industry standards and expectations as well.
The speed limit, for instance, wasn’t just an arbitrary number – it relates to the maximum speed safety rating for the helmets they use.
On the driveway into the farm and their home the speed limit is dropped to 20km/hour because that’s a more appropriate speed to be approaching houses.
Smoking isn’t permitted in the farm dairy or farm buildings, around stock or other people or machinery and vehicles but will be tolerated out in the paddock or on lanes and driveways if away from others.
Cellphone and smartphone use is strongly discouraged on the job and not tolerated at all if riding or driving a vehicle or working with the cows.
Dave uses hand-held walkie talkie radios to communicate on the farm. Cellphone coverage is poor and walkie talkies don’t have the added distraction of Facebook.
He says staff don’t have a problem with the policy and will check their phones at lunchtime or appropriate break times.
Their hazards identification policy includes a hazards flow chart, showing the process from spotting the hazard to assessing it and rating its significance as well as classifying it in terms of whether it relates to factors such as stock, vehicles or zoonoses (diseases that can be passed from animals to humans) and then how to eliminate, isolate or minimise the hazard.
Some hazards are permanent and just part of farming, such as working in close proximity to stock, having bulls onfarm, and riding motorbikes over water pipes or effluent hoses.
Hazards such as those are identified in the health and safety policy folder but can also be specified on a printed hazards map and the health and safety hazard board in the farm dairy office.
But new hazards do arise, some permanent and some only temporary.
All are important and if staff see a hazard during the week, it’s written up on the board. At the next staff meeting they go through the flowchart process and if necessary put it in the policy folder.
Communication is key and efforts have to go into making it as easy as possible for everyone onfarm to be made aware of existing and new hazards, the couple say.
But responsibility for health and safety extends beyond the couple’s own staff with contractors and visitors to the farm included in their policy and expected to follow it.
A sign at the gate makes all visitors to the farm aware they must make contact with management and that they must go to the farm dairy office.
Vets, fertiliser spreaders, cartage firms and even regional council monitoring staff are drawn under the health and safety mantle and asked to sign contractor’s or visitor’s acknowledgement forms.
Shirlene keeps the forms set up as a document on the home office computer and edits them so they’re relevant to the visitor, where they’ll be on the farm and what they’ll be doing.
For instance the vet’s acknowledgement form drawn up for calf disbudding identifies the driveway, calf sheds and calf paddocks as the areas they will be allowed access to and asks them to agree to disinfect their boots in the footbath provided.
The other points are common to most other visitors and include the requirement to inform the manager if they identify any hazards other than those pointed out to them and report any accident while on the farm.
The hazards for the vet might include accidental fire caused by the gas calf disbudder, burns or accidental injection and slips, trips and falls from uneven surfaces around the pens and in the paddocks.
David leaves a bucket of cold water in case of any accidental burn but the vet is also made aware of the location of the first aid kit and fire extinguisher.
A range of forms is kept at the farm dairy but with contractors and visitors expected to make contact prior to coming onfarm Shirlene aims to have a personalised form ready for them when they arrive.
When met at the farm dairy office the visitor or contractor is shown the health and safety hazard map, any hazards they’ll be exposed to, safety signage and where the first aid kit is.
They must agree to inform them if they spot any new hazards or have an accident and to abide by all speed limits as well as a requirement to come to a complete stop before leaving the property.
If a contractor or driver has been through the process and signed the forms, the next time they visit they’ll be required to phone before they arrive so they can be updated on any new hazards.
If they don’t or they’re a new driver they will have to go through the procedure at the farm dairy.
“Most of the firms we deal with now send the same driver. It saves them time and it saves us time,” Shirlene says.
Drivers are not allowed to use the farm’s machinery to unload goods and if they haven’t called ahead of time and no one’s available to operate it, they’re simply turned away.
“It can be a long drive back to town, so that doesn’t happen any more,” Dave says.
Regional council staff who regularly check monitoring wells on the farm have been through the full health and safety sign-in procedure but must also phone and make contact with Dave or Shirlene before they come on to the farm.
“It’s a matter of courtesy really – for them and us. They advise us they’re coming so we know who’s out on our farm and we let them know if there’s any potential hazard out there,” Dave says.
“It may seem like all of this is time-consuming and there’s lots of paperwork but it’s not really. I can tell you we certainly spend a lot less time dealing with it than we did when the systems were just the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff approach,” Shirlene says.
Nothing takes up more time and creates more stress than when people get injured or are off work over those busy periods of the year.
The health part of H&S
Health is often a forgotten part of the health and safety policy.
David and Shirlene are aware that out onfarm staff are often a long way from medical facilities so keeping them well and having appropriate medication on hand is important.
When staff come on board they ask them to share any health issues with them so, for instance, if someone is asthmatic they could have an inhaler in the first aid box.
They’ll also pay for flu vaccinations if someone has a health concern.
Allergies can be an issue too, whether to food, grasses or insect bites.
“Just having antihistamines on hand might not be enough. Some people need very specific medications,” Shirlene says.
Key points
Location: Coopers Creek, South Canterbury
Owners: Mark and Mary Mulligan
Variable order sharemilkers: David and Shirlene Cochrane
Area: 183ha effective
Cows: 630 peak milked Friesian-Kiwicross
Production: 448kg MS/cow
Farm dairy: 36-aside herringbone
Staff: three full-time and one part-time
