Federated Farmers says a delay in the select committee reporting back the health and safety reform bill to Parliament has led to improvements for the farming industry.
Health and safety spokesperson for Federated Farmers, Katie Milne says overall the bill will make farms safer places.
However, Milne says she’s already identified ambiguity and problems with responsibilities and liabilities for a person controlling a business or undertaking (PCBU).
“The bill still hasn’t sorted the overlaps of more than one PCBU on a farm, where for instance, a farmer and a contractor are both working,” she says.
She says the bill has gone some way to recognising that farms are different to urban industrial workplaces.
“Farms are not construction sites but with lots of grass and animals. They are also a place where people live and are used for recreation. We are pleased the Government has signalled a supplementary order paper to acknowledge this,” says Milne
“It will make clear that a farmer’s home is not a workplace. Ideally, it should include other farm accommodation as well,” she says.
“We also didn’t want to have a risk imposed on us for people who come onto our properties without our knowledge and have an accident.
“The parliamentarians have listened to us and the bill puts the responsibility on recreational users back to those people where it should be,” says Milne.
