Working Environment

Working Environment safety

Is your farm a great place to work? Is the farm well set up for people to work safely and comfortably? This topic covers safety in the farm working environment across five distinct areas:

  • Physical environment hazards (including noise, dust, heat, cold and UV exposure),
  • Facilities for workers, 
  • Psychosocial hazards (inc. contributors to workplace stress, fatigue, harassment, bullying and violence), 
  • Injury management (inc. health monitoring, injury reporting and compensation, health and safety communication) and 
  • Emergency responses, including emergency response plans, facilities and equipment 

Work Health and Safety regulations require that you must assess and manage the risks to health and safety associated with the working environment of the farm.

Use the resources below to ensure that you are managing a safe workplace and fulfilling your legal obligations.

A good place to start is Step by step –Setting up for a safe working environment on your farm

Resources

The Farm Safety Manual aims to make it straightforward for dairy farmers to build and improve a comprehensive farm safety system.

Further information

 

Noise 
Testing noise levels – phone app list    Website
Model Code of Practice: Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work (Safe Work Australia)
Website
Hearing protection | WorkSafe Victoria Website
Hearing tests explained (Australian Hearing) Website
Dusts
Home – Asthma Australia | The nation’s peak consumer body Website
No.12 Organic Farm Dusts (sydney.edu.au) PDF
Heat / Cold / UV 
Heat related illness (SafeWork NSW) Website
Sun protection in the workplace (Cancer Council) Website
Facilities for workers  
Model Code of Practice: Managing the work environment and facilities (Safe Work Australia)
Website
Psychosocial hazards
Fatigue self assessment (University of Sydney) PDF
Guide for managing the risk of fatigue (Safe Work Australia) PDF
Farm workplace policies
this site
Guide for preventing and responding to workplace bullying (Safe Work Australia) Website
Unlawful harassment (Human Rights Commission)
Website
Injury management – templates, record keeping this site
Notifiable incidents factsheet (Safe Work Australia) Website
Model Code of Practice: WH&S consultation, co-operation and co-ordination (Safe Work Australia)   Website
Emergency response
Medical emergency poster template Word
Calling 000 – Triple zero Website
First aid in the workplace (Safe Work Australia) Website 
Extreme weather information (Dairy Australia) Website 
Effective emergency response plans (WorkSafe Victoria) Website
Guide to fire extinguishers Website