Waikato Times, October 17, 2006

by Gardner Chris

Shane and Vicki Wallace's Whakamaru dairy farm should be one of the Waikato's safest.

The Wallaces completed a FarmSafe course, which pricked Mrs Wallace's interest and led her to sign up as a lecturer.

"I thought if I am going to promote this then I should know what I am doing," Mrs Wallace said. "Agriculture has one of the highest accident levels in New Zealand now. It used to be forestry but we have overtaken them."

The Wallaces have a 218ha farm on which they milk 550 cows.

"We have put a lot more health and safety things in place. We now do an induction for our staff. We know where they are currently at and we can work with them to upskill them."

The course which she teaches -- tractor, ATV, motorbike and chainsaw safety as well as handling chemicals -- has made her approach accidents and near-misses differently.

"We assess the situation and work out why it happened, and try to eliminate those risks," she said.

The same is true of others who have completed the course, including Warren Koberstein, 57, who has a 294ha sheep and beef farm at Mangakino.

"I have been involved in the farming industry since I was could walk," Mr Koberstein said.

He was so impressed with the knowledge neighbouring farmers gleaned from the courses that he thought he would give it a go.

"You never really know everything," he said.

"The main thing is to be aware of potential dangers all of the time. The old adage that familiarity breeds contempt is very much the case with farm machinery."

Mrs Wallace runs courses in Mangakino, Taupo, Reporoa and Atiamuri.

Warren Koberstein 1st row 2nd from left, Vivian Koberstein 1st row 6th from left