Workplace health and safety (WHS) implications for farmers hosting unconventional gas (UG) exploration & production

Abstract This research examines the proposal that in Queensland, Australia, the unconventional gas (UG) industry, in accessing landholders’ property, does not solely enter the private land of host farmers, but also the host farmers’ workplace. Thus this industrial activity poses an exacerbation of existing workplace health and safety hazards for host farmers, and introduces new ones. The research identifies there is a clear duty on the UG Companies for the WHS impacts of their undertakings on the host farmer and explores the evidence that shows risk identification and management in relation to host farmers is not in practice routinely considered by the industry or the administering agencies. The report also suggests pathways for further research in order to explore and support host farmers in protecting their livelihoods and families from presently unidentified exposure and contribute to the minimization and prevention of future injuries, disease and fatalities for the host farmers.