Spreading the word on farm safety

The Victorian Farmers Federation’s Making our Farms Safe Project (VFF MOFS) is running free farm safety visits across the North East from October 26-30, targeting Wangaratta, Shepparton, Moira, Strathbogie, Mansfield, Murrindindi, Benalla, Alpine, Indigo, Wodonga, and Towong local government areas. The visits will be conducted by two farm safety advisors with Certificate 4 in Work Health and Safety. Both have an extensive agriculture background through horticulture, dairy, cropping, and sheep. All three staff members involved in the program have lived or grown up on farm and bring an OHS perspective that is conducive to the operation of a farm. The MOFS (Making Our Farms Safer) program started in 2018, funded by Agriculture Victoria, and in 2025 WorkSafe Victoria began funding the project for three years. It offers: • a confidential, 45-60 minute on-site visit with a Making Our Farms Safer (MOFS) safety advisor; • a focused look at one area of the farm, such as machinery and equipment, the workshop, or the yards; • help identifying hazards, plus simple, practical solutions using a checklist and resource materials; and • ongoing access to support after the visit. Bianna Kelly, MOFS project manager, said the visit is a no-cost, no-obligation way for farmers to get a fresh set of eyes on their safety setup, and simple fixes for one of the areas they're most concerned about. "The farm visits have always been a major part of the program, though now they have changed from a full farm safety audit to small 45-60 minute sessions in bite- sized pieces to not overwhelm the safety conversation during farmers busy days," Ms Kelly said. "The Victorian Farmers Federation is a trusted body for Victorian farmers to gain insight from, shifting a culture change in safety through the industry. "Safety is constantly changing, and while the industry keeps up, our program is not expecting farmers to keep up and research on their own. "That's what we are here for - to help provide education and advice to farmers so they can then make their own, better informed, decisions." The campaign will run across Victoria - broken down into LGAs with farm safety advisors rotating back through every four to six months to each area. Farm safety awareness has increased substantially in recent years as statistics show agriculture is Australia's second deadliest industry with an average of 40 agricultural workers losing their lives on the job every year (2020-24). "Younger generations are definitely more aware of OHS and how to implement - the issue we see a lot is when farmers don't have the confidence, knowledge or experience to make specific safety decisions on the farm," Ms Kelly said. The Making our Farms Safe Project aims to fix that. To register, farmers can call 1300 882 833 or email email mofs@vff.org.au or visit makingourfarmsafer.org.au.

Spreading the word on farm safety

Wangaratta Chronicle, Wednesday, 9 September, 2026

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