Hillsdale Daily News: Walberg questions OSHA inspections of small farms

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For nearly four decades, farmers with fewer than 10 employees have been exempt from having the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) inspect their farms for post-harvest activities.

However, A guidance issued by President Barack Obama in June 2011 redefined farming operations has allowed OSHA to have the right to inspect family farms. On Tuesday, Jan. 14, Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Tipton) raised concerns with the guidance.

"The Obama administration has repeatedly targeted farmers - the foundation of many communities across America and in my district - with new regulations; the latest assault coming in the form of the Department of Labor's attempt to boldly reinterpret a policy that has been in place since 1978 and supported by both Republican and Democrat administrations," Walberg said in a press release. "Federal law is abundantly clear that family farms are exempt from OSHA jurisdiction and this latest attack must stop immediately."

A member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, Walberg is spearheading an effort that would require OSHA to provide the committee details on how OSHA has been using the guidance, as well as documents that detail how and why the change was implemented and what the results were.

In a letter addressed to David Michaels, the Assistant Secretary for OSHA, Walberg and 10 other members of the committee — all of whom are Republican — requested the information be presented to them no later than Jan. 28, 2014. In the letter, the signees express their displeasure with the guidance and what it means for farmers.

"Now, without any public notice or review, the Obama administration has begun to overturn this legal standard through executive fiat. The June 2011 guidance redefines 'farming operations' in order to allow OSHA inspectors onto family farms. Under the agency's new and unprecedented logic, it appears anything outside of the actual growing of crops and raising of livestock could be deemed 'non-farming operations' that would subject family farms to OSHA inspections. The guidance is a clear attempt to circumvent the law and the will of Congress," the letter states.

The committee is seeking documents that will help it to better understand what OSHA's legal basis is for instituting the inspections and to also understand if the Office of the Solicitor (SOL) approved of the new measures. The committee is concerned about the SOL's involvement because the SOL actually enforces the citations issued and would have to defend the citations in court if necessary.

The original law that was passed in 1978 reads:" None of the funds appropriated under this paragraph shall be obligated or expended to prescribe, issue, administer, or enforce any standard, rule regulation, or other under the Act which is applicable to any person who is engaged in a farming operation which does not maintain a temporary labor camp and employs 10 or fewer employees."

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