Update: workplace health and safety in the WA agriculture industry

By Nicholas Parkinson

3 December 2025

Workplace health and safety (WHS) is a significant issue in agriculture in Western Australia.

According to a 2023 inquiry by the former Chief Commissioner of the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission commissioned by WorkSafeWA¹ (the Scott Inquiry), the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries had 25% of all work-related fatalities in WA in the 10-year period up to June 2021 despite these industries only contributing 3% of all hours worked across all industries.² The Scott Inquiry concluded that the agricultural industry was the most dangerous of all industries globally.³

In this article, we explain why WHS is a major priority for agricultural businesses following the introduction of the harmonised WHS legislation in WA, the Scott Inquiry’s findings as to the common causes of fatalities and serious injuries in the industry, and what businesses and employers in the industry can do to maintain safe workplaces and comply with their WHS duties.

 

Changes under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020

In March 2022, the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA) (WHS Act) commenced operation.

The WHS Act significantly broadened the duties for businesses, for example, by imposing a duty on a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking’ (PCBU) to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of ‘workers’ engaged or directed by the PCBU.⁴ Unlike the previous legislation, this duty means that businesses are directly responsible for the health and safety of workers beyond their employees, including contractors, subcontractors and the employees of contractors and subcontractors.⁵

By way of example, a sheep station engaging a shearing contractor during shearing season could commit an offence under the WHS Act if an employee of the shearing contractor suffered an injury while carrying out shearing on the station.

The WHS also imposes a personal duty on ‘officers’ of a PCBU to exercise due diligence to ensure that the PCBU complies with its duties under the WHS Act, including by acquiring and keeping an up to date knowledge of WHS matters and ensuring that the PCBU has appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to safety.⁶ An ‘officer’ includes someone who makes, or participates in making, decisions that affect the whole or a substantial part of the PCBU’s business.⁷

In the context of family farms, that will mean that the entity carrying on the farm (often the trustee of the family trust) will owe duties under the WHS Act and the operators of the farm (whether or not they are trustees or officers of a corporate trustee) will be required to exercise due diligence to ensure the entity complies with its duties under the WHS Act.

The WHS Act also significantly increased penalties for failing to comply with WHS duties. Merely failing to comply with a duty under the WHS Act can be punished by maximum fines of $570,000 for a corporation or $120,000 for a PCBU that is an individual person.⁸ The new offence of ‘industrial manslaughter’, being (in summary) knowing and reckless conduct that causes the death of an individual, can be punished by fines of up to $10 million for a corporation and 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $5 million for an individual.⁹

Following the release of the Scott Inquiry’s report, WorkSafe WA has made the agricultural sector a key focus area in relation to reducing WHS issues arising from repeated exposure to hazards, including by establishing a specialist agricultural team and delivering a program of WHS inspections on farms.¹⁰

Common causes of fatalities and serious injuries

The Scott Inquiry conducted a review of all deaths in the agricultural industry in the five years up to 30 June 2022 and made the following observations:

• approximately 90% of fatalities were of men, nearly half of which were men aged over 55;
• common causes of fatalities included safety equipment and personal protective equipment (such as helmets on quad bikes) not being used, unsafe work methods, and a lack of attention to the positioning of bystanders or other workers, especially when using large machinery;
• circumstances giving rise to fatalities involved:
  • being crushed or struck by a tractor or large machinery while it being repaired or while it was idling awaiting engagement of the gears;
  • quad bike crashes and vehicle crashes, including vehicles being reversed or moved and crushing an unsighted bystander;
  • being crushed by livestock.¹¹

The Scott Inquiry noted that common circumstances of a person being crushed or struck by vehicles were:

• a person working alone on a tractor and undertaking repairs while the tractor was believed to be in neutral;
• a lack of communication when multiple people were working around machinery with the driver of the machinery losing sight of a person on the ground.¹²

 

Practical next steps

The Scott Inquiry concluded that the most common safety issues to be addressed in the agricultural industry were:

• quad bikes being ridden over uneven ground without a helmet or roll-over protection;
• design issues with machinery not designed for Australian conditions, for example, causing farmers to remove guards that would otherwise cause the build-up of flammable materials;
• farmers conducting repairs on machinery without access to safety supports such as choking or jacking because, for example, machinery has broken down in the middle of a paddock during busy periods;
• the use of old or unsafe equipment and machinery;
• farmers servicing and repairing their own machinery;
• workers working alone away from immediate help;
• communicating with unsighted workers;
• using new or modified yards and loading ramps to prevent workers being crushed by livestock;
• the reluctance to discipline or dismissing workers who work unsafely.¹³

WorkSafe WA has identified a number of practical steps that agricultural businesses can use to ensure safe workplaces and comply with their duties under the WHS Act:

• identifying hazards, for example, arising from the use of machinery and equipment and from fatigue during busy periods such as harvesting;
• eliminating the use of dangerous or unsuitable plant or machinery;
• substituting with alternative and safer plants or methods such as the use as ‘slam shut’ catches to stockyard gates instead of chains;
• using engineering controls such as having guards in place on dangerous parts of machinery;
• using safe operating procedures for handling stock, moving augers and field bins, and using machinery;
• using personal protective equipment such as helmets and gloves while riding quad bikes;
• inducting new workers and contractors by telling them about key safety risks such as the paths and tracks to be followed on the farm and overhead powerlines, and when new workers are doing hazardous work or using new equipment for the first time.¹⁴

Agricultural businesses should also ensure they have up-to-date workers compensation policies and should consider, particularly for large and complex operations, engaging third-party safety consultants to conduct safety audits on their operations.

Bennett is able to provide advice on agricultural businesses’ duties and obligations under the WHS Act and to provide representation in relation to investigations and prosecutions with WorkSafe WA and claims with insurers.

1. Pamela Scott, Inquiry into the agricultural industry in Western Australia: Report to the Work Safe Commission (Final Report) 22 March 2023 (Scott Report).
2. Scott Report p. 57
3. Scott Report p. 62
4. s 19 Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA)
5. s 7 Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA)
6. s 27 Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA)
7. s 4A(1)(a)(i) Work Health and Safety Act 2020; s 9AD(1)(b)(i) Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
8. s 33 Work Health and Safety Act 2020
9. s 30A Work Health and Safety Act 2020
10. Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, WorkSafe: The way forward, 2023-2024 to 2025-26 (2024), pp. 8-12
11. Scott Report, pp 50-51
12. Scott Report, p 51
13. Scott Report, pp 97-105
14. Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Guide: First steps to farm safety (2024)., pp.5-6.

Disclaimer: The information published in this article is of a general nature and should not be construed as legal advice. Whilst we aim to provide timely, relevant and accurate information, the law may change and circumstances may differ. You should not therefore act in reliance on it without first obtaining specific legal advice.