Farming and Horticulture WHS Manual

This is the farming and horticulture edition of the WHS Manual. It has the same chapters as the general WHS Manual, written for general farms: cropping, horticulture, orchards, vegetables, nurseries, packing sheds, hay and grain and mixed farms. It follows the farm year in order, from tractors and spraying to harvest, the packing shed and storage, and it points to the farm SWMS, plans, checklists and registers in our range that match. The Cattle Property edition of the WHS Manual covers grazing and cattle handling, so choose the edition that fits your farm and you only need one of the two. The cover page is ready for your business name and logo. Part A is the management system, in 23 numbered chapters. Part B holds the full text of 84 policies and procedures (41 that apply to every business and 43 for farming and horticulture work), each on its own pages in the same editable file, so you can edit, issue and sign off each one without buying it separately.

What Is Included In Our Farming and Horticulture WHS Manual?

• WHS policy statement with an approval sign-off
• Duties and roles for the owner, manager, supervisors, seasonal workers, labour hire and contractors
• Tractors, PTO shafts, quad bikes and side-by-side vehicles, with the rules that apply to each
• Agricultural chemicals: labels, spray records, who may spray, fumigation and health monitoring
• Irrigation, pumps, dams and water
• Harvest, picking, in-field traffic, ladders and platforms
• Packing shed hazards: guarding, emergency stops, noise, manual tasks and cool rooms
• Forklifts and shed traffic, with the licence rules
• Silos, grain bins, augers, hay and bale handling
• Overhead powerlines, electrical safety and the workshop
• Heat, fatigue, seasonal and remote work, children and visitors
• A table of the matching SWMS, plans, checklists and registers
• Part B: the full text of 84 policies and procedures, from risk, hazard and incident management to manual handling, hazardous substances, emergencies and return to work, plus 43 for farming and horticulture work

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld): the meaning of a person conducting a business or undertaking (s 5), of a workplace (s 8) and of a structure (the dictionary in s 4 and schedule 5), workers including contractors, labour hire workers and volunteers (s 7), reasonably practicable (s 18), our primary duty of care (s 19), duties of persons who manage or control a workplace (s 20), codes of practice (ss 26A, 274 and 275), duties of officers (s 27), duties of workers and others (ss 28 and 29), notifiable incidents (ss 35 to 39), consultation (ss 46 to 49), the right to cease unsafe work (ss 84 to 86), no levy on workers (s 273), and the extent to which it applies where the Electrical Safety Act applies (schedule 1 part 2 division 2 item 4)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld): serious electrical incidents and dangerous electrical events (ss 11 and 12), the primary duty (s 30), codes of practice (ss 44 and 45), and electrical work licences (s 55)
• Chemical Usage (Agricultural and Veterinary) Control Act 1988 (Qld): use of agricultural chemical products only as the approved label states (s 13), containers and labels (s 7), and disposal and reuse of packages (ss 10 and 11B)
• Agricultural Chemicals Distribution Control Act 1966 (Qld): ground and aerial distribution of agricultural chemicals, licences and the defences (s 39)
• Biosecurity Act 2014 (Qld): the general biosecurity obligation and notifiable pests and diseases
• Fire Services Act 1990 (Qld): prohibition on lighting fires (s 145B) and permits to light a fire (s 145C)
• Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld): the general environmental duty (s 319) and environmental harm
• Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld): claims and the employer’s injury report (ss 131 and 133), and rehabilitation and return to work (ss 226 to 232)
• Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000 (Qld): the blue card for regulated activities
• Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 (Qld), Weapons Act 1990 (Qld) and Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 (Qld): named for the animal, firearm and medicine rules that apply to farms, which this manual does not cover
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 (Qld): driving under the influence of liquor or a drug (s 79), and the road rules
• Heavy Vehicle National Law (Queensland): driving a heavy vehicle while impaired by fatigue, and the duty not to ask or require it (ss 228 and 26E)
• Civil Aviation Act 1988 (Cth) and Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (Cth): drones and aircraft used for spraying
• Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld): discrimination, including against workers with an impairment
• Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld): the value of a penalty unit (s 5(1)(d))
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): managing risks (ss 32 to 38), information, training and instruction (s 39), facilities, first aid, emergency plans and personal protective equipment (ss 40 to 47), remote or isolated work (s 48), airborne contaminants (ss 49 and 50), noise (ss 56 to 58), manual tasks (s 60), confined spaces (ss 62 to 77), falls (ss 78 to 80), high risk work licences (ss 81 to 85 and Schedule 3), plant (chapter 5, including ss 203 to 220, and the quad bike rules in ss 226A to 226C), construction work and SWMS (chapter 6, including ss 289 to 303 and 316), hazardous chemicals (chapter 7, including ss 328 to 378, and Schedules 11 and 14), asbestos (chapter 8), crystalline silica (chapter 8A), the notifiable serious illnesses (s 699), and the dictionary (Schedule 19)
• Work Health and Safety (Codes of Practice) Notice 2022 (Qld): the list of approved codes of practice
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead and underground electric lines (ss 10 to 15 and Schedule 2), manufacturing work, which includes sorting, processing and packing food products (s 123), the packing shed rules for adaptors, equipment testing and safety switches (ss 132 to 134 and 136), rural industry work (s 125), safety switches and testing in rural industry work (s 141), and notifying and preserving the site of serious electrical incidents and dangerous electrical events (ss 292 and 296)
• Chemical Usage (Agricultural and Veterinary) Control Regulation 2017 (Qld): records of every agricultural chemical use (ss 33B to 33E) and the conditions for relevant sugarcane growing (ss 19 to 25)
• Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Regulation 2025 (Qld): the criteria for appointing a return to work coordinator (s 149)
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Driver Licensing) Regulation 2021 (Qld): the licence class for the vehicle a person drives on a road
• Environmental Protection Regulation 2019 (Qld)
• Consumer Goods (Quad Bikes) Safety Standard 2019 (Cth): the standard for quad bikes sold new
• Rural Plant Code of Practice 2024
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Work Health and Safety Consultation, Co-operation and Co-ordination Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Preparation of Safety Data Sheets for Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Confined Spaces Code of Practice 2021
• Welding Processes Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice 2022
• Children and Young Workers Code of Practice 2006
• 1 Queensland approved codes of practice, named in full in the manual

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word manual (about 550 pages), A4 portrait, with a cover page ready for your business name and logo, a contents list, Part A (23 numbered chapters) and Part B (84 policies and procedures)
• Business details and document control typed once and filled in on every page, plus a space for your logo
• A WHS policy statement with an approval sign-off
• Roles, procedures, a risk matrix, record-keeping periods, definitions and references
• Part B: the full text of 84 policies and procedures, each starting on a new page
• Links by name to the matching SWMS, forms and registers in our range

Review it and adjust it to suit your business, your sites and the way your team works, and talk it through with your workers. If you have any trouble downloading this template, you can contact us at any time. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading.