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Farmers' Advance: America's small farms avert unwarranted scrutiny from OSHA

February 26, 2014
LANSING, MI — Agriculture carded a victory in the nation's capitol recently when the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) withdrew a controversial enforcement measure that would've resulted in onerous over-regulation for small farms employing 10 or fewer people.

At issue was the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) small farm grain bin guidance, which in agriculture's eyes would have overstepped a long-standing small farm exemption and positioned the agency to regulate grain bins as commercial storage.
In 1971 OSHA began enforcing federal workplace safety standards, but since 1978 annual Congressional legislative measures have prevented the agency from inspecting farms with 10 or fewer employees—policy backed by presidents dating back to the Carter administration. Without public notice or review, the Obama administration in 2011 released guidance that redefined "farming operations," green-lighting OSHA inspectors onto family farms.

"DOL's withdrawal of this rule will protect a lot of farms from unwarranted regulatory scrutiny," said Ryan Findlay, national legislative counsel for Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB), the state's largest farm group. "Ten or fewer employees sounds like the low end of the small-business spectrum, but for agriculture we'd be looking at thousands of farms in Michigan alone."

Findlay explained that the overarching victory is in maintaining the delineation between commercial and agricultural classifications in OSHA's eyes.
"In the real world, there isn't a farmer out there who isn't thinking about safety every time they step out of their house in the morning," Findlay said. "There are countless safety programs and protocols already in place to safeguard farmers' safety, whether in regards to grain bins or power take-off shafts or the countless other potential hazards one finds on the farm."

As chair of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, Michigan Dist. 7 Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Tipton) played a key role in heading off the regulation decried as "flawed," "misguided" and "legally suspect."
"We owe a debt of gratitude to Rep. Walberg for his work on this issue—he stood up for Michigan farmers and was instrumental in derailing what could've been a real burden," Findlay said. "This was a case of the government overstepping its bounds, plain and simple. Farmers just don't need that level of scrutiny—they don't need the government looking over their shoulder 24-7-365 as they go about carrying on the work that's been in their blood for generations.

"Thanks anyway, Uncle Sam—but we got this."
To read the original article at Farmers' Advance, click here.
Issues:Agriculture