WORKSAFE has issued a Werribee South vegetable farm with several safety improvement notices after a worker was run over by a tractor on the property last Friday.
A team of paramedics and an ambulance helicopter were called to the O'Connors Road farm at 8.10am.
Advanced life support paramedic Dan Candy said the man was flown to The Alfred hospital in a critical condition, with possible spinal injuries and fractures to his pelvis and a leg.
WorkSafe executive director John Merritt said the man was putting empty broccoli seedling trays at the front of the moving tractor when he was hit.
The man was lucky to be alive and the incident reinforced the need for farmers, labour hire firms and farm workers to maintain high safety standards.
"Farms can be great places to live and work, but they can be our most dangerous," Mr Merritt said. Six of Victoria's 20 work-related deaths this year had occurred on farms.
"Powerful and unforgiving equipment, working in isolation, relying on years or decades of experience, environmental conditions and the terrain can all lead to tragedy."
A spokesman for The Alfred said the man was now in a stable condition.
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