A Yolla dairy farmer has called for an overhaul of Tasmania’s workers compensation legislation after one of his workers rolled a quad bike and was admitted to hospital with a brain injury.
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Duncan Macdonald’s call for reform comes after McIntyre independent MLC Greg Hall urged the state’s political parties to consider stronger safety measures for quad bikes.
Mr Macdonald said he had notified WorkSafe Tasmania of the quad bike incident, informing them that the employee was wearing a helmet, had documented training and that the bike was in safe working order.
Despite this, Mr Macdonald said his workers compensation insurer raised his premium levels from 8 per cent of wages to 43 per cent.
Eventually, he managed to get a quote of 23 per cent of wages.
“After two years of this with no claims our premiums started to come down but this really highlights a huge issue with the lack of competitiveness in our workers compensation premiums and a lack of a dispute mechanism for this sort of issue,” Mr Macdonald said.
He called on the state government to amend the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act so as not to disadvantage employers.
On Sunday, Mr Hall noted that Tasmania had recorded several quad bike fatalities since 2011.
Mr Hall said that while quad bikes could be fun and effective for farm work, they could also be dangerous.
“We need to offer our rural and recreational communities stronger protection,” he said.
“The Victoria and New South Wales state governments have introduced a non-means tested rebate scheme to assist quad bike owners to invest in better protection such as helmets and fitted roll bars, or crush protection devices.
“I believe fitted roll bars, accompanied by a non-means-tested rebate scheme, ought to be considered [for Tasmania] as a way of preventing more fatalities.”
Mr Hall said helmets should be mandatory for quad bike-riders.
“[This] ought to be the first reform,” he said.
Building and Construction Minister Guy Barnett did not say whether or not the government would entertain the idea of amending workers compensation legislation.
Nor did he respond to Mr Hall’s comments.
Mr Barnett said the government took quad bike safety “very seriously”, which was why it had established a quad bike safety taskforce and was participating in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s own investigation into quad bike safety.
“We … are working … to consider safety strategies, including looking at safety equipment and devices,” he said.