What is it about?

This thesis examines the relationship between unconventional gas, host farmers, and workplace health and safety. It uses the host farmers' perspective and their right to a safe workplace to analyze the legislation that manages gas. The Psychosocial Safety Climate Policy Scorecard is introduced as a proactive method for engaging in this area. This tool can help host farmers and advocates make host farmer voices heard and can be used in future research to promote changes in governance and policies.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

There is escalating agricultural community discontent and distress over encroachment of energy projects onto farms. It has identified that although mandated by the National WHS strategy and Queensland State Planning Policy, the role and voice of the host farmer has been minimised in UG/co-location decision making. This has resulted in an unmitigated shifting of hazards and risks from the UG industry to the farming occupational group. The host farmer workplace is impacted, with changes to farm work design, organisation and management – all of which have the potential to cause significant physical and, critically, psychosocial harm. This research highlights the value in examining the host farming workplace perspective in the UG debate and has contributed by introducing and framing this unique UG-host farmer-WHS nexus and provided a way in which to elevate a pro-farming perspective in UG governance and research using the PSC Scorecard construct.

Perspectives

I hope to continue to advocate and assist farmers in applying this research. I also hope to continue my research in this newly revealed interface and have the toolkit used to make these essential changes to UG governance arrangements and promote dialogue and progress.

Dr Shay Dougall
Queensland University of Technology

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Host farmers: Silence at the centre of the unconventional gas people-place-law nexus, Queensland University of Technology,
DOI: 10.5204/thesis.eprints.249040.
You can read the full text:

Read

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page