Second Chances – Who Knows How Many You’ll Get?: National Farm Safety Week 2025

This week, July 20-26, is National Farm Safety Week – an initiative by Farm Safe Australia – and this year’s campaign:  Second Chances – Who Knows How Many You’ll Get? is shining a light on the near misses that happen every day on Australian farms — the moments that could have ended very differently.

As a farmer herself, FarmSafe Australia Chair Felicity Richards, knows the challenges and dangers that come with working in the industry firsthand.

“Farming … I absolutely love it, wouldn't change my career for the world, but it is a challenging environment and around Australia unfortunately we see a lot incidents on farm,” Ms Richards said.

With a sharp and deeply concerning rise in on-farm fatalities and injuries documented in 2024, Ms Richards said it is imperative that the culture around safety changes and does so as soon as possible.

“We had a very high number of lives lost on Australian farms in 2024 and we so wish we knew what exactly had drive that spike but unfortunately we can only hypothesize,” she said.

“We do recognize that farmers are under all kinds of stresses, there's so many factors at play that can make it hard for farmers to make judgments about our safety because we're so preoccupied with other things that are going on in our world.”

“That said, the best way we can honour those lives lost is to reflect on the second chance we’ve all been given. This is a chance for those of us who remain to share our stories, to do better, to take care of ourselves and take care of others and make sure that we halt this trend.”

Every day of this National Farm Safety Week, FarmSafe Australia is platforming a different message/theme relevant to the matter of farm safety:

• Sunday - Every Near Miss Has a Lesson, Let's Not Miss It

• Monday - Dead Tired - The Cost of Pushing Through

• Tuesday - Familiarity Can Be Fatal - Don't Let 'I've Done It 1000 Times' Be The Last Time

• Wednesday - The Near Miss You Can't See Coming - Mental Health Matters

• Thursday - Between Naps and Knock Off - When Kids, Care and Work Collide

• Friday - Silence Isn't Safe - Why Every Job Deserves A Conversation

• Saturday - The Clock Is Ticking - When Pressure Replaces Planning

  
  

Ms Richards said the main hope for this week was for people to get on board with the campaign and reflect within themselves, and with friends, family and coworkers, on what safety means for them.

“Talk to your team, make sure that everyone involved, whether it's a fellow family member or an employee, make sure you're having the conversation with them and make the safety conversation real with them," she said.

“And if you've got stories that you can share comfortably with others - we only want people to share what they feel safe and secure sharing - please share them."

“Or maybe if you just want to reflect privately, jot it down on a piece of paper, have a think about things that could have gone wrong and didn't, and how you might change your behaviour to protect yourself and others.”

“It all just comes back to the theme - let's not waste our second chances.”

More information on National Farm Safety Week can be found on FarmSafe Australia’s website