Words by Richard Rennie
Farm fertiliser spreaders are one of the most valued contractors visiting farms, their specialist equipment delivering timely loads with precision and proof of placement technology is helping farmers optimise their fertiliser spend, and comply with tighter rules around nutrient losses.
But ground spreading is also one of the riskier areas of rural contracting, and in recent years the New Zealand Groundspreading Association has pushed hard to lift the standards and expectations around training, risk assessment and attitudes in the sector.
Grant Anderson is the Otago-Southland delegate and vice president of the New Zealand Groundspread Fertilisers Association (NZGFA). He has also been health and safety officer for the past two years. With 20 years in the ground-spreading sector, he completes a busy CV as dispatch manager for HWR’s Western Southland Richardson Group fertiliser division.
As the association’s inaugural health and safety officer Grant has been responsible for overseeing several initiatives aimed at ensuring the association’s members and staff get home safely every night.
This has included the Spotlight incident reporting app as a transparent and constructive tool for recording and learning from industry incidents.
“It means members can invite me to view their incident report, which everyone has to do anyway. Spotlight means it is possible to see all incidents, and get a sense of what if any trends are coming through. Data can be collated, and we can look at how these incidents could be avoided in the future.”
While only relatively new, he is encouraged by the member uptake for the app to date.
As a new generation of younger drivers come into the industry, technology is not only making their job more precise, it is also helping them be more spatially aware of the varied risks that come with every property they visit in the course of the job.
“TracMap would be accounting for about 80% of the proof of placement technology used by members now. It sends out a text to the farmer when the spreader is on the farm.
“But it also provides a means to highlight any risk areas on the farm, thanks to having the farm map loaded into it.”
More recent upgrades to the technology enable spreading contractors to add in any new risks or hazards they may come across in the course of their spread on the property.
“It could be that a spring or sink hole has opened up the farmer was not aware of, and it’s now possible to mark that in yourself from your cab.”
As an industry group there has also been more focus on ensuring the next generation of drivers are better trained. Training at Grant’s business is staged over an eight week period, and this is becoming more typical for businesses keen to attract a more safety conscious generation to their ranks.
Training includes modules on risk mitigation, hazard awareness and actions in an incident. As part of the industry’s Spreadmark accreditation criteria, all ground spreaders now have to undertake approved training. A NZGFA safety manual outlines approaches to risk identification and management and includes sections on fatigue, distractions and stress.
Last year was also the inaugural year for the NZGFA awards, with one of the four categories being for health and safety.
Graeme Martin is also on the NZGFA council as its Waikato rep, and has a strong background in industry safety.
He worked closely with the NZ Agricultural Aviation Association in helping establish safer operating environments for aerial topdressing and implementing its “AirCare” programme.
The programme helped turn around a risky flying environment and saw it receive the Richard Pearse Trophy for Innovative Excellence in 2014 from the aviation industry.
He says NZGFA is also working toward achieving similar standards on the ground today and NZGFA’s Spreadmark accreditation system is modelled closely off AirCare’s approach to risk management.
Before the aerial initiative kicked off farmer-topdresser relations often lacked communication about hazards and issues, and this has since improved significantly.
Similarly, farmer’s communication with ground-spreaders is now more professional and risk-aware.
“This is in part thanks to the changes in ownership we have seen, with more corporate style farm ownership meaning there is a need for systems to be put in place to ensure safety and accountability,” he says.