Farmsafe WA Alliance is an independent, not-for-profit, non-government organisation encouraging and leading the way to safer farming. The organisation aims to improve the health and profitability of the farming community by promoting positive farm safety practices. Farmsafe WA Alliance has achieved this in the past via the execution of funded projects, with the Department of Health, Western Australia being an avid supporter.
The Promotion and Distribution of Resources project is an initiative of Farmsafe WA Alliance and is funded by the Department of Health, Western Australia and supported by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety. This project targets Health Professionals and Farmers inregional and remote areas of Western Australia, and will be conducted in the Midwest and Great Southern regions in respective years. The project focuses on three resources in particular, produced by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety, of which Farmsafe WA Alliance will promote, distribute and evaluate.The resources in question are:
These resources were developed in the Eastern states where they have proven both useful and applicable; however awareness of them in Western Australiais assumed to be low and their appropriateness and usefulness within the Western Australian context is yet to be determined. Farmsafe WA Alliance aims to ascertain whether these resources are effective in assisting rural Health Professionals in implementing best practice when farmers, farm workers and their families present as patients at their clinics and health services.
Farmsafe WA recognises the importance of conducting this project, as the evaluations may guide us in further dissemination of the resources and potentially result in recommendations for modifying them if they do not adequately address the Western Australian context. This is the underlying purpose of the project, as Farmsafe WA will pursue further funds to make the recommended changes in order to provide Health Professionals and Farmers in Western Australia with the most beneficial resources. Ultimately, we hope to produce comprehensive and relevant resources for the health professionals that service the agricultural community, that address the current gaps we identify through this project.
In order to achieve this aim, Farmsafe WA Alliance is seeking the support of Health Professionals and Farmers in the Midwest region, who we are asking to peruse and road-test these resources and provide us with feedback via a short pre and post-use questionnaire.
Farmsafe WA Alliance Executive Officer, Sheila Payne comments, “This project really relies on the good nature and passionate drive for improved healthcare that we’ve come to expect from WA’s rural health professionals…The support we receive from Health Professionals will be a driving force towards the fruition of this project, and is greatly appreciated by Farmsafe WA’s project team and the farming community”.
For more information on this project or to obtain a copy of these resources, please visit the Farmsafe WA Alliance website at www.farmsafewa.org or contact the office by emailing admin@farmsafewa.org orcalling (08) 9359 4118.
The Promotion & Distribution of Resources Project is an initiative of Farmsafe WA Alliance and is funded by the Department of Health, Western Australia and supported by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety.
