New tools to help seasonal workers be biosecurity aware

July 3, 2020

Plant Health Australia (PHA) has produced a video and fact sheet in nine languages to raise awareness amongst transient farm workers of the simple things they can do to reduce their risk of spreading plant pests and diseases.

Transient workers are a crucial part of the workforce for many farm businesses but bringing workers onto farm, from overseas or other parts of Australia, can pose a biosecurity risk.

As workers move around the country in search of work, they may also bring diseases, pests and weed seeds with them.

Trevor Dunmall, Industry Liaison Manager, Plant Biosecurity Northern Australia at PHA led the development of the video and fact sheet.

“We have developed these free resources in a range of languages for use in staff induction or training sessions,” said Trevor.

“They can also be shared with potential workers before they even arrive on farm, so they have an idea of what to expect when they get there.”

“The simple video is an introduction to the idea of on-farm biosecurity and covers some of the most important and effective hygiene practices to minimise the spread of diseases, pests and weed seeds.”

There are two versions in English (short and long), as well as voice over and subtitle translations of the full-length video in Bislama, French, Khmer, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified Chinese), Tetum, Tongan and Vietnamese.

An accompanying fact sheet summarising the information in the video can also be downloaded. Translated versions of this fact sheet are available in the same languages.

All versions of the video and fact sheet are available at interstatequarantine.org.au/travellers/working-on-farm

These resources were developed with support from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.