The agency is behind a big drive to have more farm quad bikes fitted with the crush protection devices (CPD) on farms that have the most quad bike accidents. The eligible businesses include drystock and dairy farms, and hunting-trapping operations.
Despite much intensive work to publicise quad bike risks over the past decade, including making helmets compulsory, the bikes remain one of the main killers on New Zealand farms.
A 2019 Kellogg report revealed across all age groups from infant to 70-plus, the four-wheel bikes remain the leading cause of death on farms, with the exclusion of only the 30-39 age group, where utes or trucks were the main killers.
Of the 154 deaths on NZ farms between 2011 and 2018, quad bikes accounted for 25% of them, and last year ACC received 822 claims for quad bike injuries, costing $5.7 million.
There were seven fatalities last year, the second worst year for workplace quad bike deaths on record since 2006.
Only 2015 exceeds that, when nine people were killed on farm quad bikes.
This year has also kicked off tragically, with two deaths within one week in the same region – Hawke’s Bay.
Side-by-side vehicles are not categorised separately by WorkSafe or ACC, and are included in the “four-wheel” classification.
The subsidy initiative has the support of Dairy Holdings, one of the country’s largest dairy farm operators with 59 farms milking 50,000 cows, employing 300 staff.
The company had been in the midst of installing CPDs on its quad bike fleet when a worker was killed in an accident in 2019 in the Waimate district.
As part of a broader health and safety drive, Dairy Holdings has been assessing all aspects of the group’s health and safety regime. An analysis of company incident records revealed there were regular minor accidents involving quads on the group’s farms.
Grazing manager Adam Mielnik assessed the CPDs available and opted for the Lifeguard CPD, one of several to qualify for ACC’s subsidy.
“We could not find any cons. For the price and what they could prevent, it’s just a no-brainer,” Mielnik said.
Quad bike training and speed limiters have also been introduced across Dairy Holdings operations, and ongoing evaluation of the vehicles’ operation will be continuing.
Mielnik acknowledged he took the death of a workmate hard, given he had already ordered a CPD for that particular bike when it happened.
“A lot of people think it won’t happen to them, but it could, it happened to us,” he said.
“If you are in that situation, you need to be able to hold your hand on your heart and say you have done everything you could do to look after your staff, and if you can’t do that, you are going to have to live with that for the rest of your life.”
ACC crash data indicates even those operators perceived as being safe can find themselves in trouble.
However, a Farmstrong report released last year revealed almost 60% of farmers injured on quad bikes linked their accident to diminished wellbeing, including fatigue, lack of sleep and stress.
The CPD devices are compulsory on all quad bikes sold in Australia and ACC has confirmed to date no farmers have been killed in a quad bike accident here on a bike installed with a CPD.
The ACC cashback offer on the CPD devices is $180 on devices that start from $595 plus GST and include the Quadbar, Quadbar Flexi and ATV Lifeguard devices. The offer is available for up to two devices per farm business.
The agency has also recently made its first Impact Fund investment of several million into Tauranga-based company Robotics Plus, which has developed a robotic log load scanner. The machine removes the need for drivers to clamber over loads assessing their volume, a high-risk activity that currently has 17,000 active claims for injuries.
