Farm lobbies welcome bill changes

The bill has passed the select committee stage and will come back to Parliament soon.

Feds health and safety spokesperson Katie Milne says the bill has gone some way to recognising that farms are different from urban industry workplaces.

“Farms are not construction sites, but have lots of grass and animals.  They are also where people live and [enjoy] 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.  The 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 study the bill’s fine print, but she’s 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.”

Beef + Lamb NZ says key changes to the Health and Safety Reform Bill as it relates to the rural sector go a long way to clarifying the responsibilities of farmers towards employees and visitors to their farms.

BLNZ chairman James Parsons says the organisation, jointly with Federated Farmers and DairyNZ, had spoken up on behalf of farmers in advocating sensible rules. He says it was good to see the transport and industrial relations select committee process working and acknowledging farmer concerns.

“While farmers are generally welcoming to visitors to their farms, the proposed health and safety regime was threatening to expose them to significant liability for events outside their control. It is now clear that recreational users coming onto farm land are responsible for their own safety. This includes duck shooters, hunters, mountain bikers, anglers and so on.

“The changes also recognise that the family home is excluded as part of the workplace. These changes recognise the unique features of farms as workplaces and homes for rural families, and apply good common sense to the issue of improving safety onfarm.”

Parsons said the members of the select committee deserve congratulation for taking time to understand the issues and make a pragmatic response.

“There are still issues that need resolving to further clarify responsibilities and to improve onfarm safety while taking into account the practicalities of modern farming. We will keep working with government and officials to seek a workable outcome,” Parsons said.