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Warning after 6th rural death By Heather Chalmers
heather.c@theguardian.co.nz
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WorkSafe is urging farmers to make health and safety part of their everyday thinking, rather than just a compliance issue, following six rural workplace deaths since the start of this year. The fatal accidents include one in Mid Canterbury on January 4, when Chilean student Rocio Atencio Salazar, 19, died in a vehicle crash on an Ealing Road, Coldstream, dairy farm. A passenger was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Salazar was gaining work experience on a farm after completing agriculture studies. Other fatalities include former Ruapehu district councillor Ron Frew, 53, who died in a quad bike crash on a rural property in Ohakune, in the central North Island. In another quad bike accident, a person died in a crash on a farm south of Cambridge. A person also died when a side-byside vehicle crashed at Tamahere, near Hamilton, on January 3. WorkSafe head of general inspector-
ate Jo Pugh said each of the deaths was preventable. The “she’ll be right” attitude of many New Zealanders contributed to the tragedies, particularly those involving vehicles which made up 73 per cent of fatalities the organisation investigated. “As a country we’re quite immature when it comes to risk identification and management.
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