AgriFutures Australia, on behalf of the RSHA, is seeking an appropriately skilled and experienced service provider to be responsible for the development of the Ag Safety Data Net and its implementation.

Background

The objective of the Ag Safety Data Net is to develop and implement an ongoing data system that provides meaningful metrics for farm safety planning, action and reporting in the Australian agricultural sector.

Safety in the agricultural sector is currently typically measured in terms of fatalities and serious injuries. The main sources of this data are Safe Work Australia (SWA) and AgHealth Australia.

While both organisations use the National Coronial Information System for fatalities, each dataset is independently managed and has a different reference population (work-related deaths versus ‘all on farm’). This has sometimes led to different statistics being released for the same period, causing conflicting messaging.

Measures of injury are limited to a subset of the population of people on farm. Injury data comes from Safe Work Australia’s serious injury compensation claims and is estimated to represent about half the injuries on farm as many of the people who work and live on farms are not covered by workers’ compensation (for example, farm owners, family members and contractors).

AgHealth Australia data has been extensively used in research and to provide reports for specific industries (dairy, cotton, grain etc). It takes time, money and knowledge to gather additional key data for this level and type of analysis. This work is currently contracted on an ‘as needs’ basis and the capacity to do it is diminished and not secured.

In 2022 RSHA Members agreed to explore how to secure a on-going data capacity able to deliver reliable, relevant farm safety metrics. They commissioned development of the concept in consultation with 18 stakeholders between December 2022 and April 2023. This is the origin of the Ag Safety Data Net. An overview of the core functions and expected outcomes is described in the document ‘Ag Safety Data Net Concept, January 2024 (available here). Joint commitment to its funding from multiple rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) was secured in the latter half of 2023.

The RDCs have set an investment horizon of five years to allow time for the new system to be fully developed and refined. The funds estimated for development and implementation, including data purchase and outsourcing of expertise and legal instruments, are $300,000 per year.

By the end of five years, the Ag Safety Data Net will be a fully documented, on-going data collection and collation system that can report at the national, state, regional (ABS geographic regions) and industry level. It will have the appropriate controls to maintain data privacy and confidentiality of data from collection through to reporting. The system will generate relevant reports on schedule and stakeholders will have access to farm safety data expertise. The broad team (service provider, Industry Reference Group and Advisory Committee) will be introducing lead indicators to underpin preventative mindsets and practices.

The development of the Ag Safety Data Net has been staged to keep the outcomes and expected progression in focus for the service provider and key stakeholders. The scope of this RFQ is to have the entire system in all aspects in place for fatality and injury metrics in the first 3 years.

The contract for the Ag Safety Data Net will be signed and managed by AgriFutures Australia who administer all collaboratively funded projects on behalf of RSHA. AgriFutures will convene an ASDN Advisory Committee (representing the funding organisations) which will be involved in approval of milestone payments.

RSHA will convene an Industry Reference Group (IRG) to provide support and strategic guidance during the development of the Ag Safety Data Net. Its core responsibilities will be to help champion the system with agricultural and WHS stakeholders and ensure the system is evolving to be fit for purpose for the agricultural sector.

When the system and capacity is functional, Australian Agriculture will have a trusted evidence-base for farm safety metrics and a ‘go to’ place to interact around data needs and opportunities for farm health and safety. It will enable industries to work together to build the data capacity they need to monitor and evaluate farm safety – underpinning industry sustainability frameworks, identifying issues, and informing RD&E investment.