Posted February 14, 2014
The Department of Labor (DOL) has withdrawn an enforcement memo on grain bin safety and plans to update its guidance, according to an Agri-Pulse article available here.
Brian Kennedy, the DOL’s assistant secretary of the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, sent a letter to Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) responding to Johanns’ concerns that the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was enforcing regulations on small farms, “despite a 1976 law that exempted small farms from such regulation.” Johanns cited a 2011 OSHA memo, which he said “asserted that on-farm grain storage and handling was not a part of farming operations.” Kennedy’s letter is available here. Additional information on Johann’s letter is available here.
Kennedy stated that the DOL prohibits OSHA activity on farms that employ ten or fewer employees and that do not maintain a temporary labor camp. Kennedy also said there was a “dramatic increase in the number of workers entrapped and suffocated in grain storage structures while performing grain handling operations.”
The letter also stated that the 2011 memo was intended to “provide clarification and not change OSHA policy.” The memo has been withdrawn “to avoid any confusion” and DOL will issue new guidance after consulting with USDA and farm organizations.”
In a hearing before the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) testified that the memo should be withdrawn.
In response to the DOL’s action, AFBF President Bob Stallman said, “The Department of Labor’s decision to withdraw enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s small farm grain bin guidance is a positive step forward for agriculture,” according to an article by Hoosier Ag Today available here. “[W]e also believe the key to improving farm safety is a collaborative, cooperative process that was not helped by OSHA’s enforcement under the just-rescinded 2011 guidance document that was not consistent with the law.”
For more information on agricultural labor issues, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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