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Nagle Contracting from Methven, Canterbury is among the contractors using the app.
According to numbers published by ACC, more than 60 farm-related injuries are reported every day, leaving much room for improvement.
With the Health and Safety Act placing the onus on employers, people in positions of power and employees to carry out rural operations safely, a routine safety check of machinery offers the benefits of keeping staff safe from hazards, while also offering the potential to extend the working life of plant.
Two years ago, Danish startup company FarmBackup Task introduced a job-tracking system to rural contractors in New Zealand. More recently, they have introduced a new feature to replace paper-based pre-start safety checks, with the aim to eliminate preventable accidents and breakdowns.
When introduced, Task offered a digital way to keep track of job sheets and ease accounting, with the app helping to digitise and optimise workflows for contractors. Feedback from users has highlighted potential in digitising the safety check sheets which many contractors rely on for their employees to go through prior to using a tractor or machine.
Co-founder Anders Knudsen says since launching FarmBackup Task a couple of years ago, New Zealand has become its home away from home.
“After Denmark, it is our biggest market, so we work closely with rural contractors to help them digitise their workflows, so the addition of safety check sheets made a great deal of sense.”
Contractors can customise the pre-startchecks to suit every machine, with the number of items needing to be checked down to the individual operator. Besides reducing injuries, the daily checks should also prove to be beneficial in the early identification of potential failures, with unplanned breakdowns always having the habit of occurring in the middle of a good harvesting day or just before the last paddock of baling needs to be finished before a storm arrives.
Nagle Contracting from Methven, Canterbury is among the contractors using Farm- Backup Task.
Catherine Leonard from Nagle contracting explains: “Incorporating the Safety Check into the existing app will enable us to identify possible hazards faster and ensure that procedures are followed to help our staff and our machinery run efficiently and safely, so we’re looking forward to implementing the new feature.”
Knudsen says, “when one in four injuries is caused by being stressed out, the checklist will be a friendly reminder to pay attention even when you are busy and on the run”.
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With the biannual Italian EIMA machinery Expo less than a month away, Case IH has taken out a Technical Evolution award for the Advanced Vehicle Suspension system available on its Optum 360–440 series tractors.
The Advanced Vehicle Suspension system, available on Optum 360, 390, and 440 models, responds to changing conditions, automatically adjusting how the suspension reacts to absorbs shocks and controlling vehicle movement.
In operation, sensors monitor the vibrations transmitted from the tractor chassis to the operator cabin, allowing the system to adjust suspension damping in real time. The control system incorporates key priorities, such as comfort at lower speeds and stability as speed increases, while also reacting to factors such as lower tyre pressures, where the tyres absorb more of the initial shock.
Case IH said as suspension requirements change throughout the working day, as tractors move between the paddock and road transport, the system manages suspension response in the background as tasks, speeds and conditions change, leaving the operator without the need to make manual adjustments.
Richard Hollins, Optum series tractors global product manager, said: “Pioneering technology must earn its place in the working day. Farmers and contractors will judge an investment by what it delivers, including manageable ownership costs, dependable up-time and the versatility to tackle different jobs. With AVS, we are putting intelligent control to work for comfort and stability, without giving the operator another setting to manage.”
Organised by FederUnacoma, the Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Federation, the contest has been part of EIMA since 1986, with the Technical Evolution distinction awarded to products that introduce original improvements to solutions already manufactured or patented.
www.caseih.com
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