Farmers Over 65 Are Hurt More Often Than Younger Farmers, And WorkSafe Says More Care Needs To Be Taken Of Children On Farms

Farmers over 65 are hurt more often than younger farmers, and WorkSafe says more care needs to be taken of children on farms. In the first three months of this year there were five farm fatalities and 30 WorkSafe notifiable injuries, with more fatalities on farms than any other industry. ACC figures shows the number of farm injuries over the past five years on a downward trend, with 23,096 farming-related injuries in 2018 down to 22,631 last year. Farmers aged 65 or older are the biggest group of claimants at 3429 last year compared to a total 7455 claims for those aged 25 to 60. Injury claims for children and teenagers up to 19 years totaled 1284 with many farm injuries from the use of quad bikes or farm vehicles. 337 over 65-year-old farmers bore the brunt of injuries involving farm vehicles more than double the 134 claims from 60 to 64-year-olds. Claims for people 5 to 19 years totaled 192 , including 31 for children aged 5 to 9 years.