The welfare of everyone involved in Seed Saving group activities is important to all of us. 

One of the main ways to ensure everyone’s welfare is to build a safety conscious attitude into the culture of your group. People are often dismissive of what they perceive as ‘officiousness’ or over-the-top unnecessary worrying. 

Seed saving is not a particularly risky activity but a few simple things can make things safer for those involved in group activities: 

• If heavy items have to be moved then make sure two or three people do it together. This quickly becomes the norm for a group if it is setup as the way things are always done.
• Having protective equipment such as spare gloves and dust masks can make seed processing less uncomfortable. Otherwise you might find allergy prone people avoiding processing lettuce seed, for example.

Having a plan is written evidence that your group has considered the risks and is taking appropriate actions to minimise those risks for participants. 

Your organising committee should regularly review the risks associated with any activities, particularly if you take on a new activity or event. Building this sort of review into your regular committee activities will help to ensure that your organisers will not be considered negligent and held liable through a legal action.

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Here is a sample plan for the regular gatherings of the Bega Valley Seed Savers at our local markets. Also available at – https://seedsavers.scpa.org.au/pages/ohs

Bega Valley Seed Savers Health & Safety Plan
No risks to life or threat of serious injury have been identified as likely to occur during Bega Valley Seed Saver activities. These activities occur both at the SCPA Market in Bega and in volunteer’s homes.
All members and participants are encouraged to watch for and take appropriate control action for any risks to themselves or others.

Known Risks/Hazards
The group has identified the following known risks and controls.

Known Risk : Lifting unsafe workloads
Controls
1. Volunteers to self-select tasks to match physical capabilities. 
2. Marquee frame to be lifted by two people.

Known Risk : Inhalation Risks – dust & fungus
Controls
1. Seed cleaning activities that generate air-borne particles to be undertaken in well ventilated areas.
2. Volunteers who are aware they have relevant allergies are responsible for taking appropriate action to avoid negative outcomes.

Known Risk : Skin & Eye Irritants
Controls
1. Volunteers handling material likely to produce skin or eye irritation (eg. Chillies) to use provided gloves.

Incident response
All serious emergencies will be dealt with by ringing 000 for aid.
Minor injuries may be treated by volunteers with appropriate first aid training.
Incidents to be reported in writing to the SCPA Executive. 
Report to include at a minimum the following information: date; location where incident occurred; full name of person involved; a brief description of the incident and any injury that occurred.
Complaints that cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of all members of the Bega Valley Seed Savers group will be be forwarded to the SCPA Executive for review and resolution.

Communication Plan
This document to be made publicly available on the BVSS website. Notification of the availability and any future updates to the document to be notified to the BVSS email list.
This document to be available as a printed copy for review by new members and visitors. Copy to be kept with the BVSS kit.

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Here is another example Health & Safety Plan for seed garden activities.

Springvale Garden Health & Safety Plan
No risks to life or threat of serious injury have been identified as likely to occur during Bega Valley Seed Saver (BVSS) activities in the Springvale Garden. 
All members and participants are encouraged to watch for and take appropriate control action for any risks to themselves or others.

Known Hazards, Risks and Controls
The group has identified the following known hazards, risks and controls.

Known Hazard & Risk : Manual Handling eg. lifting and carrying – Minor Risk of injury to Musco-skeletal system
Controls
1. Volunteers to self-select tasks to match physical capabilities. 
2. Heavy items to be lifted by two or more people.
Known Hazard & Risk : Garden activities including weeding, digging, planting etc – Minor risk of injury to skin
Controls
1. Volunteers to wear appropriate clothing including covered shoes and gloves.
Known Hazard & Risk : Tools & structures – Trip hazards
Controls
1. Volunteers to not leave tools lying where they may be tripped over.
2. Structures (eg. trellis) to be installed so as not to constitute a trip hazard in normal use.
Known Hazard & Risk : Outdoor activities – Sunburn & dehydration
Controls
1. Volunteers to wear appropriate clothing including hats and sunscreen.
2. Volunteers to bring personal water bottles.
Known Hazard & Risk : Metal structure installation with hammering and power tools – Minor risk to hearing
Controls
1. Volunteers to wear hearing protection when installing star pickets etc.
2. Volunteers to follow safety instructions for power tools
Known Hazard & Risk : Inhalation of dust & fungus – Minor risk to respiratory system
Controls
1. Seed collection activities that generate air-borne particles to be undertaken in well ventilated areas.
2. Volunteers who are aware they have relevant allergies are responsible for taking appropriate action to avoid negative outcomes.
3. Volunteers to wear dust masks when appropriate (eg. handling potting mix)
Known Hazard & Risk : Skin & Eye Irritants – Minor risk to skin and eyes
Controls
1. Volunteers handling material likely to produce skin or eye irritation (eg. chillies) to use provided gloves.
Known Hazard & Risk : Snakes, bees, biting insects – Risk of bites
Controls
1. Volunteers to wear appropriate clothing, including sturdy, closed in footwear..
2. Volunteers to stay in work area only, not wander around the property.
3. If a snake or other live hazard is encountered, volunteers are to vacate the immediate area.

Incident response
All serious emergencies will be dealt with by ringing 000 for aid.
Minor injuries may be treated by volunteers with appropriate first aid training.
A first aid kit is available at the site.
Incidents to be reported in writing to the SCPA Executive. Report to include at a minimum the following information: date; location where incident occurred; full name of person involved; a brief description of the incident and any injury that occurred.
Complaints that cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of all members of the Bega Valley Seed Savers group will be forwarded to the SCPA Executive for review and resolution.

Communication Plan
Notification of the availability and any future updates to the document to be notified to the BVSS discussion email list.
This document to be available as a printed copy for review by new members and visitors to the site. Copy to be kept with the BVSS kit.
New members to be given an orientation of the site including a discussion of the identified risks and their obligations to help mitigate those risks.