OFA Says Work Safety Rules Need To Be Based On Farming Business

OFA representatives recently met with Ontario?s new Chief Prevention Officer.

The CPO has a mandate to establish a provincial occupational health and safety strategy.

OFA President Mark Wales says the Federation reps talked to the officer about their role in a number of issues in Ontario?s farm sector.

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Wales says the Federation wants to ensure any new requirements are thorough but not onerous and that they relate to farming business realities.

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Ontario farmers employing workers in their operations can expect to see mandatory training requirements coming down the pipe.

Ontario Federation of Agriculture reps met recently with one of the key people involved in establishing those requirements, the province?s new Chief Prevention Officer.

OFA President Mark Wales says they wanted to make sure the CPO was aware of the agriculture industry?s concerns in that area.

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Wales says with so many roles to play employers must be provided with clear options for achieving compliance.

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Advocating for farm safety

By Mark Wales, President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA)

Every day is farm safety day on the farm. But the busy spring planting season demands extra attention to worker safety. Longer hours, fatigue and racing against the weather create an environment ripe with risk and complacency. Accident prevention is part of the solution to keeping Ontario farm families and workers safe while they re doing what has to be done on the farm.

That s one of the messages OFA representatives carried forward in a recent meeting with Ontario s new Chief Prevention Officer (CPO), George Gritziotis. The meeting was to discuss the major changes that are occurring, including Ontario s prevention services being moved to the Ministry of Labour. It is OFA s hope that with this move of prevention services we will see a better coordination of efforts and that Ontario employers, including farm operators, will see a more effective system to prevent workplace accidents.

Ontario s Chief Prevention Officer has a mandate to establish a provincial occupational health and safety strategy. He s also responsible for promoting the alignment of prevention activities across all workplace health and safety system partners, providing advice on preventing occupational injuries and illnesses, and working with health and safety associations to deliver programs and services, and comply with standards that are set by the minister.

OFA took the opportunity to discuss our role in working with a number of issues in Ontario s farm sector. We spoke about the importance of preventing accidents on the farm, and asked that our sector be represented on the Prevention Council that is being established. We put forward ideas on how to best work with our farm communities and work towards the prevention of farm-workplace accidents and fatalities.

One major topic of discussion for us was the establishment of standards for employee training and certification. Ontario farmers employing workers can expect to see mandatory training requirements coming down the pipe. Our goal is to ensure those requirements are thorough but not onerous and clearly relate to farming business realities. Like many small businesses, farm employers must be supervisors, HR managers, payroll and accounting, and still bring a crop to market. With so many roles to play, employers must be provided with clear options for achieving compliance.

OFA is encouraged by the Chief Prevention Officer s positive attitude towards working and consulting with stakeholder organizations in the development of safety policies and regulations. We will continue to post updates on our involvement in this important initiative on our website as we move forward. Meanwhile, we encourage all Ontario farmers to keep safety top of mind during this busy season.

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For more information contact:

Mark Wales

President

Ontario Federation of Agriculture

519-773-6706

Neil Currie

General Manager

Ontario Federation of Agriculture

519-821-8883

Tags: government, Organizations, Property, Safety

This entry was posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:31 am and is filed under Commentaries/Blogs, News, O-F-A, Ontario. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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