Lifeguard answer to quad bike crush injuries

Farmers haven’t been convinced of the case for roll bars on quad bikes.

They reckon they can make the bikes less stable. While they can afford protection from crush injuries if the bike rolls, they can also cause crush injuries if they land on the rider.

But Ag Tech Industries has come up with something much better.

Their Lifeguard, is a passive, flexible and yielding crush protection device:

A steel roll bar will give crush protection but can have limitations, as they can cause injuries in themselves, being very unforgiving when they strike or land on the rider on the ground. Because of this, Ag-Tech Industries of Dargaville has come up with an entirely new concept which has been developed and tested over the past 18 months. . .

The difference is that it is not a hard, ridged roll bar, but is passive and flexible, and will deflect around a person’s body, limbs or head on impact, but will not collapse, and still hold a quad up off the ground to provide crush protection for the rider.

This product won the New Zealand “Golden Standard” Agricultural Invention of the Year award in 2012 because of the benefits it offers to farm safety and improvement to industry.

The secret of the Lifeguard invention is that the arc is made from individual segments tensioned together by cables, enabling it to flex and move on impact, but it also supports tonnes of weight. . .

The Lifeguard won the “Golden Standard” Agricultural Invention of the Year award at the Mystery Creek Fieldays last year.

The company explains more here.

Rural round-up

Farming couple move south to live dream – Collette Devlin:

Hannes and Lyzanne Du Plessis travelled to New Zealand from South Africa eight years ago with their child, a suitcase and only $20 in a bank account.

Six weeks ago, they moved to Southland with their three children to contract milk on a dairy syndicate managed by MyFarm at Edendale.

“We had no idea our lives would go in this direction,” Mrs Du Plessis said. “We want our story to inspire others. You do not need a lot of money or experience, because the opportunities to live your dream are all here within the New Zealand dairy industry.” . . .

Self-shedding dorper sheep a growing breed - Collette Devlin:

The dorper sheep, a common sight in most parts of the country, was introduced to New Zealand by a Southland breeder, but it remains a rare breed in the region.

There are 45 registered breeders in New Zealand but only four of these are registered in Southland, the New Zealand Sheep Breeders Association reports. Two are in Gore, one in Balclutha and one in South Otago . . .

Problems facing new grain and seed head - Gerald Piddock:

Ian Mackenzie has taken up the chair of Federated Farmers Grain and Seed at a tumultuous time.

He comes into the role after a tough few years for grain farmers with a grain surplus keeping returns low for many of them . . .

June farm sales up year on year but median price per hectare at 7 year low says REINZ – Gareth Vaughan:

A total of 111 farms changed hands last month, 30 more than in June
last year, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand
(REINZ), with nearly half the sales coming in Canterbury, Otago and
Southland. However, REINZ says the median price per hectare is now at
its lowest level since July 2004.

The June sales included 13 dairy farms and 59 grazing properties and
compares with the 81 farms that changed hands in June 2010, 80 in June
2009, 216 in June 2008, 212 in June 2007 and 158 in June 2006. . .

Radicalsim from the far right – Tony Chaston:

Don Nicolsons foray into politics from a Federated Farmers background
is not new, as many well known politicans have started their political
career via this way.

Just how successful he will be only time will tell, but it is
interesting to note that Bruce Wills the new president has already
stated that his style will be less divisive. Is the political following
by farmers changing, and are they moving further to the right and away
from ther traditional National Party roots? . .

Nestle takes slice of Vital Foods:

A subsidiary of global food giant Nestle says it is taking a minority stake in Vital Foods, a New Zealand company that specialises in developing kiwifruit-based “functional foods” solutions for gastrointestinal conditions.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but Nestle Health Science said in a statement that it would take a seat on the board of Vital Foods “to help steer future product development as well as commercial strategy”. . .

It’s time for some friendly persuasion – Jon Morgan:

Bruce Wills has the creased features of an outdoorsman and the dirty fingernails of a farmer who just a few hours before was dagging lambs in the Hawke’s Bay hills. But seated in the Wellington head office of Federated Farmers he looks at home in a suit and tie.

He is a model of the modern farmer – university educated, highly numerate, literate, articulate and computerate, and an agricultural jack-of-all-trades, handy with hammer, fencing pliers, shearer’s handpiece, drenching gun and team of dogs.

Now he wants to add political lobbying to his skillset – the tramping of corridors, handshaking, backslapping, joshing, hard talk, soft persuasion and smiling through clenched teeth . . .

I’ve got farming in my blood -  Eleanor Ainge Roy:

Bruce Wills, the new head of Federated Farmers, talks about a childhood spent taming the wilderness, and the price he paid for returning to the family land.

When the Wills family moved onto Trellinoe Farm in the late 1950s, 45km north of Napier, the only accommodation was a tiny rabbiter’s cottage, stuck on the knob of a hill. There were no gardens, no fences, and no grass. Just acres and acres of blackberry scrub, wild pigs and goats.

After more than 50 years of hard yakka turning the land into an 1100ha sheep and cattle station, Bruce Wills says the family is still in the “breaking in” phase.

Wills, 50, is the new president of Federated Farmers, and spent his first week in the job travelling between Rotorua, Wellington, Trellinoe and Hamilton. It was a hectic mix of attending meetings, talking to the media – and sheep crutching on his farm.

Prime lambs return record sale prices – Sally Rae:

Record prices for prime lambs at southern stock sales are      giving farmers something to smile about after last year’s      shocking season when up to a million lambs died in freezing      conditions.   

A pen of about 20 Dorset Down ram lambs sold for $223.50 each      at a recent Charlton stock sale in Gore. The price was      believed to be a record for the saleyards, PGG Wrightson Gore      livestock manager Mark Cuttance said .  . .

Growth rates beefed up in simple herd home – Sally Rae:

When Mike Elliot could not get the growth rates he    desired through winter to finish beef cattle – despite feeding    as much as they wanted to eat – he looked for an alternative.   

With an 88ha farm in South Otago, although about 11ha of that  was in trees, it was a fairly small property and he needed to   farm intensively.

But he had a “phobia” about making mud and there were also      the increasing costs of planting crops and the amount of time      and effort to feed cattle on those crops . . .   

Support, direction required for rural sector – Dr Marion Johnson:

Sometimes I completely fail to understand New Zealand. As a     nation we trade on a clean green image yet encourage the  desecration of our resources at every turn.   

 We espouse a No 8 wire mentality; yet I wonder how many   citizens even know what No 8 wire is? We no longer support  innovation, unless it is within a prescribed field and then I      would debate the legitimacy of calling such developments innovation . . .   

Bee roads and wildflowers can help save bees in the UK – pasture farmers  are key players  – Pasture to Profit:

Do you know what a “Bee Road” is?
It’s a wild flower planting on farms to attract & protect Bees. I’ve started my own “Bee Road” sowing a wild flower strip of about 40metres x 10m along a roadside on a pasture based dairy farm.  https://www.cotswoldseeds.com/seedmix/wild-flowers-1 

It was sown this spring & is now in glorious techno colour. The bees &
insects love it but there have been some problems like the dry weather &
weed infestation. I am justly proud of my efforts but there are frustrations .  . .

Farmsafe and AgITO launch Quad Bike Farm Licence:

Farmsafe, in association with Agriculture ITO (AgITO), has launched the Quad Bike Farm
Licence.

“On average 35 farmers come off their quad bikes every day,” Grant Hadfield, FarmSafe national manager, says.

“FarmSafe and AgITO are committed to reducing accidents and changing attitudes through training on safe quad bike riding practices.”

The Quad Bike Farm Licence is gained through a practical on job training package that covers safe quad bike riding practices as well as teaching participants to effectively identify, minimise and isolate potential bike riding hazards and make safe riding decisions. . .

Coroner’s recommendation not realistic for quads

The deaths of 120 people in quad bike accidents over the last 10 years is a matter of concern but the Labour Department has made the right call in rejecting a coroner’s recommendations for compulsory  lap belts and roll bars.

The department says lap belts would make it extremely difficult to “actively ride” a quad bike and the science of roll bar protection is incomplete.

Filipino beekeeper Jody Dean Santos, 21, of Masterton, died from a massive skull fracture days after he was “catapulted” off a quad bike he was riding at work in August 2008.

In his findings on the death, Wellington Coroner Ian Smith said accidents involving quad bikes had concerned coroners for a long time – about 120 had been killed on them in the past 10 years.

Mr Smith said he was frustrated by the failure of authorities to take up the recommendations coroners “consistently” made.

He recommended the Labour and Transport ministers undertake an immediate investigation to consider the mandatory use of helmets, roll bars and lap belts on all quad bikes.

There’s no debate about the use of helmets but roll bars require more research and lap belts would increase the danger of riding quads.

But Department of Labour national support manager Mike Munnelly said that while it supported compulsory helmet wearing, to ride a quad bike safely it was absolutely necessary to be able to stand up and to shift body weight for balance – or “active riding”.

“A lap belt or restraining system makes it extremely difficult for a rider to make these safety corrections and exposes them to increased danger,” Mr Munnelly said.

Even if this wasn’t the case the number of times riders get on and off a bike on farms would mean they’d be very unlikely to use a belt.

The department launched a quad bike safety programme last year. It pushes the message that riders must be trained and experienced enough to do the job, children should not ride adult quad bikes, always wear a helmet and choose the right vehicle for the job.

That is very good advice which we do our best to ensure our employees heed.

Alf Grumble gives his view on this issue in: if it’s a good idea for more people to belt up let’s start with coroners.

Tragic reinforcement of need for quad bike action

Less than a week after Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson launched a campaign aimed at reducing the toll from quad bike accidents on farms there’s been a tragic reinforcement of the need for it.

A young farmhand on a Landcorp farm in Buller died yesterday after being pinned under the four wheeler she’d been riding.

I doubt if there’s a farm with a quad which hasn’t been invovled in an accident of some sort.

We’ve had some near misses  – two of our staff have ended up in the irrigation dam – fortunately both times on top of the quad not underneath it;  several have come off when bikes went out of control and one worker broke a leg when she rolled the four wheeler.

RivettingKate Taylor also has a list of quad bike accidents.

The safety campaign will focus on four basic safety steps:

Wear a helmet

Ensure riders are trained/experienced

Don’t let children ride adult quad bikes (over 90cc)

Choose the right vehicle for the job – pay close attention to what your quad bike owner’s manual says about carrying passengers, and the maximum towing and carrying limits. 

Federated Farmers supports the campaign:

“It’s been a while since we had a coordinated ATV safety programme like this and it’s most welcome,” says Donald Aubrey, Federated Farmers Vice-President and Chair of the Agricultural Health and Safety Council, who was represented at the launch, by Stew Wadey, Federated Farmers Waikato provincial president.

“The lesson we’ve learnt is that safety education is not a one-off exercise, due to the natural turnover of farm workers.  It needs to be on-going just like it is with road safety.

“Like with road safety we see it as education and training led.  Prosecution, the ultimate DoL sanction, is like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.  This is about preventing accidents occurring in the first place.

“Federated Farmers, the Agricultural Health and Safety Council and FarmSafe are all fully behind the DoL on this and genuinely commend the Department for its efforts.

“ATV’s have become the farmer’s ‘Swiss Army knife’, being horse, trail bike and light tractor all in one.  This multi-use nature of ATV’s can see them pushed beyond their design limits

Everyone who rides a four wheeler needs to follow the basic safety steps promoted by the campaign to reduce the risk of another four wheel tragedy.

Licences will be required for people who operate quads from next year, a move supported by FarmSafe chair Charlie Pedersen:

Pedersen believed a licence offered farmers an affordable and simple means of ensuring they were employing staff at a certain standard of ATV ability.

“It will probably cost around the same as a gun licence and last for around 10 years.

“There will have to be evidence of some practical time done on a quad and the ATV Guidelines would be similar to a Road Code,” he said.

The ATV licence would either be a requirement for new staff applying for a job or something employers contributed towards staff obtaining while in the job.

“As an employer if I require them to have a licence then, as long as I provide a bike that is safe and a helmet to wear, I have done my utmost to meet health and safety regulations.”

Requiring a licence will ensure people using quads are trained and may also help bring home the message about the need to take quad bike safety seriously.

Otago research finds causes of quad crashes

Otago University School of Physiotherapy researchers have identified the major causes of quad bike crashes:

A study of 30 South Otago farm workers revealed those participants who steered uphill rather than downhill while tackling a left-facing slope had the most accidents, Dr Stephan Milosavljevic said.

Stability was compounded by the positioning of the throttle on the right side of the quad bike, making it more difficult for people turning uphill, he said.

Teaching people who ride quads to turn down rather than up when they’re on a left-facing slope sounds like a simple way to improve safety.

A narrow width between wheels, and drivers elevated in the seat posed further dangers.

Of the 30 people tested in the study, 63% had lost control of their quad bikes.

Dr Milosavljevic said anecdotal evidence suggested many farmers had fallen off their bikes at some point, and simply “got back on”.

Anecdotal evidence round here supports that. We’ve had one broken leg as a result of a quad crash which would show up in official statistics. We’ve had several other accidents which have given the riders a fright but no injuries. They’re recorded, as required by health & safety legislation, but they won’t show up in the official count.

The research also found that high levels of vibration from riding quads could result in back pain.

A 20% cut in quad bike use would save lives and cut down on vibration exposure, and for closer jobs farmers would be well advised to walk, rather than take the bikes.

“If the quad bikes don’t need to be used, don’t use them . . . they are just too convenient.

“Walking is a dramatically under-rated exercise.”

It’s the practice on some dairy farms for staff to take a quad out to round up the cows for milking, leave it in the paddock, walk to the shed behind the cows and back to the paddock afterwards where they get back on the bike. It doesn’t take any longer - comfortable walking pace for cows is similar to that for people - and saves fuel. This research indicates it is also better for backs.

How can ATVs be safer?

When I heard the news there’d been another fatality with an ATV I assumed it was on a farm.

It wasn’t, although that doesn’t make the death any less a tragedy.

It does however, raise a question of what can be done to make quad bikes and ATVs safer.

Federated Farmers is urging more training for recreational users.

That might help but it won’t change the fact that they are big, powerful vehicles which can be difficult to control and are very unforgiving if they roll.

We’ve had two incidents when a quad bike and a its rider have ended up in the irrigation dam – both times the riders were unharmed. Last year one of our dairy workers broke a leg when she rolled a quad and like msot other farms our staff have had minor scrapes.

It’s not difficult to learn the basics of driving quad bikes and ATVs, probably easier than it is to ride a motorbike, but it takes strength, skill and experience to drive them safely.