Monday, 06 August 2018 09:21

Fieldays doesn’t get it on safety

Written by 
This photograph was displayed at the Fieldays to promote a modified quad that can carry up to seven passengers. This photograph was displayed at the Fieldays to promote a modified quad that can carry up to seven passengers.

Carrying people to inaccessible parts of a property has always been a challenge, but it must be done safely and by the rules.

National Fieldays’ understanding of safety was seen lacking in its Innovations exhibit by Blinkhorne and Carroll, Wanganui, of a modified Honda quad said to be “certified to carry seven passengers”.

Quad makers are careful to urge ‘one rider only’ -- in safety stickers and in the first pages operator manuals. 

So your reviewer wonders at the modifications made to enable the Blinkhorne and Carroll machine to carry eight people or a ‘certified’ payload of 800kg.

The main modification was a third axle added to the rear of the machine; this might explain the increased load capacity. But fitting seven sets of rubber hand-grips can’t make the machine ‘certified’ to carry seven passengers. The engineering appeared well done, but it beggars belief that the business would court disaster by saying it is safe to carry so many extra passengers on the machine’s original load racks, even if only on level ground. 

The company also said riders need only wear protective headgear at speeds over 30km/h.

Patrick Carroll, for the exhibitor, described to Dairy News how the machine – one of three – is used to take staff into remote central North Island country for forest maintenance. 

He said the driver has the say on passenger numbers should the machine start to feel unstable. 

But Carroll is missing the point about safety because if “the machine feels unstable or the terrain changes” then the driver has not done a thorough pre-ride assessment. 

Likewise, the company’s statement that on a slope the top-side riders should “step off” in the event of instability shows it doesn’t understand how these machines should be operated, given that such action could cause the machine to tip more quickly. 

This shows up in its YouTube video of a rider climbing a near-vertical terrace without shifting his bodyweight forward, and the traverse of a narrow track with a steep drop-off while passengers sit casually on the machine’s racks. 

Both scenarios show an accident waiting to happen, given that quads require ‘active riding’ and the operator has no control over the shifting body-mass of his passengers.

Entry criteria for the Fieldays Innovation Awards show a built-in weakness in the acceptance of this entry that ignores best practice as advised by the machine’s manufacturer and by Worksafe. 

Fieldays said it had received a mechanical engineer’s report on the machine’s suitability to carry seven passengers, but as Dairy News went to press it had not named the engineer

More like this

Helping our youth to be resilient

OPINION: The Rural Support Trust ran a dinner and debate at the National Fieldays last month. In tables of 10, over 540 people were wined and dined, including the Prime Minister, supported by ministers from around the country.

Editorial: Agri's mojo is back

OPINION: Good times are coming back for the primary industries. From sentiment expressed at Fieldays to the latest rural confidence survey results, all indicate farmer confidence at a near-record high.

Sticky situation

OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.

Day out at Fieldays leads to ute win

Out of more than 80,000 entries, Daniel Neil from Piopio has been announced as the lucky winner of the Isuzu D-MAX LX Double Cab 4WD Ute in this year’s Fieldays Ute giveaway.

Back off!

OPINION: The inquiry into rural banking practice was welcomed at Fieldays, but Groundswell NZ added a proviso that this must include banks' treatment of agricultural emissions.

Featured

Australia develops first local mRNA FMD vaccine

Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

National

All eyes on NZ milk supply

All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.

Machinery & Products

Leader balers arrive in NZ

Officially launched at the National Fieldays event in June, the Leader in-line conventional PRO 1900 balers are imported and distributed…

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Full cabinet

OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter