Sowing the safety seeds - program book

Safe Work Month 2023

Sowing the safety seeds agricultural safety forum in Bunbury Event program

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Acknowledgement of Country We respectfully acknowledge Aboriginal peoples as the Traditional Custodians of this land on which we deliver our services to the communities throughout Western Australia. We acknowledge their enduring connection to the lands, waterways and communities and pay our respects to Elders past and present.

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About the event As part of October’s Safe Work Month, WorkSafe welcomes you to the Sowing the safety seeds – agricultural safety forum.

This forum is one of several events held within our overarching Safe Work Month theme for 2023, Our way forward: Prioritising healthy and safe workplaces.

Find out more at dmirs.wa.gov.au/safeworkmonth

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Welcome

Hon Bill Johnston MLA Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Industrial Relations

Welcome to the third Safe Work Month event for 2023, Sowing the safety seeds – agricultural safety forum.

The health and safety of workers both physical and psychological is extremely important, and the safety of WA agricultural workers is a key priority for the State Government.

Today’s workplaces present a number of challenges to both the physical and mental health of workers, and much positive action is being taken across our State to address these challenges. This helps create stronger safety mindsets, behaviours and practices that support the prevention of harm.

This forum will focus on health and safety issues specific to WA’s agricultural industry. Please take what you learn today and use it to help improve safety and health outcomes in your workplace.

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Sally North Acting WorkSafe Commissioner

Welcome to Sowing the safety seeds – agricultural safety forum, the final of the three 2023 Safe Work Month forums.

The health and safety of workers in the agricultural industry is extremely important to WorkSafe, as evidenced by the recent comprehensive independent Inquiry into Safety in the Agricultural Industry.

I’m confident that with input from a wide range of individuals and organisations with an interest in the prevention of fatalities in the industry, we will greatly improve safety outcomes. WorkSafe is continuing to progress implementation of the recommendations of the Inquiry.

Today’s forum will feature a number of experts in the agriculture and safety fields presenting the latest knowledge and issues including breaking down the Work Health and Safety laws, electrical safety, psychosocial hazards in the agricultural sector and the handling and storage of chemicals.

Thank you all for your participation in the forum, and I trust you will find it a valuable learning experience that will help improve health and safety outcomes in your workplaces.

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Program 9.00 am 10.00 am

Registration MC’s introduction

10.05 am

Welcome

10.10 am

Update on Inquiry into agricultural industry

10.20 am

Summary of the findings of the independent Inquiry into safety in agriculture and the progress made on implementing the recommendations Keynote session WHS compliance in farming Understanding the legislation; expectations on you; what's out there to help; what do you need to do and understand

Andrew Ballam General Manager Regulatory Training and Business Services, Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) Sally North Acting WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North Acting WorkSafe Commissioner

Dave Gossage Agricultural Safety and Emergency Management Consultant, Preplan Pty Ltd

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10.50 am

11.10 am 11.35 am

11.55 am

Electrical safety without the bull

Pat Roberts Senior Electrical Inspector, Building and Energy, DMIRS

General electrical safety on farming and rural properties; portable generators; equipment maintenance, inspection and storage; overhead power lines and power poles Morning SafeTea and networking So, where do I start?

Holly Freeman Practical tips and resources Executive Officer, to start working towards SafeFarms WA compliance

SafeFarms understands that work health and safety can be overwhelming, and it can be hard to know where to start; get some practical tips and resources to start working towards compliance Partnering for safety — the Tim Manning CBH road transport Health, Safety and experience Environment Head, CBH Group Road transport is a key ingredient in the success of the WA agriculture industry – a discussion on the successes and opportunities in how Australia’s largest grain handler works with road transport partners to drive safer outcomes 6

12.15 pm

12.35 pm

12.55 pm 1.45 pm

Storage and handling of dangerous goods on farms Some tips on how to store and handle chemicals safely on farms and in agricultural environments First Steps to Farm Safety guide – getting started in farm health and safety Sharing the content in the draft publication for farmers, First Steps to Farm Safety, which covers hazards in the five priority areas for agriculture to help set up a safety management approach Lunch and networking Psychosocial hazards in agriculture Unpacking common psychosocial hazards in agriculture; clarifying responsibilities; and increasing awareness of risk management approaches to empower agricultural stakeholders to mitigate risks

Lawry Lim Principal Dangerous Goods Officer, Dangerous Goods Safety, DMIRS

Julii Gaunt WorkSafe Inspector, DMIRS

Dr Terence Chia Senior Inspector Scientific Officer, Human Factors and Ergonomics, DMIRS

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2.05 pm

Panel discussion Influencing safety culture in the agricultural industry

2.35 pm

Closing remarks

2.40 pm

Forum concludes

Facilitator Andrew Ballam Panellists Dr Terence Chia Dave Gossage Tim Manning Sally North Jaime Rebelo Director Worksafe Industrial and Regional WorkSafe Division

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Our speakers

Sally North Acting WorkSafe Commissioner

Sally is the Acting WorkSafe Commissioner, greatly valuing the opportunity to make a difference to the community through WorkSafe’s education, inspections, investigations, legal and regulatory support teams and through collaborating with stakeholders.

Sally has led a WorkSafe directorate including specialist teams on human factors and ergonomics, asbestos, occupational hygiene, plant and engineering, and industry groups covering the public sector and related industries, and the retail and service industries. She has also acted as the Deputy WorkSafe Commissioner and is involved in state and national committees and working groups on work health and safety.

Sally has qualifications in chemistry, OSH, occupational hygiene and business administration.

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Keynote speaker Dave Gossage Agricultural Safety and Emergency Management Consultant, Preplan Pty Ltd

Dave was raised on the family dairy farm, which transformed into a beef farm, and later the family moved into broadacre farming.

Being able to fix most things with his hands from a young age, Dave became a qualified mechanical engineer while undertaking agricultural contracting and continuing working on the family farm.

From there he entered the mining and industrial world, then moved into law enforcement where he continued studies in risk and emergency management, community resilience and capacity building.

He moved further into risk and emergency management working in private, local, and state government enterprises, and gained qualifications in business management. Dave became a nationally recognised training expert and assessor, and a major incident manager handling multiple emergencies across the state and Australia.

Dave continues to engage in a range of volunteer work, supporting other volunteers and community groups and serving on not-for-profit charity boards and state and federal advisory boards.

He’s been recognised for innovation and community risk management, including receiving the Australian Fire Service Medal (AFSM) for the Queen’s Birthday Honours, as well as National Service, Municipal Enforcement Long Service, and state fire services medals.

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Pat Roberts Senior Electrical Inspector, Building and Energy, DMIRS

After training to be an electrician in the Royal Australian Navy, then spending many years as an electrician and electrical supervisor, Pat became an electrical inspector in 2005.

After a number of years, Pat transferred his role to Bunbury, moving his young family to Leschenault and finding time on weekends to become a scout leader. Pat has carried out inspections and investigations across some 150,000 square kilometres of the state, seeing and photographing much of the scenery of the South West, Great Southern and Southern Wheatbelt regions.

After 18 years as an inspector, Pat remains passionate about electrical safety and often speaks with electrical apprentices at TAFEs, electrical workers at industry nights and toolbox meetings, and at safety seminars.

Though Pat’s role sometimes involves serious and occasionally unpleasant interactions, he enjoys speaking with the unique people he meets. Despite travelling so many roads, the only hitchhiker he admits to picking up is a young redhead out of Mount Barker – a kelpie named Rose.

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Holly Freeman Executive Officer, SafeFarms WA

Holly grew up on her family’s farm, 30 kilometres south of Mullewa in Wongoondy. Before her current role as Executive Officer of SafeFarms WA, she spent four years back in the bush, living on her parents' farm and managing the local Community Resource Centre.

Holly has a degree in Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship.

She is passionate about small business development and looking after people – the most valuable asset of any business.

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Tim Manning Head of Health, Safety and Environment, CBH Group

Tim is the Head of Health, Safety and Environment for CBH Group, Australia’s largest grain handling company.

Tim has 19 years’ experience in health, safety and environment across agriculture and the resources industry and holds a degree in Applied Science with post graduate qualifications in Occupational Hygiene.

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Lawry Lim Principal Dangerous Goods Officer, WorkSafe Petroleum Safety and Dangerous Goods Directorate, DMIRS

Lawry has worked in the area of dangerous goods safety for the last 40 years. He has extensive experience in inspecting sites that store and handle dangerous goods across Western Australia.

He is a member of a number of Standard Australia committees on dangerous goods storage and handling.

Lawry holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Applied Chemistry) from Curtin University.

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Julii Gaunt WorkSafe Inspector, DMIRS

Julii has worked extensively in agricultural safety over her 13 year career as an inspector.

As a Western Australian farmer since the age of 17, she has owned, operated and worked in dairy, beef, buffalo, poultry and broadacre farming.

Julii is passionate about agricultural families and rural communities, and dedicated to providing workplace health and safety information and strategies to assist in the ongoing management of work health and safety issues in these realms.

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Dr Terence Chia Senior Inspector Scientific Officer, Human Factors and Ergonomics, DMIRS

Prior to joining WorkSafe, Terence worked as an academic across several WA universities, conducting research and lecturing in the area of leadership, team dynamics and human resource management.

He has seven years of human resources and organisational development experience in tertiary, not-for-profit, public and private sectors.

Terence is a registered psychologist, with a master’s degree in Industrial and Organisational Psychology and a PhD in Management (Organisational Behaviour) from the University of Western Australia.

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Jaime Rebelo Director WorkSafe Industrial and Regional Industries

Jaime is the WorkSafe Director for Industrial and Regional Industries Safety, and also oversees the enforcement efforts of WorkSafe across the agricultural sector in WA. He aims at making a difference through his role and seeks opportunities to collaborate with all relevant stakeholders in driving cultural change in safe work practices. Jaime is involved in state and national committees and working groups on work health and safety.

Jaime joined the WorkSafe team earlier this year, bringing a variety of experience from within the regulatory framework in the role of chief inspector and director for the occupational safety and health regulator in Brunei prior to coming to Australia; enforcing OSH legislative requirements across all workplaces; and in the oil and gas industry in Brunei dealing with marine logistics and health and safety matters.

He spent his early years as a mariner, having been a master mariner on LNG Carriers with Shell before moving into onshore roles.

Jaime has qualifications in nautical sciences, OSH and business administration. He has a poetry book published in his name.

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Master of ceremonies Andrew Ballam

General Manager Regulatory Training and Business Services, WorkSafe WA, DMIRS

Andrew has been with WorkSafe for more than a decade, and is currently responsible for a number of internally focussed functions including the professional development of WorkSafe inspectors and investigators, the development and improvement of internal processes, and the provision of administrative support.

He has led teams focused on external information and education, including the agency’s various websites and learning platforms, guidance publications and events.

Andrew has vocational qualifications in training, assessment, and e-learning, and holds degrees in adult education and human resource management. He has experience in the public and private sectors, as well as in not-for-profit, and prior to joining WorkSafe held roles in communications, leadership development, learning and development, and recruitment.

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