Dairy Holdings are proud to support the #PlantASeedForSafety Project in New Zealand.
Targeted at rural women, this project shares positive stories about health, safety and wellbeing in order to influence change in rural industries and communities and boost women’s confidence in their ability to influence change.
The #PlantASeedForSafety Project works by profiling women from all parts of rural communities who are making practical improvements to health, safety and wellbeing – from farm owners, shepherds, workers, wives and partners, to nurses, doctors and teachers, agricultural contractors, shearing contractors and even the local barista – as every person living in a rural community contributes to the health, safety and wellbeing of someone.
Safer Farms has partnered with #PlantASeedForSafety’s Founder, Australia’s Alex Thomas, to bring the project to New Zealand.
Both believe that a bit of paperwork or taking a ‘box ticking’ approach towards improving health and safety isn’t going to change minds – it’s social change that’s needed.
“Farm safety encompasses more than just the safe handling of chemicals or animals, or safety on quad bikes or tractors – it’s also about having strategies to deal with stress and having the right conversations to ensure the safety of children, or other more vulnerable men and women on the farm and in the community,” says Safer Farms General Manager, Tony Watson.
“If someone has found a better, safer way of doing something on the farm or in their community, that’s the story the project aims to tell.”
With 10 work related deaths in the agriculture sector in the first three months of this year alone, we at Dairy Holdings also hope this project will influence change in the sector.
Everyone wants to see their loved ones walk through the door at the end of the day and we believe that women who #PlantASeedForSafety can save lives.
We encourage you to take note of the ideas being shared, share your own stories and to #SaveALifeListenToYourWife.
Visit the website www.plantaseedforsafety.com to read and take part in the movement.
*#PlantASeedForSafety is powered in New Zealand by both Safer Farms and Alex Thomas.
- #PlantASeedForSafety has already recorded 23 women’s stories in New Zealand.
- Across both countries, 57 women have contributed their stories to the project.
- According to WorkSafe statistics, 23 people were killed from April 2019 to March 2020 in the agriculture industry.
- 10 people died from January to March this year in work related incidents.
- #PlantASeedForSafety was founded by Alex Thomas in Australia in 2018.
- Alex Thomas has won multiple awards for her work with #PlantASeedForSafety, including the 2018 AgriFuturesTM Rural Women’s Award (SA) and the 2018 SafeWork SA Augusta Zadow Award.
- Quotes from Safer Farms Health and Safety Advocate, Harriet Bremner:
- “I wanted to be part of the movement because I know what it’s like to lose someone I love on the farm. I also know how much women care about the people they love, staying safe while they work. We want to change the stigma of ‘box ticking’ when it comes to health and safety, and get rid of the ‘it’ll never happen to me’ attitude many of our kiwi farmers currently have. An accident or fatality can happen to anyone at any time, regardless of how experienced they are. This is about planting a seed for safety, to get people home to their families at the end of every day.”
- Quotes from #PlantASeedForSafety Founder Alex Thomas:
- “It’s a dream come true to launch in New Zealand and I’m already so, so inspired by the remarkable women who have already shared their stories. Everybody knows someone who could be making smarter, safer and healthier choices, and yet the current focus on paperwork and ‘box-ticking’ is detracting us from talking about the sorts of things we do on a day to day basis that prevent people from getting hurt. We need to talk much, much less about paperwork and much, much more about the things that could actually save a life.”
- “Rural women are the experts in their partners, their businesses and their communities, and they are often the closest other person in proximity to the work. #PlantASeedForSafety is a celebration of their contribution to rural industries and communities, as well as an acknowledgement of just how influential they can be in making practical improvements to health and safety.”
- “The #PlantASeedForSafety Project is a legacy to my mum, my dad, our industry and our way of life. As a part-time carer for my father who is now permanently disabled as a result of his life’s work in agriculture, The #PlantASeedForSafety Project was born from the acknowledgement that no amount of paperwork would have influenced him to make safer, healthier choices.”
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