If it can move, it can carry diseases, pests and weeds. For this reason people, vehicles and equipment pose a high biosecurity risk and should be managed accordingly.
People can unintentionally carry diseases without even realising. This means anyone visiting your property including suppliers, vets, transporters, stock agents, consultants, employees, researchers and contractors.
Farmers who own cattle, pigs, sheep, buffalo, deer, camels, alpacas, llamas, or goats need to be aware of the signs and symptons of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and how to be prepared.
To prepare and limit the risk of visitors carrying new pests and diseases onto your property:
- limit entry point to access the property – ideally there should be one access point and all movements should be recorded and you must always know who is on your property
- direct all visitors to a designated parking area by using clear signage, ask them to sign in/register their visit
- all visitors to the property must ensure that their vehicles, equipment, boots and clothing are clean and free from pests, weed seeds and plant material
- all visitor vehicles, equipment and boots should be cleaned upon entering the property in a wash-down bay
- any visitor who refuses to clean vehicles, equipment and boots, or cannot demonstrate that their clothing is clean should be refused entry
- limit visitor contact with livestock, crops or plant materials as much as possible and eliminate any unnecessary contact altogether
- if you run a business that has a tourism component, you’ll need to clearly indicate any entry requirements and be especially vigilant in checking for new pests and diseases
- disinfect hands before and after coming into contact with livestock, plant material or soil
- ensure that staff and occasional workers clean and disinfect equipment such as pruning shears in-between uses on different properties
- ensure all your staff are familiar with the basic symptoms associated with a pest or disease outbreak and know how to report them
All the above are essentials as part of the Australian Farm Biosecurity Toolkit and can be managed affectively and efficiently with a visitor management system.
By placing a QR Code poster at every entry point you can do the following:
- Collect the details of every person entering your property
- Set up custom questions and workflows based on your entry requirements
- Deny entry to anyone from entering who have visited FMD infected areas within the last 7 days
- Be notified immediately when and how a visitor answers a particular question
- Pre-register your visitors and let them know the requirements to enter ahead of time
- Only allow pre-registered visitors to sign in and enter
- Report on all visitor details and how they answered your questions, all reports can be exported to csv or pdf files
To learn more about FMD and how the Australian Government is working to keep Australia protected, visit www.agriculture.gov.au/footandmouthdisease
For more information on how intruducing a QR Code Visitor Management System can help protect your property and livestock contact Time & People on: 1300 800 077
