A quad bike accident that claimed the life of a share milker has stunned a tight-knit farming community and left three children fatherless.
Neigbours rallied around the family picking up the workload at the Waikato farm where the 45-year-old died following a quad bike crash on Friday morning.
The owner of the farm, who did not want to be named, was visibly upset when he spoke near the farm’s milking shed.
He said the man and his family had been on the property since May and were share milkers who managed the 400 cow farm.
“He was a nice guy, real steady and hard working,” the owner said.
The early morning death stunned the local community, many of whom had called in to the farm to help.
“All the neighbours have turned up to milk and the phones are going. We’ve just got to pick up the pieces – it’s the middle of calving.”
The owner said the man’s death “didn’t make sense”.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to what’s happened. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
The farm worker was killed after rolling his quad bike into a ditch.
Fire crews were called just before 6am to the farm on Puketaha Rd, about 12 kilometres from Hamilton.
Chartwell brigade station officer Geoff Gray said the accident occurred on a flat section, on the side of a farm race that ran through the property.
“We were called to remove the bike and bring the person out of the drain, which we did.”
DEATH PROVES INDUSTRY NOT LOW RISK: ANDREW LITTLE
The incident, just hours after new health and safety law passed proved the Government’s decision to brand the industry “low risk” was wrong, Labour leader Andrew Little said.
In calling Friday’s accident “tragic” and “very sad” for the victim’s family and work colleagues, Little said “it confirms what we all know that farming is a high risk business.
“It has a high number of fatalities, [and] tragically we have got another one.”
Little said while the tougher legislation would not have prevented Friday’s accident, it would demonstrate the Government cared about minimising risk.
However, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse said in an emailed statement that any death in the workplace was one too many.
“Farmers have not been let off the hook. They still have duties under the new law and must still engage in effective worker participation practices.”
National MP Jonathan Young, who was chair of the Transport and Industrial Relations committee that considered the controversial health and safety reforms passed into law on Thursday, also said news of the latest quad bike death was “tragic.”
“Quad bike accidents are the real lightning rod for farm health and safety,” Young said.
He added there was a lot of work going on behind the scenes to address the use of quad bikes on farms.
He admitted there was a “perception” that farming was high risk but when deaths were compared with the numbers of employed in the agricultural sector, it had been calculated as the opposite.
However he stressed that farmers will not be “let off the hook” and it was likely regulations, which will be developed to sit alongside the new legislation, will address issues like quad bike safety.
Farmers had never denied they had a high accident and injury rate, and being low risk was merely a classification of the Government, Federated Farmers health and safety spokeswoman Katie Milne said.
Milne believed and it was the type of accident that legislation could unfortunately not have prevented.
“The necessity to be able to participate in a system to tell me there is an issue on my farm is just an added layer of bureaucracy that is not going to be productive.
“There are other things we can do on the farm to make good headway in health and safety and we are working our hardest to help and facilitate those sorts of things that are going to make a difference on the ground.”
The federation’s provincial president, Chris Lewis said the accident appeared to be a one-off rather than following a pattern.
“It’s one of those things that a farmer just loses their attention and as a result, an accident occurs.”
Farmers needed to respect the Government’s low risk classification of farming and re-enforce to everyone that safety on the farm was paramount while people were under pressure due to calving.
“Just slow down, take a breather and think about the job ahead before carrying it out..”
It did not make a mockery of the classification because of the accident’s one-off nature and this was not the time for people to jump on the bandwagon for political gain.
Official figures show there were 108 fatalities in agriculture since the start of 2010, including 12 so far in 2015.
Quad bike deaths account for just under a quarter of the fatalities over this period.
CAMPAIGN TO STOP QUAD BIKE DEATHS
The number of farm accidents prompted WorkSafe New Zealand to launch its Safer Farms campaign earlier this year.
Statistics show that five people die out of every 850 people injured on quad bike.
Historically the number of injuries on dairy farms rocket up in August during calving season, caused by live stock and vehicles.
Although there are relatively few incidents causing injuries on farms in June, this number doubles in July and then more than doubles again in August.
The above graph from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment shows notified work-related quad-bike fatalities 2006-2012. PHOTO: SUPPLIED.
Uneven ground, sharp objects, motorbikes and quads, and fences or railings are involved in injuries to the neck and shoulders, as well as back sprains, ankle strains and eye injuries.
WorkSafe Agriculture Programme Manager Al McCone says the calving season means dairy farmers are working long hours in the dark, cold and wet.
“Farmers are dealing with stroppy animals, and doing lots of lifting and carrying. With this work comes a lot of risk. We’re encouraging farmers to think about the things that cause injury during this time of year and think about how to deal with them before they happen. It’s a good idea to ensure everyone on farm does the thinking,” he said.
“Get people to practice good lifting techniques – whether picking up calves, or buckets, or bags of powder. It is also good practice to minimise the distance when carrying heavy loads across uneven ground. If people are doing the same tasks over and over again, take a break and stretch your back, shoulders and neck.
The two main injuries farmers sustain are to the lower back and neck, and the two main causes are being kicked, stood on or bitten by animals, or muscular stress from lifting or carrying.
The above graph from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment shows quad bike serious harm notifications from 2009-2012. Photo: SUPPLIED.
Source: Stuff NZ
