The ABSF Explained: Work Health and Safety

Sandi Bennett and Brooke Byrnes at Rangers Valley Feedlot.

The importance of people, and the communities where they live, to the industry’s conception of sustainability is reflected not just in the fact that they are one of the four themes of the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework (ABSF), but also that the theme has the most priority areas.

One of the eight priorities is Work Health and Safety, underscoring the ABSF’s determination to create an industry that reduces worker injury and maximises community wellbeing.

The Data

Between 2017 and 2021, there were 32 on-farm deaths, three fatalities at processing facilities and one death within the feedlot industry. The data is sourced from Safe Work Australia, which compiles information based on media reports, workers’ compensation data, notifications from Australia’s various Work Health and Safety authorities, and information in the National Coronial Information System. Five-year totals are used to avoid disclosing confidential and potentially identifiable information.

The lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) refers to the number of injuries that occurred in the workplace that resulted in an employee’s inability to work the next full workday. The LTIFR in 2020/21 was nine on farms, and 17.1 in processing facilities.

Snapshot of Activities

Worldwide, many governments and organisations, such as the United Nations, are measuring and tracking indicators that go beyond economic growth due to the increasing recognition that economic advancement alone is not a guarantee of quality of life.

Other critical drivers of wellbeing include security, inclusion, friendliness, access to services and appropriate levels of infrastructure. Often though, there is not enough information to understand quality of life, particularly in rural and regional Australia.

Since 2013, the University of Canberra has run the annual Regional Wellbeing Survey to capture some of these key metrics and deliver insights for various organisations with a responsibility for regional Australia.

The Global Life Satisfaction Index is drawn from the survey and reported in the ABSF’s Annual Update. The Global Life Satisfaction Score (76.1 in 2021) is calculated based on respondents rating their satisfaction with their “life as a whole” on a scale of “completely dissatisfied” (0) to “completely satisfied” (10). The score of 76.1 for graziers compares to the overall Global Life Satisfaction for Australia of 71.4.

The ABSF strongly encourages rural and regional Australians to take part in the survey to better inform policy makers.

The survey is easy to complete and can be done online.