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Greater protection for B.C. agriculture workers
July 22, 2004, Richmond, B.C. — The WCB will consolidate Regulations for Agricultural Operations (Agriculture Regulations) into the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (OH&S Regulation). This change, which comes into effect January 1, 2005, will significantly improve the level of health and safety protection afforded to workers in the agriculture industry.
Currently, agriculture is the only industry in B.C. that does not fall under the same OH&S regulatory structure that applies to the majority of other industries in British Columbia. The consolidation will make the entire OH&S Regulation applicable to the agriculture industry and will provide workers with increased protection from a wide range of work-related hazards, many of which were not addressed in the present Agriculture Regulations (such as vibration, repetitive strain, mechanical lockout, and heat and cold stress hazards). The Agriculture Regulations came into effect in 1993 and were intended as an interim measure to transition the agriculture industry into the full protection offered under the OHS Regulation.
Ross Pallet, the WCB's director of Prevention Leadership, said that the new OH&S requirements will help employers in agriculture reduce the human and financial costs of injury and illness in their workplaces. "Over the past ten years, the injury rate for B.C.'s agriculture industry has been consistently higher than the provincial average," said Pallet. "Over time, the new regulatory framework should help reverse that trend, but employers and workers need to do their part as well by making workplace health and safety an underlying priority each and every day on the job."
According to Pallet, the first year under the new regulatory structure will be a period of adjustment. "During that time, WCB officers will educate and consult with the Farm and Ranch Safety and Health Association (FARSHA) - an industry health and safety association comprised of worker and employer representatives - and individual employers to help them understand and comply with the new requirements," he said. "After the one-year period is up, we will inspect workplaces and enforce the Regulation in accordance with normal practices."
Mark Thompson, chair of FARSHA says the new regulatory requirements present both a challenge and an opportunity for the industry. "The challenge will be to communicate with workers and employers, educate them about the new requirements, and help them understand how to apply the changes in practical terms," he said. "But we also have a tremendous opportunity to raise the level of compliance and increase the profile of health and safety within our industry."
Under the new regulatory framework, the OHS Regulation will maintain a number of agriculture-specific requirements from the existing Agriculture Regulations. This will include a number of modifications or exceptions to existing health and safety requirements within the OHS Regulation. The consolidation will also result in the repeal of the old Industrial Health and Safety Regulations, which first came into effect more than 20 years ago, but was repealed in 1998 for all industries except agriculture.
Serving nearly two million workers and about 173,000 employers, the Workers'
Compensation Board of BC is a provincial statutory agency governed by
a Board of Directors and funded by employer premiums. The WCB is committed
to a safe and healthy workplace, to providing return-to-work rehabilitation
and legislated compensation benefits to workers injured as a result of
their employment, and to being responsible, accountable and financially
sustainable.
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For more information please contact: |
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Donna Freeman |
Scott McCloy |