Friday, March 29, 2024

Health and safety mindset change

Avatar photo
A change in mindset towards health and safety and better collaboration and communication will help farmers move forward with new health and safety regulations, Kellogg scholar Cam Brown says. He recently looked into farmers current attitudes towards health and safety and how to get people to change their thinking.
Reading Time: 5 minutes

“I wanted to try to understand the perspectives and see how change can be influenced, how do we get people to change behaviours and get some of these statistics down?”

Brown, a herd-owning sharemilker, walked straight out of school and into his first full-time dairy assistant job, working his way up to a contract milker role before taking a break and heading to Massey University where he gained a Bachelor of Applied Science majoring in agribusiness management. 

Brown competed in the Young Farmer of the Year contest through his 20s and qualified for two grand finals.

Cam Brown – need to be open.

“In 2013 I narrowly came second. It was a bit frustrating because it was so close, but it was a great experience.”

However, Brown did win a scholarship for the AGMARDT agribusiness section of the competition and was able to use it to develop his leadership skills on the Kellogg rural leadership programme.

“There was a real focus on developing critical thinking and leadership skills, and I met some wonderful people and made some really good memories.”

New Zealand’s poor performance in workplace health and safety is a result of widespread systemic failure in controls, processes, management and culture. Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Michael Woodhouse described the current health and safety legislation as a “buggers’ muddle”. There is no single underlying factor or silver bullet solution to the complex issue, Brown says.

Current statistics for health and safety are sobering with, from 2008 to 2013, an average of 17 farm fatalities a year, mostly from tractor and quad bike accidents. This represents 40% of all workplace deaths in that period. The under-reporting of injuries was an eye-opener for Brown.

“A lot of farmers I think just suck it up and carry on. It’s sort of a kiwi bloke thing isn’t it? When really we need to be open about this stuff and be aware of injuries and make sure we are doing everything on farm in the safest way possible.”

The current health and safety regulatory framework is based on the Robens approach, where the ideal is to strike a balance between state and self regulation, with the assumption that those who create or work with the risks are best placed to identify and manage those risks with a robust regulatory backstop.

Duties and regulations describe desired outcomes but not how to achieve them, creating flexibility but also uncertainty about what needs to be done.

“The thing is if you make a rigid rule, there’s always going to be an exception to the rule, so it needs to be outcome-focused, asking yourself are you doing everything practicable to keep people safe? People are automatically jumping to details, but start with the big stuff, i.e., what could kill us, and work backwards from there.

“I had a meeting with my staff not long ago and we had a talk about milk spilling on the trailer and becoming slippery. We try to encourage staff to first point out hazards. If they are thinking of these things and taking ownership of their own and others’ safety then that’s a great step forward.”

The Pike River Mine disaster put a spotlight on health and safety and set in motion a time of change in the health and safety landscape.

“It really raised awareness and pointed out that NZ isn’t up to scratch on a global scale of health and safety. We have an incredibly high rate of injury because of our ‘she’ll be right’ attitude.”

The Government accepted recommendations that came as a result of the Pike River Mine tragedy and new legislation should be passed by December 2015.

“One of the common responses from the interviews to the new legislation around the definition of workers now including contractors was ‘So, if the contractor is working on the farm and jumps out of their vehicle wrong and breaks their leg – am I responsible?’ so they felt they would become a bit more reluctant to engage contractors and staff and take on the increased workload themselves.”

Brown’s project aimed to explore factors affecting current attitudes in agriculture towards health and safety and how change could be brought about.

“I wanted to provide the reader with some understanding of the motivations and thought processes of farmers in regards to health and safety and explore methods of bringing about change.”

Brown interviewed 10 farmers and reviewed relevant literature to get a comprehensive insight into their perceptions on the topic. He also got the chance to talk with Minister Woodhouse, which provided further insight into the wider issue and steps being taken by the Government to make progress.

“The main issues are around farmer’s perceptions of what good health and safety looks like and the perceptions around current and future legislation.”

Brown says that the nature of farming in NZ, where farmers are inherently price-takers, has contributed to the underlying issue in the health and safety debate.

“Farmers by default rely on controlling costs to remain profitable. They almost automatically become resistant to compliance change because the implications are either direct or indirect financial costs and a further drain on time.”

The notion of ‘what’s this going to cost me’ came up numerous times but Brown says the take-home message to farmers is that people should come before profit.

“Everyone has the right to know that they are going to get home safe at night, and at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing.”

Most felt that healthy and safety was the concept of staying safe onfarm and getting home every night, although some thought it was compliance-related and common sense should prevail.

“We need to have a strong business case for farmers to show the cost benefit, have some evidence-based research for farmers to show that it has to be people over profit and production and that the conversations need to be had around the issue.”

Although many farmers had a Health and Safety policy or manual they often weren’t active documents. Views on telling visitors and contractors about onfarm hazards were split, with half feeling it was part of being a responsible farmer, and others saying it was unnecessary.

“When you compare the agriculture industry to the forestry industry, the big difference is that the key players in the forestry industry recognised they had a serious problem, whereas those in agriculture don’t.”

The push of enforcement over education was another common theme from Brown’s interviews, with those who had experience with WorkSafe NZ feeling the emphasis was purely on wearing helmets and nothing else.

Surprisingly, many of the farmers who were interviewed were unaware of the upcoming changes. Those who did know felt there was a lack of communication about the implications and called for improved communication from WorkSafeNZ.

“Many of them wanted more ‘presence’ as such, like having a representative involved at field days or discussion groups. Many felt they needed smaller simpler bits of solution-focused information to help them get a better understanding of what they need to do.”

Brown attended a public meeting with the minister which was attended by 150 farmers.

“There were a few key messages that came across. Common sense was probably the main one, asking why it can’t be expected of other people to use it.”

There were questions about the use of helmets and passengers on quad bikes, with many feeling it was safer to carry a passenger than put an inexperienced person on a bike of their own and being told to “follow me”.

“Farmers were resistant to regulation and seemed to fail to understand the need for change, which is indicated in the lack of knowledge with current and proposed legislation.”

Brown says the project has reinforced the steps he’s taking on his own property when it comes to health and safety.

“The more you practice the better it becomes, and we have the owners of the farm involved as well, so everyone’s taking ownership of it.”

Brown made a number of recommendations as a result of his interviews and literature reviews but says it really comes down to a change in mindset towards health and safety and better collaboration and communication from the various agencies.

“If we can create the right environment and create a positive business case and get people aware, change will come.”

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading