WorkSafe Data Shows 15 Fatalities Between May Last Year And April This Year

WorkSafe data shows 15 fatalities between May last year and April this year, and ACC approves more than 20,000 farm injury claims every year. Advocacy group Safer Farms has launched a safety campaign and strategy with the hope of reducing the human toll from producing food in New Zealand. Chair Lindy Nelson says the injury cost of producing food in New Zealand is too high. She says we produce more than $53 billion of world-class food annually destined for New Zealand and consumers across the globe yet last year 13 farmers lost their lives on New Zealand farms and more than 2000 suffered serious injuries forcing them off work for at least a week. WorkSafe data showed in the first three months of this year there were five farm fatalities and 30 WorkSafe notifiable injuries, with the agriculture sector a major contributor to worker fatalities over the last 40 years. WorkSafe is doing trials with drones in the hope that it can cut time spent on quad bikes and as a result reduce injuries.