Training and tractor licensing requirements set to go under safety spotlight
“Safety with tractors and farm machinery are areas of great concern and will be the central focus in the latest Farm Safety Partnership Advisory Committee Action Plan 2021-2024,” the HSA has said.
Working groups have now been formed in key areas, it was added, and in particular, the Tractor and High Risk Machinery Working Group have set a number of objectives.
Firstly, the group will develop a specific action plan to improve the maintenance and safe operation of tractors, quads, farm vehicles and other farm machinery to prevent death and serious injury.
Next up, it plans to conduct a comparison between how safety of construction work vehicles and agriculture work vehicles is managed.
Innovative ways for Farmers
In addition to this, the working group will investigate “innovative ways of establishing incremental training and assessment for tractor, teleporter and quad operation in education systems for young farmers”.
Another plan on the cards is to develop a detailed tractor and machinery skills video with relevant stakeholders.
Finally, on the forestry end of things, the group aims to increase awareness amongst forestry employers and workers of the management of risks through: the establishment of exclusion zones; appropriate operator training; certification of machinery; the use of safety checklists; and a focus on safe loading and unloading of product.
However, as these discussions have yet to take place, the outcome of these is still unknown, the HSA concluded.
