Farm workers in Otago and Southland are being sought to assist with a new study to determine why some indulge in risky behaviour on quadbikes while others are more risk adverse.
In June last year, an article in the Rural Women New Zealand magazine featured quadbike safety on farms as a major concern and posed the question of whether a cavalier attitude to safety by farmers was partly responsible.
On average, five people die in quadbike-related accidents on New Zealand farms each year, while 850 people report injuries.
The three-year research project is being undertaken at the University of Otago's School of Physiotherapy as part of Lynne Clay's requirements for a doctorate.
The aim is to investigate attitudes, risk-taking propensity and beliefs in rural workers to see if that public perception was true.
"We want to see how attitude and behaviour influence the way rural workers handle their quadbikes, confidentially and in a non-judgemental way.
"We just want to find out what makes them tick so that we can help both them and other rural workers avoid these tragedies," she said.
The first phase entailed a survey of 300 people, while the second phase will recruit a smaller sample of 15 workers for interviews that would help further explore the survey findings.
It was hoped the research would benefit the agricultural industry by contributing to knowledge on the factors for quadbike accidents and help the industry reduce fatalities and injuries.
That, in turn, would have implications towards a healthier workforce, greater productivity from workers needing less time off work, and help the economy by reducing rehabilitation costs.
Last month, Department of Labour inspectors visited 162 farms as part of a campaign to make sure farmers and their workers use quadbikes safely. Fifty-six written warnings or improvement notices were issued.
The safety campaign will continue until late 2013 with regular reviews and ongoing monitoring and enforcement in that time.