Health and Safety Issues
Farmworker Health and Safety:
Challenges for British Columbia
Every year, thousands of mostly immigrant and migrant workers carry out a range of tasks in support of British Columbia’s horticultural industry. The workforce that is so essential to this industry, to the families and communities that derive their livelihood from horticulture, and to the safety and quality of BC fruits and vegetables comprises one of the lowest paid least protected and most vulnerable occupational categories in the province.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT
POCKET EXTRACTS FOR FARMING OPERATIONS
This document sets out some of the main provisions in the Occupational Health and Safety Act that apply to “farming operations”, as of June 30, 2006.
Now hear this: Protect your ears
KINGS COUNTY - The traditional picture of a farm as a serene and quiet workplace couldn’t be farther from the truth. Machinery, motors, and even sounds made by animals, sometimes creates a noisy and often hazardous environment.
Ag Safety Week focuses on safety gear
Getting farmers and their workers to anticipate both the risks in a given task and the equipment they need to protect themselves on that job are the twin goals of Canadian Agricultural Safety Week.
Kids still at risk on Canadian farms
A Canadian farm can be a great place to grow up. But in the 16 years between 1990 and 2005, 217 children lost their chance.
New data from the Canadian Agricultural Injury Surveillance Program (CAISP) show 217 agricultural fatalities among children and youth aged 14 and under - an average of 13 per year for the period 1990 - 2005. Almost half of them were under five years old and three out of four were boys.
Farming is a dangerous business.
The industry itself tells us every year in March with a full week of events and reminders and educational materials intended to reduce the grim statistics.
How grim? In 2002, an average of two Albertans a month died in farm-related “accidents.” The average is 18 deaths a year in the province.
Meanwhile, Alberta Occupational Health and Safety issued a news release boasting record penalties were levied in 2008 against unsafe workplaces as courts dished out $5 million in fines to employers who broke safety laws.
Jump in farm deaths fuels push to expand workplace laws
Deaths on Alberta farms jumped 58 per cent last year and involved six children, including two who were mistakenly buried and suffocated in mounds of grain, Alberta Agriculture reported.
The spike in farm-related fatalities marks a return to a grim normal, after 2007 deaths declined to a dozen from the provincial average of 19.
Cochrane woman joins farm workers’ fight for rights after losing use of arm
Philippa Thomas with her dog Diesel outside her Cochrane home. Thomas has been in constant pain since a farm injury three years ago and is hoping to change government policy that does not provide workers compensation to farm workers.
Major compensation award for migrant worker
For the first time in Quebec, the CSST (the province’s workplace health and safety commission) has ordered the payment of benefits for a period of 40 years to a seasonal
migrant worker – thanks to the assistance of UFCW Canada and other labour activists.
Mobile Vulnerabilities, Transnational Risks:
Temporary Agricultural Migrants in Ontario
Dr. Jenna L. Hennebry
Assistant Professor Communication Studies/Sociology
Wilfrid Laurier University
Canadá
A project funded by CERIS – Ontario Metropolis Centre and the Public Health Agency of Canada