Health worker resources

Farmers have a higher risk of death than the general Australian population, due to injury, cardiovascular disease, some cancers and suicide. They are also prone to other unique injuries and conditions associated with life and work in agriculture.

A number of research reports  on farmers health and injury prevention relevant to health workers , are available on this website under the “Data and Research” and “Projects”.   The following resources provide practical information appropriate for rural health professionals working with farmers and farm families. 

Click on the following page links for:

1. Farm health and safety promotion resources for health workers

2. Teaching and learning resources for health professionals

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Teaching and learning resources for health professionals

The following resources provide information on farm health and injury to:

* assist health workers in their everyday interactions with farmers
* support the development of local health programs inclusive of farmers health and safety needs

Click on the following resource or page links: 

* Farm Health and Safety Toolkit for Rural General Practices

* Farm Health and Injury Chartbook Series

* Community programs to improve cardiovascular health and cancer prevention: A preliminary review of programs in rural Australia (available soon)

* Powerpoint presentations for health professionals (unlinked resources available soon)

o An Overview Of Farm Health And Safety For Health Professionals
o Guide to the Farm Health And Safety Toolkit For Rural General Practices
o Conducting a Pitstop for farmers program
o Falls prevention in farmers
o The Older Farmers Program – Workshops for great ideas
o Farm noise and hearing loss
o Farm safety with school students -  educational resources and farm safety promotion

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Health and safety promotion with farmers

These resources are for direct use by farmers and are useful for health workers providing health and injury prevention advice to farmers during client interactions or at promotional events.  . 

1. Child health and safety

* Health Service/Clinic Poster
* Personal Health Record insert
* Child Safety On Rural Properties Checklist
* Safe Play Areas on Farms – A Resource Kit (booklet and pamphlet)
* Childcare options for farming families factsheet
* Link to other child farm safety resources (including schools resources)

2. Preventing Falls in Older farmers  - falls prevention self-help tool
3. Managing the Pressures of Farming – stress management self-help tool
4. Rehabilitation of injured farmers – link to resources
5. Farm safety factsheet series

* Workshop safety
* Tractors
* Machinery
* Farm vehicles, motorbikes and ATVs
* Noise injury
* Child safety
* Zoonoses
* Pesticides

6. Practical guidelines for key farm safety hazards including:

* ATV guide
* Workshop safety
* Machinery guarding
* Link to other guidelines

7. Managing farm safety resource – a comprehensive farm OHS management resource

This resource offers all you need to know about how to implement a robust OHS program on farm to meet state legislated OHS regulations.  The Managing farm safety resource:

* can be selected by commodity (eg. beef, horticulture) ;
* includes commodity specific hazard checklists, induction templates and training registers that can be modified to suit individual farms
* includes a set of supporting resources on a range of farm safety topics (eg. ATV’s)
* can be downloaded free from the Farmsafe website
* can be ordered on request as a printed folder (cost involved).

Health workers, like farmers, can simply register by email, select the options and download the resources free from the Farmsafe website at www.farmsafe.org.au.