Proposed Changes to Health & Safety Requirements for On-Orchard Sampling
Summary
Eurofins Bay of Plenty Limited (Eurofins) provides on-orchard residue and maturity clearance sampling services. As part of the set-up process for the 2019 season Eurofins needs to obtain updated health and safety related details for orchards. Key principles and roles have been proposed for this update and Eurofins orchard health and safety and stop sampling procedures have been updated. Industry feedback is being sort on these items and the NZKGI Forum will discuss these items at the 25 October 2018 Forum meeting.
Draft key principles
Zespri and Eurofins have drafted the following key principles for Eurofins 2019 orchard sampling services:
- The person/party that intends to request samples for an orchard will provide the health and safety primary contact for that orchard
- Eurofins will liaise with the health and safety primary contact for each orchard to confirm that they are the relevant person and to obtain health and safety related information for that orchard
- For a sample to be collected, health and safety related information in the Eurofins system must be updated at least once for the 2019 season by the health and safety primary contact for the orchard.
The intention of the key principles is to ensure that the person who is in control of the orchard workplace from a health and safety perspective is able to communicate about health and safety related matters with Eurofins who are in control of the sampling activity. It is intended that if the health and safety related information for an orchard is not updated for the 2019 season that Eurofins will not provide sampling services for that orchard.
Proposed postharvest roles
Postharvest have historically acted as a conduit of information between growers and Eurofins. The proposed postharvest roles for 2019 are:
- Request samples for orchards they intend to pack
- Provide health and safety primary contact details for orchards they intend to request samples for
- Update the orchard map in Eurofins system for orchards they intend to request samples for
- Update maturity areas in Eurofins system for orchards they intend to request samples for
The change in the proposed postharvest roles from 2018 is providing the health and safety primary contact details for orchards they will request samples for. Experience from 2018 season was that the person or party that requests samples for an orchard is in the best position to advise who the health and safety primary contact for the orchard is. Note that Eurofins will confirm with the health and safety primary contact provided for each orchard that they are actually the health and safety primary contact. If a postharvest operator does not wish to provide the health and safety primary contact details for the orchards they intend to request samples for, it is proposed that they will not be able to request samples for those orchards.
Postharvest operators are currently considering these roles and have been requested to provide feedback on the roles and confirm whether or not they will perform the above roles for 2019 season.
If a postharvest operator is also the health and safety primary contact for an orchard they are also expected to fulfil the proposed health and safety primary contact roles detailed below. Examples of where a postharvest operator may be the health and safety primary contact include orchards they own, lease or manage.
Proposed health and safety primary contact roles
The health and safety primary contact for an orchard is the person who is in control of the orchard workplace from a health and safety perspective and is therefore in the best position to advise orchard visitors of the health and safety requirements and any hazards of the orchard. The roles proposed for the health and safety primary contact for 2019 are the same as the roles undertaken in 2018:
- Confirmation that they are the health and safety primary contact for the orchard
- Determine the sampling method (foot or vehicle)
- Provide the orchard arrival requirements
- Provide the significant orchard hazards/risks – at least once a year update on Eurofins system, opportunity to update at any time including responding to day before text notification of sample collection. Update can include notification that there is no update required.
Note that if any of these details are not updated for 2019 season that samples will not be able to be requested for that orchard. Postharvest operators will be advised of those orchards where the health and safety primary contact has not performed the roles detailed above so that they can assist with prompting updates from the health and safety primary contact.
Eurofins draft 2019 health and safety standard and stop sampling procedures
Eurofins have updated their Kiwifruit Orchard Health and Safety Sampling Standard and Kiwifruit Orchard Stop Sampling Procedures and are seeking industry feedback on these documents – the draft documents have been distributed to the NZKGI Forum and are available here and here. The key changes from the 2018 documents including additional detail about what samplers do on arrival at orchards, adding shelter belt trimmers as a potential stop sampling circumstance and adding clarification to some of the stop sampling circumstances. A changes tracked version of these documents is available from Sarah Cameron at sarah.cameron@nzkgi.org.nz and feedback on these draft documents needs to be provided to Sarah by 2 November 2018. It is expected that the final documents will be published by 9 November 2018.