Workplace health and safety laws are designed to protect workers from injuries and illnesses. So it stands to reason that the most dangerous industries should be covered by these laws. After all, workers in these industries are most at risk of getting hurt or sick on the job. And, in fact, most of the very hazardous industries, such as mining, forestry and construction, are heavily regulated in terms of workplace safety. The exception: farming. Farming is dangerous work. According to one report, agriculture is the third most hazardous occupation in Canada, behind only mining and logging. And it’s first on the list in terms of fatalities. Yet farming isn’t heavily regulated in Canada in terms of workplace health and safety. And in Alberta, it essentially isn’t regulated at all. No Prosecution of Worker’s Death Because OHS Law Doesn’t Cover Farms An Alberta court recently bemoaned the fact that Alberta OHS laws don’t apply to most farms. A worker was killed while working in a facility that compresses hay bales for loading into storage containers for export overseas. The prosecution charged the company with violating the OHS Act and General Safety Regulation. But the trial court dismissed the charges because the activity in question was a “farming operation” and thus exempt from the OHS laws. The appeals court was forced to agree. But it noted that the days of the family-run farm are over. Modern farming operations have become more industrialized. The court said, “These large scale agricultural businesses can be as highly mechanized and procedurally sophisticated as any factory.” And the failure to include such businesses under the OHS laws undermines the intent of these laws—that is, to ensure that no harm comes to any worker [R. v. Northern Forage Inc.]. Farms & Workplace Safety Alberta isn’t alone in its neglect of farm workers. ON and PEI only brought farms under their OHS laws in the last few years. And even though most jurisdictions’ OHS laws technically apply to farms, they don’t specifically address the safety issues and hazards unique to farming. [Click here for more on the regulation of safety on farms.] Isn’t it time Canadian OHS laws were changed to reflect the reality that farming is big business and its workers need to be adequately protected from its specific hazards? Tell us what you think.