SafeWork NSW presents key farm safety talks to women in agriculture

"I lost my brother to a quad bike accident a few years ago," she said.

"So if I can prevent or help other people improve safety to ensure that they don't go through what my family continues to go through, then hopefully it's a worthwhile effort."

Ms Smith was in Albury this week to present the first session of a 12 part farm safety series, which will travel across the state.

Though the National Centre for Farmer Health shows men have a higher proportion of injuries than women on farms and Ms Smith says males take more risks than females, the series has been targeted at women.

"We would usually hold presentations and very few women would come to them, they would usually be male dominated," she said.

Ms Smith said the sessions were an opportunity to provide important safety knowledge to women as they increasingly entered the agricultural industry and stepped into practical roles within the sector.

She said with women playing a key part in the industry and a vital role in family farming, they could help lead and influence changes to farm workplace safety.

"Women probably tend to look at things a bit longer before taking action," she said.

"Hopefully it's beneficial to get women in the room, as opposed to a whole group of different individuals."

St Paul's College vice-captain Clarissa Peasley said she attended the event because she wanted to learn how to be safe as she pursued a career in agriculture.

"It will just give me some more life skills that I'll be able to put into practice when I'm in the industry," she said.

Clarissa said farm safety should be discussed more, especially among men, but women could play an important role in changing attitudes towards safety too.

"Men seem to have more of an outlook that it's OK and you get hurt in the industry, but it's definitely not how it's meant to be," she said.

"You're not meant to be hurt in the work field.

"Women just really want to put a focus on safety and know that they're safe and know that they can do their job and not get hurt.

"I know I'm going home to a male household and I can definitely share (what I've learned).

Clarissa, whose brother's arm was broken in a wool press accident, said she hoped to grow her safety knowledge to influence men in the agricultural industry and improve their safety.

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Similarly, Julie Pitson attended the event with hopes of bringing home safety practices to prevent injuries on her farm near Culcairn.

"There's a lot of things that can go wrong, so prevention is better than cure," she said.

Mrs Pitson said she thought women on farms would be able to offer a fresh perspective to enacting safety.

"I think we're coming from a different point of view," she said.

"We can perhaps see injuries happening in a different way.

"Men are a bit more relaxed about it, whereas we're a bit more preventative."

The women in agriculture farm safety sessions are coming to Bega, Casino, Leeton, Maitland/Tocal, Moree, Nowra, Orange, Port Macquarie, Tamworth, Wagga and Yass.

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