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Rebecca Keoghan.
A major new initiative to improve safety in farming has been launched by Landcorp, branded Pamu Academy.
It’s a joint venture with Wilson Consulting, a specialist in helping companies to embrace a culture of safety from boardroom to staff on the front line.
Pamu Academy general manager Rebecca Keoghan says after three staff were killed on Landcorp farms the company asked Wilson to audit their safety culture and mechanisms; they found it was not good.
“Yes, we had orange clothes and safety procedures, we had bits of paper and we had top managers who understood safety, but we didn’t have every staff member understanding why -- and the why is very important.”
Keoghan says all Landcorp staff have now attended courses to bring about a paradigm shift in safety culture; they like it because it has given them reasons for the change and practical tools to implement it.
“As an organisation we have an obligation to send people home in one piece – not two,” she says.
This success has prompted the setting up of the Pamu Academy to share Landcorp’s discoveries with the wider agri sector. Eight separate programmes are now available, ranging from courses for executives through to staff on the front line. Mental health and wellbeing gets a lot of emphasis.
“If people are not mentally 100% they will make wrong decisions and behaviours and you end up with a safety problem,” says Keoghan.
All the courses are up on the Pamu Academy website.
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