Agricultural machinery safety QLD: What the 2026 fixed plant campaign means for your farm

Around 10 agricultural workers die in Queensland workplace incidents every year. Between October and December 2026, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) will run a proactive compliance campaign targeting one specific cause: fixed plant on farms. If your property runs packing, processing or cool room equipment, this campaign has direct implications for how you assess, guard and document machinery risk.

What is changing between October and December 2026

WHSQ’s fixed plant compliance campaign is part of the WHS Compliance and Field Services Proactive Compliance Program 2024 to 2027, which sets out the regulator’s planned inspection priorities across Queensland’s highest-risk industries. For the final quarter of 2026, which commences now, agriculture is the focus, and fixed plant is the specific hazard.

Fixed plant is machinery and equipment that is installed at a set location on a property, as distinct from mobile plant such as tractors, quad bikes or side-by-side vehicles. WHSQ’s campaign centres on the equipment types most commonly found in packing sheds and processing areas, where older machinery and informal safety systems are more likely to be in use.

Which machines are in scope for this campaign

WHSQ has named three categories of fixed plant that inspectors will focus on during farm visits:

This is not an exhaustive list of fixed plant on a Queensland farm, but it reflects where WHSQ has identified the greatest concentration of serious injuries in the sector.

What to expect when an inspector visits your farm

WHSQ inspectors will visit farms across Queensland during the campaign period to assess how fixed plant hazards are being managed. Businesses should expect the following:

• Inspectors will observe how fixed plant is operated, guarded, isolated and maintained, not just reviewing paperwork. This includes checking pre-start checks and maintenance records, since these are the day-to-day evidence that a documented control is actually being followed, not just filed away after the fact.
• Biosecurity measures are followed by inspectors when attending agricultural workplaces, in recognition of the importance of biosecurity to landholders.
• Where serious breaches are identified, WHSQ may issue compliance notices or financial penalties.
• Inspectors are also a source of practical guidance, not purely an enforcement presence. In previous fixed plant campaigns, WHSQ has pointed businesses toward the Managing the risks of plant in the workplace Code of Practice and a fixed plant self-assessment tool, and this campaign is expected to follow a similar pattern.

Why older machinery is the recurring risk factor

Fixed plant risk on Queensland farms tends to follow a consistent pattern: machinery that has been in service for years, sometimes decades, without a formal review of its guarding, isolation points or maintenance schedule. Informal safety systems, often built around individual staff experience rather than documented procedures, make it harder to demonstrate compliance when an inspector asks how a specific hazard is controlled. This is precisely the gap WHSQ’s campaign is designed to close.

Preparing for the campaign

Here is a practical guide to preparing your farm:

• Identify every piece of fixed plant on the property, including equipment that may not have been formally assessed before.
• Complete a machine-specific risk assessment for each item, referencing the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (QLD) and the Managing the Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice, along with any applicable Australian Standards, such as AS/NZS 4024.3610:2015 for conveyors.
• For cool room refrigeration, including ammonia-based systems, reference the Managing risks of hazardous chemicals in the workplace Code of Practice alongside your plant risk assessment, since refrigerant exposure is a chemical hazard as well as a mechanical one.
• Review guarding, isolation procedures and emergency stop functions on packing, sealing and conveyor equipment.
• Check emergency planning for any ammonia-based or other refrigerant systems in cool rooms.
• Keep a clear, dated record of assessments, corrective actions, pre-start checks and maintenance activity, and who completed them, so compliance can be demonstrated on the day of a visit, not just at the point the assessment was written.

How Ideagen Machine Safety supports compliance

Ideagen Machine Safety (formerly Plant Assessor) provides machinery-specific risk assessments across more than 130,000 makes and models, covering both the fixed plant categories named in this campaign and mobile plant. Rather than a generic assessment per equipment type, it identifies the hazards specific to each machine, applies a risk rating, and recommends corrective actions against the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (QLD) and the Managing the Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice.

The platform also keeps pre-start and maintenance records alongside each machine’s risk assessment, so the same evidence an inspector checks on the day, not just the periodic assessment, is already organised and ready to show.

For farms preparing for inspection between October and December 2026, this replaces an informal, staff-dependent process with a documented, audit-ready record. Book a demo to see how Ideagen Machine Safety fits your preparation for the campaign period.