increase font size
Federated Farmers health and safety spokesperson Katie Milne
The Parliamentary Select Committee’s delay on the Health and Safety Reform Bill has led to improvements for the farming industry, say the Federated Farmers.
Feds health and safety spokesperson Katie Milne says the Bill overall will make farms safer places.
Specifically she says the Bill has gone some way to recognising that farms are different to urban industrial workplaces.
“Farms are not construction sites but with lots of grass and animals. They are also where people live and use for recreation. We are pleased the Government has signalled a Supplementary Order Paper to acknowledge this. It will make clear that a farmer’s home is not a workplace. Ideally, it should include other farm accommodation as well.”
“We also didn’t want to have a risk imposed on us for people who come onto our properties without our knowledge and have an accident. They parliamentarians have listened to us and the Bill puts the responsibility on recreational users back to those people, where it should be,” Milne says.
Federated Farmers will be studying the Bill for the fine print, but Milne says she has already identified ambiguity and problems with responsibilities and liabilities for a Person Controlling a Business or Undertaking (PCBU).
“The Bill still hasn’t sorted the overlaps of more than one PCBU on a farm, where for instance, a farmer and a contractor are both working,” she says.
Ngai Tahu's legal action seeking self-determination (rangatiratanga) over fresh water could have huge implications for the future of farming, the viability of farming businesses, and our wider rural communities, says Federated Farmers national vice president Colin Hurst.
A survey of contract milkers in the dairy sector has revealed some shocking statistics - 43% of respondents reported abusive behaviour from a farm owner and a whopping 72% suffered a mental and/or financial setback in the role.
OPINION: The Government's latest move to make freshwater farm plans more practical and affordable is welcome, and long overdue.
There's been a positive response to the Government's latest move to make freshwater farm plans more practical and affordable.
Many contract milkers in badly drought affected regions around the country are coming under severe financial stress and farm owners are being urged to help them through a bad patch until the start of the new season.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) says the Government needs to close loopholes in the guidance around limits on carbon forestry as news of further whole-farm sales emerges.
Sales of premium brand Envy apples are booming in Taiwan.
Sheep milk powder and products exporter Maui Milk is partnering with one of China’s biggest dairy players to boost its market presence.
Ngai Tahu's legal action seeking self-determination (rangatiratanga) over fresh water could have huge implications for the future of farming, the viability of farming businesses, and our wider rural communities, says Federated Farmers national vice president Colin Hurst.
A Māori-owned agribusiness helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sectors wants more industry support.
Only this season’s $10/kgMS bumper payout has saved some dairy farms along the Taranaki coast from absolute disaster due to the present drought – dubbed as one of the worst ever for some.
OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…
OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.
