A campaign from WorkSafe will be focusing on helping working parents keep children safe on thier farming property along with thier employees.
Matt Reid runs Otway Milk, Carlisle River, with his wife Alli, which milks about 700 cows and employs five permanent full-time workers.
Mr Reid said current practices relating to children on farms is far removed from the days when he was a young boy growing up.
Mr Reid's children maintain a safe distance from cows, equipment and machinery until they are old enough to work on the farm themselves.
At that point, they would be brought into the business with the same training as any other worker.
"Our kids have had such a different experience to what I had growing up on a farm," Mr Reid said.
"But at the end of the day, we know that they understand the dangers of the farm, and that's our job as parents," Mr Reid said.
"We also know that as business owners, we're responsible for the safety of everyone on our property, and sometimes for us that includes one of our employee's children," Mrs Reid said.
Otway Milk implements a comprehensive training and induction program for any new workers, along with regular safety meetings.
The Reids are supportive of working parents bringing thier children on-farm, where remoteness and early starts can make organising childcare difficult but they allow it with a focus on the importance of the safe separation of children from any farming operations
Otway Milk includes a children's room attached to the dairy, which has an outdoor play space and indoor area with a window so children remain visible and can still communicate with their parents.
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Mr Reid says it was important to have conversations about safety in agriculture, which could be life-saving.
"One of the things we learnt along the way is not everything has to cost money," Mr Reid said.
"There are examples where all it has cost is a five-minute conversation to find a better way,"
WorkSafe executive director of health and safety Narelle Beer said attitudes towards safety within the agriculture industry needed to continue shifting.
"A common mindset among farmers is that a serious or fatal injury will never happen to you, your workers or your family," Dr Beer said.
"But the devastating statistics show otherwise."
While the agriculture sector employs just two per cent of the Victorian workforce, it accounts for about 14 per cent of workplace fatalities.
Three people have been killed in on-farm workplace incidents this year,
Since 2019, 26 people have died due to farm incidents which include two children aged four and under.
Dr Beer urged farming oprations to keep the prevention of farm deaths and injuries in the front of mind for themselves and any staff.
"A focus on safety can prevent families and communities losing loved ones," Dr Beer said.
Nationally, incidents resulting in on-farm deaths decreased by 20 per cent in 2021, compared to the previous year according to the Non-intentional Farm Related Incidents in Australia 2021 report from AgHealth Australia.
In 2021, tractors were listed the highest cause of death, while out of all reported injuries, 60 per cent were caused from quad bikes, tractors or horses.
