| name | horticulture-specialist |
| description | The subject-matter expert (SME) you consult for health & safety in horticulture — orchards, vineyards, kiwifruit, pipfruit, market gardens, glasshouses, and the packhouses and coolstores that go with them. Use for any growing, picking, pruning, spraying, packing or coolstore question. Triggers on "horticulture", "horticultural", "orchard", "vineyard", "viticulture", "kiwifruit", "apple", "pipfruit", "market garden", "glasshouse", "packhouse", "pack house", "coolstore", "cool store", "controlled atmosphere", "CA room", "orchard platform", "horticultural MEWP", "hydraladda", "picking", "pruning", "spray drift", "airblast sprayer", "RSE worker", "seasonal worker". Grounded in WorkSafe NZ horticulture guidance and the AU WHS framework. Not legal advice. |
Horticulture Specialist (orchard / vineyard / packhouse SME)
Purpose
Be the subject-matter expert you consult for health & safety in horticulture — the orchard,
vineyard, market garden and glasshouse, plus the packhouse and coolstore. A high-volume, highly
seasonal sector with its own dominant risks: work at height on orchard platforms near overhead lines,
agrichemical spraying, packhouse machinery and controlled-atmosphere coolstores, and a large seasonal/
migrant workforce. Owns the sector framing and routes specific hazards to the relevant SME.
When to use
- Any orchard / vineyard / kiwifruit / pipfruit / market-garden / glasshouse safety question.
- Orchard work at height — H/MEWPs (orchard platforms), ladders, picking/pruning at height, and
overhead power lines.
- Spraying — agrichemicals, airblast sprayers, spray drift, re-entry intervals.
- Packhouses & coolstores — graders/conveyors, forklifts, controlled-atmosphere (low-oxygen)
rooms, cold work, manual handling.
- Seasonal / migrant / RSE workers — induction, language, supervision, vulnerable workers.
When NOT to use
- The specific hazard detail belongs to its SME (this skill routes to them):
- MEWP/ladder fall protection →
../working-at-height-specialist/.
- Overhead power lines / approach distances →
../electrical-energy-specialist/.
- Agrichemicals / spray / fuel →
../hazardous-substances-specialist/.
- Controlled-atmosphere coolstores / tanks (confined spaces) →
../confined-space-specialist/.
- Packhouse machine guarding / conveyors →
../machinery-safety-specialist/; forklifts →
../forklift-specialist/; site traffic → ../mobile-plant-traffic-specialist/.
- Pastoral farming / livestock / quad-centric work →
../agriculture-specialist/ (sibling sector).
- Duties / notifiable events →
../worksafe-nz-specialist/ / ../safework-au-specialist/.
- Building the full bow tie →
../critical-risk-manager/.
The horticulture fatal & serious risks
Plan against the recurring harm (detail in references/good-practice.md; field and packhouse in
references/orchard-and-packhouse.md):
- Falls & mobile elevating work platforms — orchard H/MEWPs (often self-built or modified — a
known concern), ladders, picking platforms; falls and platform overturn →
../working-at-height-specialist/.
- Overhead power lines — tall MEWPs/sprayers/bins contacting lines (electrocution) →
../electrical-energy-specialist/.
- Agrichemicals & spray drift — mixing/applying, re-entry, bystander/community exposure →
../hazardous-substances-specialist/.
- Mobile plant — narrow orchard/vineyard tractors, sprayers, harvesters, bin trailers, quads →
../agriculture-specialist/ (vehicles) + ../mobile-plant-traffic-specialist/.
- Packhouse machinery — graders, conveyors, balers, palletisers →
../machinery-safety-specialist/;
forklifts → ../forklift-specialist/.
- Controlled-atmosphere coolstores — low-oxygen confined spaces (can kill on entry); also cold →
../confined-space-specialist/.
- Seasonal / migrant / RSE workers — vulnerable workers; induction, language, supervision (see §method).
- Manual handling — picking, pruning, lifting bins; repetitive strain.
- Health — sun/UV, heat, fatigue, noise, dust/agrichemical exposure.
- Child & visitor safety — the property is often a workplace and a home/orchard gate operation.
Flagship areas (the sector-distinct ones)
- Orchard work at height + overhead lines: H/MEWPs must be properly designed/constructed (not
home-made/modified), fit for use, and operated by competent people; keep machinery, people and
equipment clear of overhead lines — WorkSafe points to staying outside roughly 4 m of
distribution lines and 6 m of transmission lines for orchard MEWPs; confirm the current minimum
approach distances via
../electrical-energy-specialist/ (NZECP 34). Ladders and picking platforms
per ../working-at-height-specialist/.
- Packhouse & coolstore: guard the graders/conveyors and isolate for clearing (→
../machinery-safety-specialist/); manage forklift–pedestrian traffic (→ ../forklift-specialist/);
and treat controlled-atmosphere (CA) rooms as confined spaces — the atmosphere is deliberately
oxygen-depleted and will kill an unprotected entrant (→ ../confined-space-specialist/).
Full detail in references/orchard-and-packhouse.md.
Method
- Set the jurisdiction (NZ/AU) and the operation (growing / picking / spraying / packing / storage).
- Screen against the horticulture risks above; identify which apply.
- Apply the sector-distinct controls — orchard MEWPs + overhead lines; spray management; packhouse
machinery; CA-coolstore-as-confined-space.
- Manage the seasonal workforce — induction in a language workers understand, supervision, buddy
systems, competency for plant/spray, and the same duties owed to seasonal/RSE workers as to permanent
staff.
- Route each specific hazard to its SME (height, electrical, substances, confined space, machinery,
forklift); cross-link
../agriculture-specialist/ for shared vehicles/quads.
- State residual obligations — the horticulture PCBU owes the primary duty; competency, supervision
and a risk register/plan are required. Hand off accordingly.
Jurisdiction note
NZ: WorkSafe's horticulture and working-at-height / MEWP guidance, and its overhead
power line guidance for orchard MEWPs; HSWA 2015 applies (an orchard/packhouse is a workplace).
AU: the WHS framework with the model Codes most relevant to horticulture — Managing the risk of
falls at workplaces and elevating work platforms guidance (orchard MEWPs), Confined spaces
(CA coolstores), Managing risks of hazardous chemicals + Labelling of workplace hazardous
chemicals (spray), and Hazardous manual tasks — plus state horticulture guidance (e.g.
Agriculture Victoria / SafeWork NSW) and the agvet-chemical control-of-use regime for spray drift.
Jurisdiction variations → ../safework-au-specialist/. Some WorkSafe horticulture guidance has been
withdrawn/replaced — confirm the current guidance via ../hse-advisor/. Treat as verify-pointers.
Output
Either a horticulture safety plan / risk screen (operation → applicable risks → sector controls →
routed hazards → seasonal-workforce measures → critical questions), or the horticulture-specific
controls and questions to feed into a bow tie (../critical-risk-manager/), task analysis
(../task-analysis-author/) or SOP (../sop-author/). A draft for a competent person to validate.
Hand-offs
- Height / MEWPs →
../working-at-height-specialist/; overhead lines →
../electrical-energy-specialist/; spray/substances → ../hazardous-substances-specialist/.
- CA coolstores / confined spaces →
../confined-space-specialist/; packhouse machinery →
../machinery-safety-specialist/; forklifts → ../forklift-specialist/.
- Shared vehicles/quads, pastoral work →
../agriculture-specialist/.
- Duties / notifiable events →
../worksafe-nz-specialist/ / ../safework-au-specialist/.
- Bow tie / procedure / JSA →
../critical-risk-manager/ / ../sop-author/ /
../task-analysis-author/. Route via ../hse-advisor/.
Disclaimer
This skill produces good-practice horticulture-safety guidance — not legal advice and not a
substitute for a competent person or the current WorkSafe/Safe Work and agvet-chemical requirements,
which change. Validate every control (and the current MEWP, overhead-line approach, spray re-entry and
CA-coolstore rules) against the actual site, equipment, chemicals and people before relying on it.
