Although agriculture is considered a different area than most other types of businesses, there are still a number of health and safety regulations in place.
These will often differ from standard industry regulations or orders, but are designed to have the same effect, to maximize the well-being and safety of employees. Most health and safety regulations will contain provisions for fines and possible imprisonment for employers who disobey 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 farming and agriculture, there are normally exemptions to this age limit, which is set at 14 or 15. This normally applies to driving certain types of tractors and farm machinery, possibly including quads. and off-road vehicles.
The thinking behind the exception is that many youngsters will have grown up on farms and will be quite mature in their approach to dealing with certain types of farm machinery.
Most countries will have very specific health and safety legislation, usually a codified law that sets out the responsibilities of employers and employees, and the penalties for non-compliance. Very often, these laws bring together the previous legislation in a single bill that can be easily consulted and understood.
All health and safety legislation will apply to farms and agricultural businesses, unless specifically exempted from certain sections, in which case there will normally be alternative measures in place and also mentioned in the law.
Most health and safety laws will have some provision for a workers’ compensation law. This is where the employer has to pay a fund that will cover the medical or rehabilitation costs of the injuries suffered 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 imposes on the employer the responsibility of providing specific training for certain areas of work. In agriculture and farming this can be more difficult because much of the training is essentially done on the job. Where it can be applied specifically is induction and training, regarding 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 agriculture and farming is when it comes 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 issuance and use of personal protective equipment.
In addition, employees will need to be trained in decontamination procedures, both for themselves and for others, sometimes in quite unstable environments. An unsafe environment can refer to a physical one, such as an area of the farm that is difficult to access, or to the climate that makes conditions extremely difficult to perform this work.
Since many farms and agribusinesses are located in rural communities that are far from towns and cities, accessing emergency medical assistance can often be difficult. To this end, it is important, especially with regard to pesticide safety, that all employees receive appropriate training to enable them to perform basic first aid, possibly including CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and other medical training. This would allow employees to provide some basic care in the event of an emergency until proper medical assistance arrives.