FAQs

Quad bikes are a valuable and essential farm tool when used correctly and appropriately. But every day at least two people on farms need medical attention because of quad bike accidents. They are also a factor in 25 per cent of deaths on farms.

Both WorkSafe and manufacturers provide guidance for the appropriate use of quad bikes. We encourage farmers to consider whether their quad bike is the right vehicle for the task at hand. It’s easy to lose control of a quad bike if:

• you’re distracted

• it’s heavily loaded

• you’re towing a heavy weight, or

• riding over difficult ground.

For many farmers quad bikes are the only vehicle they use for light jobs, however, in some circumstances it’s best to use another vehicle. Whether you use a quad bike, tractor or Ute, for instance, the requirement to keep people safe in your workplace means you need to choose the right vehicle for the job.

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We know that children are a vital component of farming family life and the new law is not about changing this. As a farmer, you are responsible for ensuring that everyone – your workers, visitors and your family – is not put at risk by the work carried out on the farm.

Farms come with big machines, big animals and big pressures. You need to be aware of the risks your farm presents and work to manage those risks, acknowledging that managing these risks for children is very different to managing them for adults. The younger the child, the less risk averse they are, and the more attention needs to be paid by parents or carers.

Many risks can be easily managed by, for example, using vehicles suitable for passengers, fencing artificial ponds, covering pits, or even creating 'safe kid zones' in dairy sheds, or working together with neighbours as farmers have always done. This means farming parents can still keep their children safe during busy work times.

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All kinds of people come and go on farms all the time for various reasons. Employees, contractors, vets, and recreational visitors, such as hunters and trampers, can be on your land at any given time.

The new law makes it clear what is and isn’t a workplace on a farm and farmers have a duty to manage workplace risks in the following areas:

• Farm buildings and immediate surrounding areas (whether or not work is going on at the time).

• Other parts of the farm, where work is being carried out.

The law is quite clear – the farmhouse is not a workplace.

If a recreational visitor crosses an area of the farm being used for work purposes, then you are responsible for their health and safety. If they cross an area of the farm which is not being used for work purposes, and is not close to the buildings on the farm, then you shouldn’t need to take any action in relation to that person.

The only exception might be where farm work has recently been carried out and a hazard still existed eg, recent spraying of hazardous chemicals. In these situations you would have to think about how you would reasonably communicate and manage this for visitors and others.

You’re also responsible for the health and safety of your workers and, where other people may be harmed by your work, for managing the risks that you can reasonably control.

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In short, everyone:

1. The business itself – a new legal concept is a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU). A PCBU will usually be a business entity, such as a company, rather than an individual. The business will have the primary duty under the new law to ensure the health and safety of workers and others affected by the work it carries out.

That’s why the business may also need to consult with other businesses where it shares a worksite or are part of a contracting or supply chain, to make sure all workers are safe and healthy. 

2. Officers – includes directors and other people who make governance decisions that significantly affect a business. Officers have a duty of due diligence to ensure their business complies with its health and safety obligations.

3. Workers – must take reasonable care to ensure the health and safety of themselves and others, and to comply with the business’s reasonable instructions and policies.

4. Other people who come to the workplace, such as visitors or customers, also have some health and safety duties. It’s all about taking responsibility for what you can control.

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A PCBU is a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking’. While a PCBU may be an individual person or an organisation, in most cases the PCBU will be an organisation (eg a business entity such as a company).

An individual, such as a sole trader, can also be a PCBU.

While the terms ‘business’ and ‘undertaking’ are not defined in HSWA, the usual meanings of these terms are:

• ‘business’: an activity carried out with the intention of making a profit or gain

• ‘undertaking’: an activity that is non-commercial in nature (certain activities of a local authority).

Examples of PCBUs:

Individuals or organisations can be PCBUs if they carry out work, regardless of their legal structure. 

Examples of PCBUs are:

• a business in the form of an incorporated company

• a sole trader or self-employed person

• a general partner in a partnership (if the partnership is a limited partnership)

• a partner in a partnership (if the partnership is not a limited partnership)

• an organisation created by legislation (government department, university, school or local authority).

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The simple answer is everybody – the board of trustees, the principal, staff, parents and others. But there are specific responsibilities for specific roles.

• Collectively, the board of trustees as a legal entity holds the primary duty of care to ensure the health and safety of everybody involved with the school (staff, children, parents, members of the public) ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’.

• Individually, the board members, including the principal, are ‘officers’ under the new Act. They are responsible for exercising due diligence to ensure the school is meeting its health and safety obligations. They need to assure themselves the school has the appropriate policies, procedures and resources in place and to monitor them.

• Principals, as well as being officers, are workers. In this capacity, like all workers, they must make sure that what they do or don’t do doesn’t adversely affect the health and safety of others in the school.

• Parents and other visitors also have a responsibility to take reasonable care for their own and others’ health and safety.

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Whether or not a sporting club owes a duty under HSWA depends on whether the club is a volunteer association. A volunteer association is defined in HSWA as a group of volunteers working together for one or more community purposes where none of the volunteers employs any person to carry out work for the volunteer association. Volunteer associations are not PCBUs and do not owe any duties under HSWA.

A sports club that does not meet the definition of a volunteer association is considered to be a PCBU and will owe a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the health and safety of any workers or other persons is not put at risk from work carried out as part of the undertaking.

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