Farm accidents: new quad bike laws in Queensland

Farm work is essential work - it’s the reason we have fresh food on our supermarket shelves and dinner tables. Unfortunately, the farming industry is also one of the most dangerous in Australia, with 55 farmers losing their lives on farms in 2022.

Alarmingly, 64% of these deaths were attributed to farm vehicles or mobile farm machinery, such as quad bikes. A quad bike is a four-wheeled motor vehicle that is ridden in the same way as a two-wheeled motor vehicle. Quad bikes are commonly used by farmers throughout Australia.

Over 87% of farm-related injuries occur in New South Wales and Queensland.

To address this statistic and improve the safety of workers while operating quad bikes, the Queensland Government has recently introduced new laws. The new law is called the Work Health and Safety (Quad Bikes) Amendment Regulation 2024 which came into effect on 21 March 2024. This law will amend the existing Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011.

The new Regulation only applies to quad bikes used in a workplace and enforces various safety requirements. The safety requirements can be separated into three categories: duties of a person with management or control of a quad bike in the workplace, duties of a worker, and helmets to be worn in certain areas.  

Duties of a person with management or control of a quad bike

A person with management or control of a quad bike must take all reasonable steps to ensure:

(a)   The quad bike be only operated by persons over 16 years of age, or the minimum age recommended by the manufacturer of the quad bike. This will ensure that children under 16 are not allowed on adult-sized quad bikes and can only operate age-appropriate quad bikes in a workplace.

(b)   The quad bike cannot carry passengers unless the vehicle is designed for passenger use, the passenger is at least 16 years old, or the minimum age recommended by the manufacturer of the quad bike.

(c)   All operators and passengers of the quad bike must wear a crash helmet.

If a person with the management or control of the quad bike fails to comply with the requirements above, they can be fined a maximum of approximately $9,288.00.

Duties of a person with management or control of a quad bike

If a worker is provided with a crash helmet, they must wear it if the quad bike is moving or is stationary but not parked. This applies whether the worker is operating the quad bike or is the passenger.

If a worker fails to comply with the above, they can be fined a maximum of approximately $5,572.80.

Helmets

If a person with the management or control of a quad bike at a workplace knows, or could reasonably be expected to know, that a quad bike could be operated or ridden by a passenger on a road or road-related area, state forest or timber reserve, protected area or recreation area, then the crash helmet must be an approved motorbike helmet.

An approved motorbike helmet is a helmet that complies with the following:

(i) AS 1698 or AS/NZS 1698; or

(ii) For a helmet manufactured after UN ECE 22.05 came into force – UN ECE 22.

Since 2001, 1,705 people have lost their lives on Australian farms, and nearly 30% of these fatalities can be attributed to either a tractor or a quad bike.

The new quad bike laws introduced by the Queensland Government will hopefully see a sharp decline in injuries to our valuable farmers.

You may be entitled to compensation if you or a family member can’t work due to an injury or illness.

Contact us to talk to one of our experienced, caring lawyers about your rights and entitlements, or use our free claim check tool to find out if you’re eligible.