Does the small farm exemption cost lives

Details

• Personal Author:
  Conway, George A. ; Somervell PD
• Description:
  Background: Congress has exempted farms with fewer than 11 employees from enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Three states (California, Oregon, and Washington) do not observe the exemption. Methods: We compared rates of fatal occupational injury in agriculture, by year, in 1993-2007, in California, Oregon, and Washington (aggregated), and the remaining states (as two aggregated groups): those with, and those without, state-designed occupational safety and health programs. Results: Fatality rates were approximately 1.6 to 3 times as high in both groups of states observing the small farm exemption as in the group of three states not observing it. Comparisons excluding the agriculture industry showed weaker differences. Conclusions: The three states' opting out of the small farm exemption may have had substantial direct effects. They may also reflect and/or encourage a generally more effective approach to occupational health and safety. Although alternative explanations must be considered, the stakes are high in terms of injury and loss of life; further investigation seems urgently indicated. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Mortality Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Safety Management
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-industry Agricultural-processes Author Keywords: Agriculture Enforcement Exemption Fatalities Injuries Injury Injury-prevention Mortality-rates Occupational Regulation Risk-factors Safety Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Safety-programs Safety-research Small Farm Statistical-analysis Surveillance-programs Work-analysis Worker-health

  More +
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Alaska ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  APRO - Alaska Pacific Regional Office
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  461-466
• Volume:
  54
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038505
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2011 Jun; 54(6):461-466
• Contact Point Address:
  Philip D. Somervell, PhD, Epidemiologist Alaska Pacific Regional Office, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4230 University Drive, Suite 310, Anchorage, AK 99508
• Email:
  gjx7@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e4e564ef115034d222a5ab73d5569368794002f5e00738bc5d916f489e48080e9e8c742c63f76411771a5080d4432cd650025194a3dd3fac9d4f5f95fb52cf4c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192193/cdc_192193_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 256.62 KB ]