With only 4000 shearers tending to Australia’s 70,000 sheep, it’s comforting to know people like Ray Meredith are helping new shearers enter the industry as well as making sure they are safe while at work.
Mr Meredith has lived and breathed shearing since he was a young boy, taking it up professionally 25 years ago when he was 15 years-old.
Situated in Taralga in the Southern Tablelands of NSW, Mr Meredith is now a shearing contractor of 11 years, overseeing about 15 shearers plus shed staff in peak periods.
He believes modern shearers take a more professional approach to their work, and so does he.
Mr Meredith won’t let his crew shear unless the sheds they are working at are fitted with anti lock motors.
And if those sheds don’t have the new technology, he will supply his own anti lock gear before they can begin work.
“That is the only thing I have to pick about in the industry is the old overhead shaft drives still being used,” Mr Meredith said.
“I am stressing to my clients, ‘fix the problem’. We won’t shear unless we have anti lock gear.”
He said a lot of his larger clients have come on board, but admitted some people were still reluctant.
His strong message towards safer working gear for shearers and shed staff stems from a close call that happened just weeks before a harrowing accident made headlines in 2017.
In that incident in shearing shed in the central west town of Gulargambone, a young woman was scalped after her hair was caught in overhead shearing equipment.
Two months before Mr Meredith saw the exact same thing about to happen to one of his wool handlers.
“It was only that I yelled out to her that the same thing didn’t happen,” he said.
“Her hair got pulled up, I yelled out and she ducked and grabbed her hair. A few strands of her hair broke off. From that day on I said I would never use them anymore.
“It was gut wrenching to see that and then hear about the incident weeks after.”
Mr Meredith said it is him, as the contractor, that is responsible for workplace injuries within his team and it is in his best interest to keep them safe.
“If my shearers are injured, not only is it something you don’t like to see happen, I am the one that foots the bill,” he said.
“It’s not the farmers, it’s me. I’m the one putting my butt on the line.”
The latest workers compensation statistics show that hand piece injuries, such as lockups account for over 30 per cent of injuries and nearly $3 million per annum.
A lockup is when an obstacle lodges in between the comb and the cutter stopping its reciprocating movement from 3500 RPM to 0 RPM.
It will rip the hand piece from the shearer’s hand and at this time becomes an airborne lethal weapon.
Traditionally when a lockup occurs the shearing plant keeps running and this is when the hand piece, once locked up, can cause serious injury to the user.
Anti lock gear cuts out instantaneously.
Going against the stats
Despite statistics showing industry numbers have dropped 30 per cent since 2006 (ABS) Mr Meredith said it’s easier to get shearers now than it was 11 years ago.
“There are a lot of good young shearers around – they are keen and they treat it professionally,” he said.
“They don’t go and do it for three months and give it up, they are doing it for 12 months of the year.
“They are making good money. You only have to shear 100 sheep a day to make $311 a day, but there are blokes earning up to $600 a day.”
Mr Meredith said it has a lot to do with their initial start, being taught properly through TAFE and shearing schools implemented by Australian Wool Innovation.
Six-time Australian shearer of the year, Ian Elkins, heads these shearing schools and will offer his services to up and coming shearers.
“I have a good relationship with Ian and he regularly comes to help out,” Mr Meredith said.
For further information on shearing safety and the Small Business Rebate Program, visit www.safework.nsw.gov.au or call 13 10 50.
