After 14 deaths on West Australian farms in the past 18 months, an inquiry by the state's workplace safety watchdog is set to get underway.
The first of a series of public hearings chaired by WorkSafe independent inquirer Pam Scott will take place in Albany this morning.
Optima Agriculture managing director Brendan Edwards will not be attending but his experience shows just how fine the line between a day at work and tragedy can be.
Mr Edwards was 29 when he was crushed by a nine-tonne tractor on his family's farm near Beverley 27 years ago.
"Every pelvic bone — I think there was fourteen that were broken in there, two hips were fractured and a break in my lower back," he said.
"On my right side of my head, I've got no nerves there, where the tractor tyre went over.
"I thought I was going to die.
"I said goodbye to my wife, which was probably the hardest thing in my life because she was pregnant with our second son."
Mr Edwards said the accident happened because he was not careful enough while trying to get his tractor started from outside the cab.
"I didn't get in to double-check, because obviously I was busy," he said.
"Shortcuts are not good things to do on farms, but I was doing it."
Mr Edwards said farmers were under pressure at this time of year.
"Guys are getting ready for harvest," he said.
"You run out of time, forget things, miss things or take shortcuts.
"Unfortunately, that's what causes a lot of accidents.
"I didn't become a fatality, but I know a lot of people who have and it's sad to see."
Line in the sand moment for sector
When the inquiry was announced in June, 12 people had died in 12 months on WA farms.
The death of a 68-year-old man in Beverley last week is the most recent of the two deaths to have occurred since then.
WorkSafe commissioner Darren Kavanagh, who has previously accused the industry of putting profits and productivity over safety, said there was plenty of evidence that farmers were willing to buy into the process.
"They want the incidents to stop," he said.
"They don't like to see their colleagues, friends and family being injured or harmed.
"That's really positive ground to work on and I'm optimistic we'll have a good report to try and turn the industry around."
With another bumper harvest expected, Mr Kavanagh said he was deeply concerned by the potential of more deaths.
"I don't want to suggest or imply in any way that it is a problem across the entire industry," he said.
"But you can't ignore the sheer number of people who are dying in the industry.
"It troubles me that we continue to see incidents."
Common sense not that common
The inquiry has already begun examining previous incidents and the exact circumstances relating to on-farm fatalities and serious injuries.
Safe Farms WA executive officer Maree Gooch said older men operating machinery and younger men on quad bikes and ATVs were particularly concerning trends.
"The numbers don't lie — they tell a story, as tragic as it is," she said.
"We, as an industry, need to have a say if we want to be taken seriously."
Ms Gooch said research completed by Safe Farms' national affiliate revealed that only 29 per cent of grain farmers, 39 per cent of wool/sheep producers and 44 per cent of cattle producers had safety policies and procedures documented.
Of the respondents, 23 per cent said their policies were "in their head" and 27 per cent relied on "employee common sense".
"It seems there are certain commodity areas that think common sense is common, but it's actually not," Ms Gooch said.
"We have to step back and go, 'Am I putting my multimillion-dollar business and assets at risk by not taking five minutes by doing a safe work method statement or risk plan?'"
Ms Gooch acknowledged that the public hearings represented a tough step for many in the industry, but said they were critical for the industry to speak up and take part in the process.
She believed the government would take legislative action with or without the sector's input.
