Thursday, March 28, 2024

Walk the talk on health and safety

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Leading by example is key to building and maintaining a good health and safety culture in a farm business, says FMG Young Farmer of the Year national finalist and winner of the Waikato Bay of Plenty regional final Mitchel Hoare.
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“Communication is also very important but you need to consistently walk the talk too,” he said.

“Reminding people about things, like wearing a helmet and planning ahead to take the safe approach and always doing so yourself. That’s something I’m even more aware of now that I’m second in charge.

Hoare says with a number of the staff team working alone, they’ve also got strong systems in place around staying in contact and being able to raise the alarm if needed. 

Hoare, who grew up on a sheep and beef farm at Te Kuiti, works at Moketenui Station in the King Country, running 17,000 stock units. 

He has diplomas in agriculture and farm management from Lincoln University and is a graduate of the two-year Waipaoa Station cadet programme. While at Waipaoa from 2012-14, he was also named as World Young Shepherd Champion. He says that representing New Zealand at the final in France at the age of 19 inspired him to want to “not just be a farmer, but be a good farmer”.

During his university holidays, he also worked at Puketiti station at Waitomo, joining the team there after graduating before moving to Arohiwi Station in the Hawke’s Bay and then into his current role in July last year.

“Puketiti was my introduction to good health and safety practice,” he said.

“There is a very good health and safety culture. The staff team would be brought together for some downtime at the end of the day and that was when we discussed things that had happened such as near misses and anything that the manager and others might need to know. It was in a relaxed unhurried environment and reporting a near miss didn’t mean paperwork for you. For me, good leadership around health and safety comes down to that kind of good communication.” 

Mitchel says that also extends to talking about the safest ways to do a job.

“We catch up at the workshop at the start of the day and we’ll discuss what we are going to do and any potential hazards and the best tools and vehicles for the job,” he said.

“Just as an example, a big one for us here is talking about the best routes to take, especially if you are going out with stock or mustering, and the best tools and vehicles to do that safely.

“There may be three or four ways to go but there is only one best way and that may change according to the seasons. It’s important to know about that beforehand and not find out when you are dealing with stock out of step and out of position.

“That’s particularly important for newer people, but it’s also important to be aware that older people may have been doing things in a certain way for a long time and may not want to listen, and to work through that with them.

“We also have a list for the day of what everyone is due to be doing and where they will be. Everyone gets a copy of that. So you know where everyone is meant to be. We all have radios and check in during the day and we all carry personal locator beacons on our belts, but the list adds that extra layer – if you haven’t seen someone, or you see something that hasn’t been done, then you check in on them. 

Hoare says managing fatigue and keeping hydrated is very important for him, so he always carries a water bottle and reminds others to take water out with them too.

Vehicle safety is also a strong focus. The farm has a ute, four quad bikes and a side-by-side and two tractors.

“We have very good lanes on the farm so access is very good for the vehicles,” he said.

“The basic rule here is that if you have to go off the track, in hill country, then you get off the vehicle and take the Waiwai express. The ute is mainly used for town and the tractors for spreading metal.

“We are very strong on vehicle maintenance and checking and cleaning the vehicles regularly – they are cleaned fortnightly for most of the year and weekly in summer.“

Hoare says that, because the farm tracks are so good, vehicles are the most efficient way of getting round – but in some places he’s worked, horses were a good option.

“We don’t use horses as part of our regular work here, but we all have our own and will use them if we need to go out and check on something at the weekend – but at some places I’ve worked, they were the more efficient option,” he said.

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