Thread: WorkSafe: hunting on farmland

If a farmer decides not to let you on 'hunting' because of "new health and safety laws", there's a fair chance they don't understand the revised legislation. It is something you as a hunter could learn a bit about and offer some assistance, especially if you know the farmer and property well.

We are in the forestry game, running crews where 80% of our work is on or around farming operations. You all would be amazed at the amount of farmers who don't have anything in place, and simply don't think they need to. Many just don't want to know.

Interestingly and generally speaking the younger generation of farmers are very much up with the play and know their responsibilities. It's quite refreshing to arrive on site to meet a farmer who has a hazard register and management system in place waiting for you.

Everyone is still learning the new rules and responsibilities, what actually needs doing on a workplace hasn't changed a hell of a lot - if they were operating with reasonable H&S steps in place they'll be fine. We've been operating a very good H&S system for years and even with the new rules, only small amounts of it has had to change. More regular communication between parties is the biggest change.

However now the liability, responsibilities and penalties for not following legislation are much more serious and clear cut, hence why we are seeing sudden changes and in some cases arms being thrown up in the air by landowners. Many have realized they've been winging it all these years and now if sh*t hits the fan, sweeping it under the carpet is a lot more difficult, many haven't even worked that out! Haha.

Keeping an induction/visitor register is not that hard. Identifying hazards and managing them is not that hard. Having exclusion and no-go zones is easily managed. So is coming up with a list clear cut rules to follow while on the property.