Farm lobby groups’ reliance on CPDs worrying: FCAI

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) has criticised Farmsafe Australia’s recent report on farm casualties and said there is a continuing over-reliance on crush protection devices (CPDs) to improve safety on all-terrain vehicles (ATVs).

Last week, in conjunction with National Farm Safety Week, Farmsafe Australia released its inaugural

Farmsafe Australia uses data from AgHealth Australia, which is an academic unit of the University of Sydney investigating farms incidents across Australia.

According to the report, quad bike accidents are the main cause of casualties on farms, recording more fatalities and injuries than tractor or livestock related incidents.

To date, there has been nine deaths and 27 non-fatal injuries related to quad bike incidents, according to the report.

But FCAI has come out to refute that data using numbers by Safework Australia (SWA), saying the emphasis on quad bike being the overarching cause of casualties on farms is inaccurate.

Data obtained from SWA by the FCAI showed that during farm work activities from 2003 to 2019, tractor fatalities far exceeded ATV fatalities. Tractor fatalities totalled 145, ATV fatalities totalled 83.

“The FCAI acknowledges the importance of increased safety for farm workers but notes several concerns in the Farmsafe Australia report,” the organisation said.

“The report relies on limited AgHealth Australia fatality data and therefore fails to include contributing factors that identify more viable safety solutions than CPDs."

“The FCAI aims to state the facts around farm vehicle involvement in fatalities, and, it also wishes to correct erroneous statements made by Farm Lobby Groups and the ACCC.”

FCAI identified recreational use of ATVs on farms as a significant area of concern. According to SWA’s ‘Quad Watch’ data, more than 50 per cent of ATV fatalities on farms occur during recreational use. ATV work related fatalities totalled 64, non-work-related fatalities totalled 69.

In addition, FCAI identified a number of contributing factors regarding the age of riders, the use of helmets and the involvement of passengers.

Additionally, FCAI said CPDs provide no overall safety benefit in a rollover and may even increase the risk of serious injury, based on international simulation studies and a University of NSW (UNSW) survey of ATV users. The UNSW survey even found a specific CPD- the Quad Bar - to be associated with a statistically significant increase in the risk of serious injury, FCAI said.

It maintains the best way to prevent quad bike accidents on farm is by adopting correct safety practices. This includes wearing helmets when riding quad bikes, preventing children from riding ATVs not designed for them, and not carrying passengers on single rider ATVs.

Farmsafe Australia has acknowledged the importance of education, but argued that the safety messages and rebates offered by the Government simply weren’t effective enough in preventing quad bike accidents.

“With the campaigns seemingly not having much effect on behaviour change, safety best practice stipulates that engineering controls are the most effective risk minimisation strategy where a risk cannot be eliminated, substituted or isolated,” said Farmsafe Australia.

“CPDs and the minimum stability requirements are engineered controls and the best chance that we have at addressing the inherent risks attributed to the design of quad bikes.”

Farmsafe Australia chairman, Charles Armstrong, hit back at accusations that the organisation was not listening to farmers when they advocated for compulsory CPDs on ATVs.

“I cannot think of a more important need to advocate for, than the need to come home safely at night,” he said.

“The thing about safety is that it isn’t just one factor that could ‘save a life’ or minimise injury. There are a multitude of variables at play when accidents happen and any one factor could tip the situation from being an accident that someone walks away from, to being a tragedy that friends and family are left to mourn.

“So, let’s minimise one risk by implementing a standard that stipulates the use of an engineered control. And let’s stop looking for reasons that justify human suffering.”

In October 2019, the Australian Government has introduced new legislation surrounding quad bikes on recommendations given by the ACCC which includes the compulsory fitment of CPDs on any ATVs sold in Australia by 2021.

As a result, key manufacturers such as Yamaha, Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, Polaris and BRP have announced their withdrawal from the local ATV market in protest of the regulation.

Armstrong said he is “deeply saddened” by the manufacturers’ response and said it is alarming they are not willing to change for the sake of their customers’ wellbeing.

“Requiring retailers to sell safer bikes will mean that the farmers using the bikes are less liable to be prosecuted by WHS regulators,” he said.

“It shifts the regulatory burden from farmers to the manufacturers, where it ultimately belongs.”

However, FCAI, which represents the manufacturers, said they believe fitting an untested component to their vehicles is “ethically unsupportable” and equates to using farmers as crash test dummies.

Hence they have decided to leave the Australian market rather than follow the ACCC’s mandate, FCAI said.

The FCAI is urging farm lobby groups to shift their focus instead to: