AS thousands of farmers with on-farm storage get busy marketing and moving their grain, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is pushing a strong safety message.
The GRDC is urging care when outloading silos or when performing other potentially dangerous tasks, such as seed cleaning and treating.
Statistics show that the coming months are becoming more high risk for crop producers, with the increased emphasis on on-farm storage, a spokesman for the GRDC said.
With this in mind, the GRDC has teamed up with the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) and other RDCs to produce several guides on farm safety.
FarmSafe WA Alliance executive officer Sheila Payne said January to February could be a dangerous time for growers.
“Around this time the danger points include grain augers, belts and pulleys and people falling off silos and trucks.”
Australia-wide, tractors and four-wheel drive motorbikes were a leading cause of deaths on farms, workshops were the greatest cause of injuries, and unguarded grain augers were a significant cause of serious injury.
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