National survey finds Queensland has highest on-farm deaths and injuries
Queensland had more non-fatal injuries in rural workplaces than the rest of Australia combined according to a new survey of deaths and injuries for the first six months of 2019.
The review of more than 38,000 media articles by the National Farm Injury Data Centre (NFIDC) also found Queensland had 13 farm fatalities for the six months, followed by Victoria (seven) and NSW (six). Quad bike use was the main cause of death and injury across the country.
The statistics detail both workplace and non-workplace deaths and injuries. The overall number of farm deaths was higher than the corresponding period in 2018. Six of the 34 deaths involved a child aged under 15 years.
Nine of the 67 injury incidents involved children aged under 15 years and quad related injury accounted for over 20 per cent of all incidents. Horses, tractors and utilities featured heavily in the injury statistics as well. For quads, there were 21 extra injuries that occurred off‐farm.
This report comes as the Commonwealth Government is considering Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recommendations for mandatory rollover protection for quad bikes.
Quad users are again urged to implement safe systems of work, including selecting the correct vehicle for the task, ensuring attachments are fit for purpose, training operators, and wearing a helmet.