Delivering grain into bunkers at Croppa Creek in northern NSW. Photo: GrainCorp

THOSE delivering grain to bulk-handling sites this harvest can access a Grain Site Delivery induction course developed by Grain Producers Australia (GPA).

On Monday, GPA announced GrainCorp would be making the course available free of charge to those delivering to its sites, and yesterday, Qube Agri followed suit.

The course takes around 20 minutes for growers and carriers to complete, and is gathering momentum as a standardised safety induction pathway for the industry as harvest gathers pace.

GPA southern director and Victorian grower Andrew Weidemann said GPA was pleased to have partnered initially with GrainCorp to deliver what he believes is the industry solution for grain site inductions.

“Safety is everyone’s responsibility and it’s important everyone involved in agriculture is working together to lift the bar on safety – that’s why we’ve partnered with GrainCorp on our grain site delivery induction course,” he said.

“Our vision is to roll this out further, working with other grain bulk handlers to have one site induction course to drive efficiencies with modern training and improve safety for everyone.”

“We know this is going to be one of the biggest harvests on record for the Australian grains industry; let’s also make it one of the safest.”

Link to GrainCorp goal

GrainCorp chief operating officer Klaus Pamminger said GrainCorp’s adoption of the GPA course ties back to one of the company’s goals: Zero Harm – Safe for Life.

Mr Pamminger said the training allowed anyone delivering to GrainCorp this season to access multiple sites on one certification rather than completing multiple site inductions at different locations.

Growers and carriers are being encouraged to do the training, either before delivery or with a range of support options provided at site entry, including a QR Code.

“We hope other bulk handlers will support this initiative with GPA Training to help drive a safety-first culture that ultimately protects the industry.”

Those completing the course need to nominate every bulk handler they plan to deliver to throughout harvest, unless they are solely delivering to GrainCorp.

Once the course is completed, participants receive a digital certificate which can be shown to GrainCorp staff when entering sites.

If a hard or digital copy of the certificate cannot be shown or the training has not been completed, growers and carriers can still access the site to deliver their grain, but will be encouraged and reminded to complete the training.

Qube signs up

Qube Agri yesterday announced it had also signed up to provide the GPA course free to growers and carriers delivering into its network, including the former Agrigrain sites at Coonamble and Narromine.

GPA northern director and Moree grower Matthew Madden said the safety partnership between GPA and Qube Agri added momentum to help boost industry safety standards.

“The more bulk handlers that we have on board to deliver GPA Training’s Grain Site Delivery induction course, the more we will drive a safety-first culture that drives positive change and ultimately protects growers and our industry,” Mr Madden said.

Mr Madden said GPA had established an industry-wide committee of growers and bulk-handler representatives who will be working together to design and implement agreed safety standards for grain-site deliveries, and with a focus on continuous improvement.

“Safety is paramount in all our operations and we strongly endorse the need to have consistent driver inductions across the industry,” Qube Agri regional manager Jeremy Brown said.

“We look forward to the roll-out of the course from this week.”

“We welcome the involvement of all bulk handlers in this process and others looking for a practical advantage and edge, to list safety standards across the Australian grains industry,” he said.

The GPA Training Grain Site Delivery induction course  is available free of charge through GPA, GrainCorp or Qube.

Source: GPA, GrainCorp, Qube Agri