2013-03-13
Matt McClure
Agriculture minister says legislation isn’t necessarily the solution.
Farm workers are exempt from Alberta’s health and safety laws, but Premier Alison Redford recently reiterated her vow to protect them under the legislation.
Calgary Herald
Alberta’s agriculture minister says the province is still working on a plan to fulfil its promise to protect farm workers under health and safety laws.
But amid renewed calls for action from opposition critics and worker advocates, Verlyn Olson said Wednesday that legislation wouldn’t be a silver bullet for a farm-injury fatality rate that is stubbornly high and rising.
“I’m not ruling out legislation, but legislation isn’t a panacea either,” Olson said in an interview.
“We want to take the time so that if we do come up with legislation, it is going to be something that is not overly burdensome and that will actually be enforced and enforceable.”
Some 355 Albertans have been killed and another 678 have been seriously injured in farm accidents over a span of nearly three decades.
The fatality rate in what is arguably the province’s most dangerous job rose 10 per cent between 1990 and 2009.
Premier Alison Redford recently reiterated her vow during the 2011 Tory leadership campaign to protect hired workers on farms under the province’s health and safety laws.
But now Olson is suggesting Alberta could remain the lone province to exempt farm workers.
Commenting on the official release this week of a Farm Safety Advisory Council report that has been on his desk for more than a year, he said he “accepted all its recommendations.”
The report, written by a 15-member council dominated by industry representatives, recommends voluntary safety certification.
“An industry that is proactive towards health and safety will limit the need for legislation and regulations to reduce farm incidents,” the report said.
A 2008 fatality inquiry into the death of farm worker Kevan Chandler — smothered by falling grain while cleaning a feedlot silo near Black Diamond — called for paid farm workers to be covered under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Instead, the government set up the advisory council.
Devin Yeager, the council’s sole labour representative, said a certification program is a start, but legislation is necessary to ensure workers are protected from the minority of agriculture operators who show no regard for safety.
“The problem with a voluntary program is that it’s only for those who want to be part of it,” Yeager said.
“I think there’s too many lobbyists screaming in the Premier’s ear that legislation isn’t the way to go.”
Liberal critic Dr. David Swann said the government is delaying on its promise because it’s worried about further erosion of its support in rural Alberta.
“It’s political,” said Swann, “but the government needs to do right by the people who produce our food and redress our reputation for a Wild West mentality when it comes to farm safety.”
Olson denied that political considerations were the reason for the government’s delay.
He said his ongoing discussions with Human Services Minister Dave Hancock and consultations with industry and the Conservative caucus are all aimed at finding a way to improve worker safety on both massive feedlots and smaller farms.
“I’m not using that as a crutch or an excuse, but Minister Hancock and I are determined that whatever we do it’s going to be something that’s workable,” Olson said.
In the interim, he said, this year’s budget includes $2 million in grants to agricultural societies around the province to promote farm safety.
Another $500,000 will be available for safety initiatives under a program the province is launching jointly with the federal government.
During Agricultural Safety Week, which started Sunday, farm operators can download a document from the provincial department’s website that allows them to identify risks and develop a safety plan for their business.
mmcclure@calgaryherald.com
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Photograph by: Calgary Herald/Files , Calgary Herald
Agriculture and horticulture workers
Policy analysis
Alberta
Anglais
