Although farming is considered a different area than most other types of businesses, there are still a number of health and safety regulations in place.
These often differ from standard industry regulations or orders, but are designed to have the same effect, to maximize employee welfare and safety. Most health and safety regulations will include provisions for fines and possible prison sentences for employers who blur them.
In the US, and many other countries, there are provisions to protect children from being exploited by any employer. The age for this provision is normally set at 16 years. With regard to livestock and agriculture, there are normally exceptions to this age limit, setting it at 14 or 15 years. This typically applies to driving certain types of tractors and farm machinery, possibly including quads. and all-terrain vehicles.
The thinking behind the exception is that many young people will have grown up on farms and be quite mature in their approach to operating certain types of farm machinery.
Most countries will have very specific health and safety legislation, usually in a codified act that sets out the responsibilities of employers and employees, and the penalties for non-compliance. Very often, these laws bring together previous legislation into a single bill that can be easily referenced and understood.
All health and safety legislation will apply to farms and agricultural businesses, unless they are specifically exempted from certain sections, in which case alternative measures will normally be established and mentioned in the law as well.
Most health and safety laws will have some provision for a workers’ compensation law. This is where the employer has to contribute to a fund that will cover the medical or rehabilitation costs of injuries sustained by the employee during the course of their employment. Although this can sometimes be a gray area, it places a lot of responsibility on the employer to provide a safe work environment.
It also places the responsibility on the employer to provide specific training for certain job areas. In ranching and agriculture, this can be more difficult because much of the training is essentially done on the job. Where it can be specifically applied is to induction and training, in relation to the machinery and how to operate it. Common sense aside, this could easily be a legal requirement.
The other main area where employees need to be protected in ranching and agriculture is in regards to handling poison and other hazardous materials. This means that an employer will be required to understand the requirements for pesticide safety training for all employees. This may well involve the provision and use of personal protective equipment.
In addition, employees will need to be trained in decontamination procedures, both for themselves and others, sometimes in quite unstable environments. An unsafe environment can refer to a physical environment, such as a hard-to-reach area of the farm, or to weather that makes conditions extremely difficult to do this work.
Because many farms and agribusinesses are located in rural communities that are far from towns and cities, it can often be difficult to access emergency medical care. To this end, it is important, especially in regards to pesticide safety, that all employees receive adequate training to enable them to perform basic first aid, possibly including CPR, and other medical training. This would allow employees to provide some form of basic care in the event of an emergency until appropriate medical assistance arrives.