Alberta’s Farmworker Fatality Problem

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5883/albertas_farmworker_fatality_problem/

Monday April 19 9:18 am

By Lindsay Beyerstein

Farming is dangerous work. Farmworkers grapple with toxic chemicals, testy livestock, powerful tools, and heavy machinery. They may be crushed, mangled, suffocated, trampled, or poisoned at work.

Between 14 and 25 people are killed each year working the land in Alberta, Canada, accoring to the Alberta Federation of Labor. Last year 13 people died, down from 23 the previous year. By some estimates, farming is the most dangerous occupation in Alberta. Yet agricultural workers lack the occupational safety and health protections that other workers take for granted. Farmers have been exempted from Alberta's Occupational Safety and Health Act since 1977, but unions are putting pressure on the provincial government to reform the legislation.

The tragic death of 35-year-old feedlot worker Kevan John Chandler has been a catalyst for change. On June 18, 2006, Chandler was crushed to death in a grain silo he was assigned to clean out. An inquiry into Chandler's death recommended that farmworkers be covered under Occupational Safety and Health Act. The United Food and Commercial Workers is now mounting a campaign to cover farmers under that legislation.

Alberta is the only Canadian province that doesn't offer these basic protections to farmworkers. This spring, Agriculture Alberta announced $715,000 worth of grants to local agricultural societies to improve farm safety. But skeptics like agricultural journalist Will Verboeven worry that the money will simply be an excuse for the provincial government to ignore the much broader problem.

FULL story at link.