Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
Why not?
Pretty much all farm activities should require steel toed boots. Not sure on hard hats. Lockouts being required on equipment before servicing. Fall protection at heights. These are things that OHS would require that certainly weren't practiced when I was growing up.
There is definitely a lack of a safety culture on farms. The statement that accidents happen is used too frequently.
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I don't think people understand how OHS works. In fact it is pretty obvious throughout this whole discussion.
There is no 'requirement' to do this or do that outside of very specific things. Most of the time OHS wants companies to come up with a safety policy that is specific towards the type of work they do. In other words, someone working in a high rise office building do tax work does not need to wear steel toe boots or a hardhat because the company that person is working for came up with their own safety policy and it was more than likely not included because it wasn't needed.
A manufacturing facility has to do the same thing. Our shop is not required to wear hard hats or steel toe boots because there is no 'overhead' danger to worry about. However, we do have to wear ear and eye protection where it is needed(almost everywhere), but that is policy we decided on and implemented. OHS just wants every company to go through their place of work and come up with a safety policy where every employee is trained how to work without being at risk of injury. They are also big on a discipline system being in place, and that record is kept of how that discipline policy is enforced. First aid equipment needs to be in place, hazards dealt with, etc, etc....all your standard safety stuff. If you have these policies in place and do a half decent job of keeping record of everything and show willingness to improve, OHS will usually leave you alone. Most of the times the fines are handed out when someone dies, or when there is blatant abuse of a companies OWN safety policy.
The problem with Bill 6 is how it handles how kids work on farms. I grew up on a farm, and since the age of 7 I was helping with all kinds of chores. The idea that a 13 year old kid can't help their parents with daily chores after school is laughable. If you ACTUALLY think the province has enough resources to enforce all these policies you are sadly mistaken. Manitoba has strict OHS policies and they can't even get around to enforcing them.
I do find all of this amusing though. Ignorance is bliss, and there is a lot of it being thrown around in this debate. Starting with the morons in charge. Spend a year on a farm and your opinion will change and it is quite obvious that the idiots running the government have never worked on a farm in their life.
I'm all for better safety policies, but I also grew up in rural Alberta, and schools spent a lot of time teaching proper farm safety. There are better ways of doing this than what the NDP is trying. But of course, nothing else short of sheer stupidity should be expected from them.