A new report has found Queensland has one of the highest numbers of on-farm deaths in the country - accounting for nearly thirty of Australia's 58 on-farm deaths in 2020.
This grim statistic is becoming increasingly familiar to rural and regional communities, with the Queensland Farmers' Federation now calling on the state government to act.
The farming body want co-funding training and safety opportunities offered to farmers and businesses to prevent another Queensland life lost.
According to the Agrifutures Australia report, eight of the deaths were children under 15. Tragically, another young life was lost on a farm in North Queensland this week, with a report now being prepared for the coroner.
QFF CEO Dr Georgina Davis said agriculture was one of the most dangerous sectors to work in due to the combination of hazards.
"Safety is a serious consideration on Queensland farms to ensure that farmers, workers and other people on farm are not exposed to risks to their health and safety, and QFF remains committed to promoting and advancing safe workplaces to turn these statistics around," Dr Davis said.
In 2016, the NSW government launched the Quad Bike Safety Improvement Program to address the number fatalities and injuries caused by the on-farm use of quad bikes.
The program provides support to farming businesses through a quad bike safety rebate and training package.
Dr Davis is calling on the Queensland government to implement a similar scheme and is asking the government to take "a common-sense approach".
"We believe significant improvements could be made by implementing a government co-funded grants program in Queensland, supporting safety improvements such as installing crush protection devices on quad bikes, upgrading switchboards, fitting powerline markers, raising the height of distribution lines, devices to boost mobile phone coverage for remote workers and training," she said.
Nursery & Garden Industry Queensland head Ian Atkinson said the type of scheme QFF are suggesting has been proven to work.
"If you go to a farm and there's an old grey Ferguson tractor, it has a rollover bar, which prevents deaths if the vehicle were to rollover. That came from a similar government safety subsidy initiative," he said.
"Now nobody thinks twice about installing a rollover bar, but that wasn't the case 30 years ago. It took government action to encourage rapid uptake.
"The change not only encouraged farmers to install them, it encouraged manufactures to comply and now you don't think twice about ROPS."
Mr Atkinson said COVID-19 has offered government a rare opportunity to not only improve safety standards but stimulate the economy while doing so.
"This is a proven policy measure and the post-COVID economy recovery is presenting the perfect time to do it. I think we would see a rapid uptake of effective means of preventing farm deaths," he said.
"With a relatively small amount of money you will get a large uptake of farmers and rural businesses.
"It would provide a needed cash injection for businesses in the regions."
