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New farm safety codes have been issued to set out practical steps for managing health and safety on farms, with ministers saying they are designed to make duties clearer for people working in the sector.
Two new approved codes of practice have been launched to help farmers, contractors and rural businesses understand what is expected of them on site. The codes are intended to turn broad duties into more practical actions, which is often where compliance falls down in day-to-day work.
Farm safety codes set out practical steps
The update was announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Hon Brooke van Velden, who said the new approved codes of practice are aimed at clarifying health and safety responsibilities in farming. That matters because farms typically combine heavy machinery, livestock, vehicles, chemicals and outdoor work, often with several people carrying out different tasks at once.
For employers and dutyholders, the point of farm safety codes is not just to restate the law in different language. They are meant to give a clearer route from general obligations to sensible controls, whether that means training staff, separating people from machinery movements, or making sure work is planned properly before it starts.
In practice, many rural businesses rely on family members, seasonal workers, contractors and visitors, all of whom may be exposed to different risks. That makes written procedures, supervision and induction more than box-ticking exercises. They are the sort of controls that can prevent confusion when work gets busy or conditions change quickly.
Why the codes matter for day-to-day compliance
Although the source announcement is brief, the compliance value is clear. Approved codes of practice are commonly used as a benchmark by employers and safety professionals because they show how duties can be met in a practical setting. In farming, that usually means translating general legal duties into manageable routines on the ground.
That can include checking whether tasks have been assessed properly, whether workers are trained for the equipment they use, and whether maintenance records are up to date. It also means thinking about how contractors are brought onto site, especially where they may be unfamiliar with access routes, livestock hazards, hidden ground conditions or moving plant.
For many businesses, the real pressure point is not knowing what the duty is in principle, but how to carry it out consistently. Codes of practice can help bridge that gap by setting out what a sensible standard looks like, particularly for smaller operators who do not have a dedicated compliance team.
What employers and contractors should look at
Farm owners, managers and principal contractors should review how their current arrangements line up with the new farm safety codes, especially where work is shared between different people or businesses. The key question is whether the existing controls would stand up to scrutiny if something went wrong.
That means looking at basic controls such as safe systems of work, plant checks, training records, supervision, signage and communication between teams. It also means checking whether risk assessments reflect how the site is actually used, rather than how it was intended to operate on paper.
Where contractors are involved, there is a familiar issue of handover. The farm may know the site well, but visiting workers may not. Clear instructions about boundaries, traffic routes, welfare arrangements and hazard zones can reduce the kind of mistakes that happen when assumptions are left unchecked.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Hon Brooke van Velden said the new approved codes of practice are designed to outline practical steps for people in the sector.
Broader lessons for rural risk management
The announcement sits within a wider compliance picture that applies across rural property and land management. Farms are not just production sites; they are workplaces, depots, yards, storage areas and sometimes public-facing spaces as well. Each activity can bring a separate set of risks that needs to be managed properly.
That is why farm safety codes matter beyond the immediate agricultural audience. Facilities managers, landlords with agricultural tenants, rural estate operators and businesses that use farmland for storage or maintenance work all need to understand where their own responsibilities start and stop.
Clear codes can help with that, particularly where work is shared between property owners, tenants and contractors. They provide a more practical reference point for deciding who is controlling the work, who is providing information, and whether the right people are trained and briefed before tasks begin.
What this means for safety management on site
For compliance teams, the most useful response is usually a straight review of how the site manages risk rather than waiting for a problem to expose the gaps. That includes checking whether near misses are being recorded, whether safety briefings are actually happening, and whether routine checks are being carried out by competent people.
Farms often operate with limited time and labour, which can lead to informal habits becoming normal practice. The new codes are a reminder that informal does not mean controlled. If the way work is done has changed, the risk assessment and procedures should change with it.
The practical value of the new farm safety codes will depend on how readily they are taken up across the sector, but they give dutyholders a clearer framework to work from. For anyone responsible for rural premises or agricultural operations, that makes them worth reading alongside existing site procedures and contractor arrangements.
