New Primary Producer Safety Rebate Scheme Launches

The Tasmanian Government is committed to improving work health and safety on our farms, which is why on October 1^st, they launched a $2 million Primary Producer Safety Rebate Scheme.

This scheme provides cash-back rebates of up to $5,000 for farmers (and agricultural businesses) who implement safety measures that help reduce work-related injuries and deaths.

This rebate scheme aims to target the most common hazards that cause death and injury in the agricultural sector, such as vehicle incidents involving quad bikes and tractors, manual handling, and being hit by animals.

Rebate Eligibility

This rebate scheme is specifically available to workplaces within the agricultural sector that…

• have farming as their main source of income.
• operate a business in Tasmania.
• are a small business, medium business, or sole traders (owner-operators).

What’s Included?

The rebate is available for eligible items that can remove or reduce the risk to safety caused by the top 5 hazards facing the farming sector.

These hazards are:

1. Being hit by moving objects
2. Body stressing (manual handling/muscular stress)
3. Falls, trips, and slips
4. Hitting objects with a part of the body
5. Vehicle incidents

JACKY Bins; a simple, yet super effective option!

The purchase of JACKY Bin products may be eligible under this new Primary Producer Safety Rebate Scheme, and are the perfect solution to help negate some of the farm workplace risks outlined above, particularly body/muscular stress and manual handling.

The first JACKY Bins were made in 2008, in response to continual enquiries and expressed concern by farmers who were faced with safety hazards when handling bulk bags of fertiliser, grain, and feed.

Over the years, as the JACKY Bin range of products has grown, special attention has always been given to ensuring farmer safety comes first and the Orion Australia team continually assesses outdated farming practices to ensure JACKY Bins effectively makes them safer. JACKY Bins are a local Tasmanian invention by Orion, but they’ve gained attention and popularity globally in recent years and are now being shipped worldwide. You can now find them in New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Burundi (East Africa), USA, Canada, Netherlands, Uganda – just to name a few countries!

Two specific examples of how JACKY Bins negate risks & improve safety on farms:

1. Say goodbye to manual lifting: A farmer’s only option when buying 20kg+ bags of feed used to be manually lifting them all to get the feed out. Now, JACKY Bins lets farmers buy and store bulk feed easily, using gravity! These bins remove the need for manual lifting, and dispense product effortlessly, efficiently, and most importantly safely into designated buckets.

2. Fear bulk bags no more: Before JACKY Bins, farmers put themselves at great risk when dealing with fertiliser and feed products that are supplied in bulk bags. Usually, to empty a bulk bag, the bag must be suspended requiring the farmer to reach underneath it to untie the discharge spout and release the product inside. This is an inherently dangerous daily activity, that is very risky to the ‘reacher’. It is not uncommon for bags to split or the lifting straps to break while a farmer is reaching underneath, injuring and potentially killing them. This is where the JACKY Bulk Bag Splitters swoops in to save the day!

JACKY Bulk Bag Splitter

This product fits the criteria for this new Primary Producer Safety Rebate Scheme and has made a BIG difference in farms across Australia. The JACKY Side Discharge Bulk Bag Splitter provides an easy, smart, and super-safe method for farmers to discharge product directly from a bulk bag. Simply lower the bulk bag onto the blade of the Bag Splitter, which cuts the base of the bag open. The bulk bag may be left on the Bag Splitter while the contents are dispensed via the discharge hatch on the front face of the bin. Also, the Bag Splitter’s forkliftable frame assists with overcoming lifting height restrictions commonly experienced by farmers handling bulk bags. Visit our learning centre for information on JACKY Bulk Bag Splitter benefits, details, specs, and videos of it in action!

Contact the team at Orion Australia today to make the most of this opportunity & to discuss the JACKY Bin product range!

Article References:

• https://worksafe.tas.gov.au/topics/services-and-events/safe-farming-tasmania
• https://www.premier.tas.gov.au/site_resources_2015/additional_releases/primary_producer_safety_rebate_scheme_launched