ATV accidents down but a poor year for farm safety

While 2010 showed positive signs for All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) safety, with a 13 percent decline in Serious Harm Injuries according to Department of Labour statistics, it was a bad year for farm safety.  Overall, agricultural Serious Harm Notifications were up 15 percent over 2009 with a noticeable spike coming this summer. 

“It’s bittersweet for Federated Farmers that in the midst of a bad year for overall farm safety, we’re seeing some positive signs for ATV safety,” says Donald Aubrey, Federated Farmers health and safety spokesperson

“The Department of Labour’s (DoL) ambitious ATV safety campaign has something to build upon.  The combined messages of Federated Farmers, DoL, Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), Farmsafe and the Agricultural Health and Safety Council, I feel, are getting through.

“Although ATV fatalities were the same as in 2009, eight less people were seriously injured in farm-related ATV accidents over 2010.  It also underscores the need for the safety message to go wider to a wider audience, especially to recreational and casual users of these bikes. 

“Yet this positive sign with ATV safety is outweighed by overall farm related Serious Harm Notifications and fatalities being well up on 2009.

“To say it’s bitterly disappointing is an understatement.  Including fatalities, there were 312 serious incidents in the agricultural sector last year - 15 percent higher than 2009. 

“There was also a major spike in fatalities with 17 deaths recorded in 2010 compared to nine in 2009.

“We were actually one step forward at the end of November only to end the year two steps back.  December, continuing into January this year, has been extraordinarily bad months for farm safety.

“This summer spike may be caused by long daylight hours seeing farmers working while tired.  It’s an aspect that is worthy of further research.

“It’s also something the Agricultural Health and Safety Council wish to discuss with the Chief Coroner at an upcoming meeting.  We want to help get to the bottom of things to put in place practices and procedures to practically minimise harm.

“With ATV’s for example, Federated Farmers has been talking to an American manufacturer about a tilt warning system designed for in-motion vehicles covering rough terrain. 

“I must also take issue with full rollover protection and harnesses because it’s not a solution for the New Zealand farm environment. Like any motorbike, these machines are designed for active riding and you can’t do that in a harness with the added instability of a roll cage.

“In addition to a future meeting with the Chief Coroner, I will be writing to the Wellington Coroner to invite him onto a working farm to see an ATV in use. 

“Federated Farmers and the Agricultural Health and Safety Council wish to work with all coroners as well as DoL and ACC on workable safety solutions,” Mr Aubrey concluded.

Department of Labour Statistics (calendar year):

†        Please note that fatalities are a subset of Serious Harm Injuries. The definition of Serious Harm contained within the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, includes death.

The statistics show the number of serious harm accidents, including fatalities, notified to the Department of Labour under the Health and Safety in Employment (HSE) Act 1992.

The agriculture sector is defined as industry coded under A01 (Agriculture) and A021 (Service to Agriculture) under ANZSIC 1996 industry classifications.

The search was filtered to all serious harm incidents notified to the Department using the search word “ATV”, All terrain”, “Quad”, “4 Wheel” and “Four wheel”. 

Please note data provided is provisional as accident data may have yet to be entered into the Department’s electronic data management system if the incident occurred during the period between Christmas and New Year. 

The statistics do not include:

The statistics do not include serious harm and fatalities in the Maritime or Aviation sectors or due to work-related crashes on the road as these are investigated by Maritime New Zealand, the Civil Aviation Authority and the NZ Police respectively.

Fatalities from long latency diseases caused by exposure to hazardous substances.