00:00 When Felicity Richards is out on her property, safety is always front of mind.
00:07 Tractors are big machines with a lot of inherent risk that needs to be addressed.
00:12 She's familiar with the hazards that come with the job.
00:16 It only takes seconds, fractions of a second, and that can be because you are distracted, tired, thinking about something else, you miss your footing, there's just so many ways.
00:28 An investigation into the death of a Tasmanian farmer in 2020 has put further scrutiny on safety around tractors.
00:36 A Tasmanian coroner now recommends that tractors manufactured before 1982 be prohibited from commercial use.
00:43 In her findings, Coroner Olivia McTaggart said this was the fifth tractor death in Tasmania since 2017.
00:51 Nationally, she said between 2012 and 2022, the toll sits at 131 people, an average of 12 tractor-related deaths per year.
01:02 Felicity says safety is key, but that she's not sure yet where she stands on a ban.
01:08 I want to understand more where these are still being used and what the ramifications would be for farmers if they were banned.
01:15 But I'm very much supportive of all measures and reminders to farmers to maintain their equipment, no matter how old it is.
01:23 All machinery accidents don't happen just because of the machinery.
01:28 Sometimes there's pilot error. It may well be fatigue, it may well be that they haven't had appropriate training for that implement.
01:36 All are in agreement that safety is paramount.
01:40 We want to see no accidents, no farm accidents in Tasmania, let alone any deaths.
01:47 Go out there, get it serviced, keep it maintained and make sure you're absolutely optimising your use of it in a safe way.
01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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