For some employers there may be some costs related to compliance with the new requirements; however, from our recent discussions with the industry, many operators already appear to be doing what the law will require.

Farmers have until June 30, 2006 to learn about the new requirements and to bring their operations into compliance, where necessary. The new requirements will help prevent workplace injuries and fatalities, and overall, should lead to cost savings for employers such as paying lower insurance premiums to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). Currently the WSIB estimates that the average cost of a workplace accident is about $59,000.

The main responsibilities you will have under the OHSA will be to:

• provide information, instruction and supervision to workers;
• advise workers and supervisors about hazards in the workplace;
• notify MOL of workplace fatalities & critical injuries;
• cooperate with the workplace joint health and safety committee or the worker health and safety representative; and,
• take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers.

Detailed information about your new responsibilities will be available from the Farm Safety Association, the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

You have until June 30, 2006 to become familiar with your new duties and to make any changes that may be needed. Throughout the coming months, educational materials and programs will be available to help you understand the new requirements and to
comply with them.

The OHSA sets out a process that an employer and worker must follow when there is a work refusal. If a refusal cannot be resolved internally, at the first stage, by the workplace parties, a MOL inspector must be called. Inspectors treat work refusal calls as a priority and will respond as quickly as possible.

While waiting for an inspector to come, the employer can assign another worker to do the work that was refused. The second worker must be told that the work was refused and why. This must be done in the presence of one of the following:

• a worker member of the joint health and safety committee, if there is one; or,
• a worker health and safety representative in workplaces where there is no committee; or,
• another worker, chosen by the workers to represent them, because of his or her knowledge, experience and training.

The second worker has the same right to refuse as the first worker.

In most cases, a health and safety issue can be resolved long before it becomes grounds for a work refusal, usually through mechanisms such as the joint health and safety committee or the worker health and safety representative.

Yes. The OHSA will apply equally to domestic and foreign farm workers in Ontario.

Joint Health & Safety Committees / Worker Health & Safety Representatives

A Joint Health & Safety committee is composed of people who represent both management and the workers at a workplace. Together they identify workplace hazards & make recommendations to the employer to improve the health and safety of workers.

While in general, the OHSA requires a Joint Health & Safety committee to be set up at a workplace with 20 or more regularly employed workers, some limitations for farming operations exist
(see next question).

MOL has a guide for Health & Safety Representatives & Joint Health & Safety Committees on Farming Operations that explains in detail how a joint committee should be set up and function. The guide is available on the Ministry’s web site at www.labour.gov.on.ca

Not all farms will require a Joint Health & Safety committee. Farms will require a Joint Health & Safety committee if there are 20 or more workers who are regularly employed and have duties related to one or more of the following operation:

• Greenhouse
• Mushroom
• Dairy
• Hog
• Cattle
• Poultry

These six types of farms were selected because they typically hire workers on a year-round basis. The threshold of 20 workers has been in the OHSA since it first came into force in 1979.

Regularly employed includes:

• Permanent full-time staff
• Permanent part-time staff
• Contract staff
• Seasonal workers

A ‘certified’ member of a Joint Committee is a member who has received special training in occupational health & safety and has been certified by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

In general, the OHSA requires two members of a Joint Health & Safety committee to be certified, one representing management and the other representing workers. On farms, the requirement for certified members is limited to those operations that are required to have a Joint Health & Safety committee and where 50 or more workers are regularly employed.

Detailed information about certification training is available from the WSIB. You can contact the WSIB by phone at 1.800.663.6639 or by email at prevention@wsib.on.ca

A worker representative is required on:

• all farms with 6 to 19 regularly employed workers, regardless of the type of farm or commodity; and on,
• farms that have 20 or more regularly employed workers that are not required to have a Joint Committee

There is no specific course and no set amount of training. The requirements are flexible so that you can assess how much information a worker needs to work safely, based on the job that the worker is doing and the hazards that are present.

Workers do not have to be trained on every hazard in the workplace – just the ones that they may be exposed to. But there is an obligation to ensure that the workers have understood the information and instruction you have given them and can apply it to their jobs.

The Farm Safety Association (FSA) has health and safety literature and videos on a full range of farm hazards. You can use these to provide the appropriate information to your workers. Or, if you prefer, the FSA can carry out on-site worker training programs for you.

If you need help identifying the hazards on your farm, you can get a copy of the Agricultural Safety Audit Program from the FSA. It is a handbook that will help you identify the hazards in your operation, assess the risks and take corrective action.

Farming operations will be exempt from all but three of the regulations under the OHSA.

The three regulations that will apply are:

I Regulation 834, which defines the term “critical injury”. Employers are required to notify the MOL of a critical injury at the workplace.

II Regulation 780/94, which requires the employer to pay for the training of certified members of a joint health and safety committee.

III Regulation 572/99, which gives MOL inspectors the authority to enforce requirements established by the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities, that workers performing certain restricted trades (for example, an electrician or steamfitter) must be appropriately qualified / certified.