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Workplace health and safety

Home > Workplace health and safety > Subject index A-Z > Rural industry > Rural fact sheets

Rural fact sheets

General rural responsibilities
Plant and equipment
Chemicals, pesticides and dangerous goods
Animal handling
Health issues
Rural industry exemption

General rural responsibilities

Hearing protection (PDF, 64 KB)
Using hearing protection is one way of reducing noise exposure if other means do not adequately reduce noise levels. Hearing protection only works if worn correctly and used for the full period of exposure.

Workplace amenities (PDF, 63 KB)
Part 21 of the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 2008 requires that a minimum standard of amenities and first aid be provided by an employer at a rural industry workplace.

Workplace incidents (PDF, 65 KB)
Injuries are the most common outcome of workplace incidents, but even a near miss could be fatal the next time it occurs.

Construction work at rural workplaces  (PDF, 65 KB)
A new definition of construction work, which came into effect on 1 January 2006, brought changes for people performing construction work in any industry, including rural.

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Plant and equipment

ATVs (PDF, 55 KB)
Four-wheeled all terrain vehicles (ATVs) are a popular ‘workhorse’ on the farm. A large proportion of four-wheeled ATV injuries result from sideways, backward and forward overturns.

Chainsaws (PDF, 53 KB)
Buying a chainsaw, handling chainsaws with care, and maintaining chainsaws.

Cutting and welding (PDF, 57 KB)
Use protective clothing and equipment, training, dangers, and gas welding.

Machinery guarding (PDF, 55 KB)
Using adequate guarding, reducing the risks, children and machinery and guarding.

Roll over protective structures (ROPS) (PDF, 64 KB)
Relevant person, suppliers, exempt tractors, general information, ROPS supply, frequently asked questions.

Single-piece and multi-piece rim wheels (PDF, 54 KB)
General information, hazards and dangers.

Tractors (PDF, 60 KB)
Following general safety precautions, hitching implements, stopping tractors correctly, operating, providing regular maintenance, protecting your back.

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Chemicals, pesticides and dangerous goods

Chemicals - protective equipment (PDF, 54 KB)
Selecting the correct protective clothing and equipment, maintaining protective clothing and equipment.

Chemicals - storage and disposal (PDF, 104 KB)
This guide provides some simple advice to assist rural workplaces with their obligations for storage and disposal of chemicals under the Dangerous Goods Safety Management Regulation 2001 and the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 2008 .

Dangerous goods and combustible liquids (PDF, 56 KB)
Dangerous goods are hazardous substances that have the potential to present an immediate threat to people, property or the environment if not properly controlled. They are divided into nine classes, according to the nature of the hazard.

Managing agricultural chemical spray drift (PDF, 60 KB)
This fact sheet provides guidance on the management of risk of spray drift from the application of agricultural chemicals that may affect the health of persons in non-targeted spray areas.

Pesticides (PDF, 56 KB)
Toxicity of pesticides, reading the label and the MSDS, applying pesticides, spraying, cleaning up, taking precautions, first aid.

Phosphine fumigation (PDF, 56 KB)
Phosphine fumigants are widely used on farms to control insect, rodent and rabbit infestation in many different stored grains. But there are various hazards associated with phosphine gas.

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Animal handling

Cattle handling (PDF, 55 KB)
Handlers, facilities and conditions, considering the stock, cattle handling, considering the operation.

Horse riding (PDF, 55 KB)
Riders, equipment, considering the horse.

Pig handling (PDF, 55 KB)
General information, lifting pigs, transmittable diseases and vaccinations.

Shearing (PDF, 52 KB)
General information, shearing and crutching, avoiding back injuries.

Sheep handling (PDF, 54 KB)
General information, lambmarking, mulesing. chemicals, knives, lifting, vaccinating, jetting, dipping, drenching, mustering.

Snakes (PDF, 58 KB)
Twelve potentially dangerous snakes live in Queensland. The risk posed to people by these snakes depends on the venom toxicity, venom yield, fang length, temperament and bite frequency of each species.

Spiders (PDF, 58 KB)
Information on some of Queensland’s most distinctive spiders.

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Health issues

Heat stress (PDF, 56 KB)
Heat stress is excessive exposure to heat that may lead to a number of heat illnesses ranging from mild (prickly heat) to life-threatening (heat stroke).

Skin cancer (PDF, 54 KB)
Queensland’s skin cancer rate is already the highest in the world. Two out of every three Australians are likely to develop skin cancer.

Sprains and strains (PDF, 55 KB)
High risk rural industry occupations, common manual task injuries, common cause of manual task injury, animal handling – a case study, identify the problem, assess the risk and working postures.

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Rural industry exemption

Rural industry exemption (PDF, 52 KB)
The Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 2008 removes all remaining parts of the rural industry exemption from the regulation.

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Last updated 27 August 2008