Tasmania will be home to the country's first industry-wide benchmark for on-farm safety after the launch of a new course.
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Primary Employers Tasmania launched the AgCard course on Thursday after months of planning with stakeholders and industry.
PET president Felicity Richards said agriculture remained an industry with a high level of safety related accidents and death, and that was partly what motivated the organisation to develop AgCard.
In Tasmania, six per cent of the total workforce are employed in agriculture and over the past 10 years the frequency rate at which workers in the agricultural sector have suffered serious injury has reduced by 8 per cent.
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The most common type of farm work injury reported is body stressing (30 per cent), followed by being hit by moving objects (28 per cent), and falls, trips and slips (20 per cent).
"We wanted to create an online tool that would set out practical information for on-farm safety in an accessible format," she said.
Ms Richards said the high statistics around on-farm accidents involving quad bikes or other farm machinery made PET realise there was a need to educate farm employees and employers.
She said AgCard was designed to be a quick and easy online course, which had an assessment component to give all participants a base level of understanding about farm safety.
"This is just the first iteration of the program but we are working with industry groups such as Biosecurity Tasmania and Wine Tasmania to develop industry-specific units to add to it in the future," Ms Richards said.
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Completing AgCard can be done at an individual's discretion but once participants have logged on to the platform they have 30 days to complete the program.
Once they have passed the assessment checklist they are issued with a certificate that can be added to a resume or handed to an employer.
Joe Lawrence, who is studying agriculture at a TCE level, completed the AgCard course at school during the trial phase.
"I found the program easy to use and navigate and it helped me to understand that work health and safety expectations are not about an employer being fussy, this is standard practice that can prevent accidents and save lives," he said.
"It is important that people know that safety is important on every farm and that we all need to be a part of that."
Ms Richards said the AgCard program could help to leverage Tasmanian agricultural employers as it gave all existing and prospective employees a base level of understanding about safety.
"Tasmanian agricultural employers can become employers of choice, they are not the jobs you get because you didn't finish year 12 but they are nation leading in their own right," Ms Richards said.
Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett said the program complemented work already being done by the state government but it was an important tool to educate people in the industry.
"The farm is a unique work environment where family homes are often part of a workplace. Employees work in challenging conditions, exposed to the elements or in charge of heavy machinery," he said.
The program will be monitored by PET and the organisation is seeking an AgCard project officer to work across the state.
AgCard can be found online and there is no cost Tasmanian farm employers or employees to complete the practical training in year one, but a fee will be applied to all non-Primary Employers Tasmania members from the second year of the program.