SafeWork NSW has implemented an agriculture work health and safety sector plan in a bid to encourage farmers and sheep shearers to review shearing shed safety regularly and reduce unnecessary accidents.
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SafeWork NSW executive director, Peter Dunphy said that despite recent progress, there was still room for improvement in the industry.
“The plan aims to deliver safer agricultural workplaces through simple, practical, and affordable strategies, and focuses on a number of issues affecting the sheep shearing industry, including musculoskeletal injuries, mental health, isolation and disease,” Mr Dunphy said.
“Sheep shearing can be dangerous work with many physical, chemical and biological hazards.
“Farmers need to carefully plan work, have safe work practices in place and provide adequate training to prevent injuries to workers and visitors.
“Unfortunately, with 349 shearers injured in the three years to July 2016, it’s clear that this isn’t occurring as well as it could.
“Once injured, shearers also take twice as long to get back to work as others due to the seriousness of their injures, so it’s critical that everyone in the shearing industry works together to improve safety.”
The initiative has been implemented following an incident in November 2017 where a 20-year- old female suffered serious head injuries at Gulargambone.
SafeWork NSW is investigating the incident which occurred at a shearing shed on a rural property on Wednesday, November 29 when the female visitor’s hair became caught in the drive shaft of overhead shearing equipment and caused serious head injuries.
Mr Dunphy said pre-planning, preparation and consultation were critical to preventing injuries in the shearing shed.
“Shearers and farmers should undertake a pre-shear shed inspection to identify safety issues and ensure they are addressed before shearing commences,” he said.
“A workplace injury can have a devastating effect on a shearer, their family and community, so it’s in everyone’s interest to make safety a priority in the shearing shed.”
The program offers rebates of up to $500 to farmers who make safety improvements to the shearing shed such as replacing old gear with new electric plant or installing guarding on overhead gear to eliminate entanglement risks.
For further information on shearing safety and the small business rebate program, visit www.safework.nsw.gov.au or call 13 10 50.
