Ravensthorpe farmer Gary Webster knows he is a lucky man when three years ago, working alone at night seeding a paddock on his farm, he did something he had never done before.
It was 1am on a cold June night when he climbed down from his tractor to clean the air seeder before switching to another variety.
He had left the motor running and his phone in the cab. He was climbing under the seeder, and as he reached in to clear out the seed box, the spinning gears grabbed his left hand, jamming it tight in the mechanism.
When he tried to pull it free, his right hand also was drawn in, ripping his glove and severing two fingers.
"That particular piece of machinery, we've had it for 12 years," he said.
"And I've done it hundreds of times, but I've never put my hand anywhere near it while it was rotating,
"But for this night. I just thought, oh, yeah, I'll do that."
He now has a protective sleeve over the stump at his left wrist.
"I even heard myself say, Don't do that,' but being tired and you just plough on and sort of ignoring the signals. And next thing, you're in trouble."
Unable to call for help with his damaged right hand, he managed to unbolt the gearbox sufficiently to pull his left arm out, wrap a rag around his crushed hand, and then drove himself to the Ravensthorpe hospital.
He is still farming, managing with one hand, but he is one of the lucky farmers who has narrowly escaped with his life.
"With myself," Mr Webster said, "I had a close shave; I had the amputation.
Inquiry follows an increase in deaths from farm accidents
But in the past 12 months, 12 workers on WA farms, were not so lucky.
Between 2011 and 2021, 42 agriculture, fishing and forestry workers were killed at work.
The majority of them were working on farms. Either crushed by machinery, hit by vehicles, or entangled in equipment.
WA's Wheatbelt and the South West with the worst safety records.
The high rates of fatalities are now under scrutiny by the state's safety watchdog.
WorkSafe Commissioner Darren Kavanagh has ordered an inquiry into what can be done to ensure farm workers go home to their homes and families each night.
"These fatalities are people," he said.
Change in culture needed
"I want the fatalities and the incidents to stop," Mr Kavanagh said.
"The number of fatalities in the agricultural industry is just too high. Too many people are being harmed and fatally injured at work. And so that has to stop." he said.
More importantly, he said there needed to be a cultural shift in the industry, so there was a greater priority and emphasis on safety so that farmers could be productive but could perform the work safely.
He said there was a need for a longer sustainable objective to ensure that the industry shifted in terms of its culture.
Stopping deaths and injuries on farms where many people work alone or unsupervised will be challenging.
Mining and Construction, the other two most dangerous industries, have reduced fatalities with task-specific training, ticketing, and licensing of workers.
Applying those measures to farming, where workers have to do a multitude of tasks, is happening more slowly.
Mr Kavanagh said the challenge was to find a way to communicate to farmers and explain those risks, and put the health and safety in terms that were easily understood by the agricultural industry.
New laws to make people more accountable
New, recently enacted Work Health and Safety laws are demanding more responsibility and accountability, on and off the farm.
Gary Webster said the industry had already followed strict road transport regulations.
"We've got a taste of it with Main Roads and the heavy haulage certification, and, you know, we're audited yearly," he said.
"It's just basically a paper trail."
He said it was about ensuring all your fatigue management and maintenance was under control and that your equipment was properly working.
"So, you tick all the boxes and make sure that everything's done with that. And you've got to employ an auditor to do that. A huge amount of paperwork," Mr Webster said.
Mr Kavanagh will also look at the production pressures on farmers, acknowledging many farmers are short-staffed, forcing owners and workers to work longer hours and cover more tasks.
"The Inquiry will look at the impact of the pandemic," Mr Kavanagh said.
He said he would also look at the impact on labour shortage and migrant labour.
"I want to look at all those environmental factors with this inquiry and the impact that has had on the statistics."
Putting safety first
Putting safety first will be half the battle, a priority Gary Webster has learnt the hard way.
"You always push yourself to ensure that you're getting the job done, trying to keep productivity up, keep the tractor going."
"And I think it's just recognising that just backing off a bit and try not put so much pressure on yourself. Try not to listen to pressure from outside saying the crops got to go in, and you push yourself."
"We just have to be a bit more sensible about it."
WorkSafe aims to have the report and recommendations by the end of the year.
