Employee Health and Safety

Workers' Compensation Insurance


Who must comply?
Any agricultural employer is required to provide worker's compensation coverage for all employees, if during the calendar year such employer either:
  • pays wages to one employee for agricultural labor totaling $1,200 or more, or
  • furnishes employment to one employee of agricultural labor on 30 or more days


The term "employee" includes all natural persons who perform services for another for pay or some valuable consideration. The term does not include persons whose employment is casual in character and not in the regular course of the employer's business. Casual employment is described as employment for a temporary or limited purpose that is performed on an occasional basis with long intervals between periods of such employment.

An employed spouse or child who is under 18 years of age is not considered an employee unless the services of the spouse or child are engaged by the employee under an express written contract of employment that is filed with the Department of Labor and Industry.

"Employee" also does not include persons to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished, repaired, or adapted for sale in the worker's own home or in other premises not under the control or management of the employer.

Cost to the employer
The cost of coverage varies, depending on the general type of farm activity and the cost that the insurance industry has experienced in settling claims in that type of farm activity.

Farmers who hire very limited quantities of labor should be aware that their insurance company will make a minimum charge for coverage.

Compensation coverage
This coverage is available from private insurance agencies or from the State Workmen's Insurance Fund.

For more information
Bureau of Workers' Compensation
Department of Labor and Industry
1171 S. Cameron Street
Room 103
Harrisburg, PA 17104
Phone: 717-783-5421 or 717-772-3702


Environmental Protection Agency Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides


See Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides in Part III.

Occupational Safety and Health Act


Who must comply?
All employers have a general duty to provide a place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.

Other duties of employers

  • To remove, guard against, or warn employees of potential hazards,
  • To report to the nearest Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) area office within 8 hours a major accident on their farm that results in a fatality or in the hospitalization of three or more employees,
  • To post in the workplace the OSHA poster informing employees of their rights and responsibilities, and
  • To comply with standards for:
    1. slow-moving vehicle signs
    2. logging and pulpwood operations
    3. storing and handling anhydrous ammonia
    4. rollover protection devices on certain tractors (see complete description below)
    5. temporary labor camps
    6. safety guards on agricultural equipment
    7. hazard communication


Rollover Protection Structure (ROPS) regulations
Every employee who operates an agricultural tractor over 20 horsepower is to be informed of the following practices or any other practices dictated by the work environment.

  • Securely fasten your seatbelt if the tractor has a ROPS.
  • Where possible, avoid operating the tractor near ditches, embankments, and holes.
  • Reduce speed when turning, crossing slopes, and on rough, slick, or muddy surfaces.
  • Stay off slopes too steep for safe operation.
  • Watch where you are going, especially at row ends, on roads, and around trees.
  • Do not permit others to ride.
  • Operate the tractor smoothly--no jerky turns, starts, or stops.
  • Hitch only to the drawbar and hitch points recommended by tractor manufacturers.
  • When tractor is stopped, set brakes securely and use park lock if available.


This information is to be provided to employees at the time of initial assignment and at least annually thereafter.

Where ROPS are required an employer must also: (1) provide each tractor with a seatbelt, (2) ensure that each employee uses such seatbelt while the tractor is moving, and (3) ensure that each employee tightens the seatbelt sufficiently to confine the employee to the protected area provided by the ROPS.

Exempt uses for the ROPS and seatbelt requirements include:

  • low-profile tractors while they are used in orchards, vineyards, hop yards inside farm buildings or greenhouses and while their use is incidental to the work performed therein.
  • tractors with mounting equipment which is incompatible with ROPS such as corn pickers, cotton strippers, vegetable pickers, and fruit harvesters.


Field sanitation
Employers with 11 or more employees must provide toilets, handwashing facilities, and drinking water for employees engaged in hand-labor operations. Employees who perform field work for 3 hours or less during the day, including transportation time to and from the field, are exempt from toilet and hand-washing regulations. Also exempt are employees engaged in logging operations, caring for livestock, or working in a permanent structure. Employers must:

  1. Provide readily accessible potable water, suitably cool, and in sufficient amounts for the needs of all employees, considering temperature, humidity, and nature of work performed. Water is to be dispensed in single-use cups or by a fountain.
  2. Provide one toilet facility and one hand-washing facility for every 20 employees. These facilities must be adequately ventilated, latched from the inside, and constructed to ensure privacy. They must be located within one-quarter mile's walk of each employee's place of work in the field. When there is no feasible location because of terrain, facilities must be located as close as possible. All facilities must be kept clean and sanitary.
  3. Inform employees of the importance of good hygiene practices to minimize exposure in the field to heat, communicable disease, retention of urine, and agrichemical residues. Employers must instruct employees to:
    • use water and sanitary facilities for dining, washing, and elimination
    • drink water frequently, especially on hot days
    • urinate as frequently as necessary
    • wash hands before and after using toilet and before eating or smoking

 

Exemptions
In December 1996, the Secretary of Labor delegated and assigned responsibility to the Employment Standards Administration of the Department of Labor to enforce compliance by agricultural employers and to issue compliance interpretations regarding Occupational Safety and Health act standards for field sanitation and temporary labor camps. (i.e., conduct inspections and investigations, issue administrative subpoenas and citations, assess and collect penalties). This transfer of authority within the Department of Labor recognizes that these agencies would make more effective and efficient use of their resources by fulfilling the assigned responsibilities.

With respect to employers who operate temporary labor camps and hire migrant and seasonal employees (as defined by MSPA) in agricultural employment, the Employment Standards Administration will be the agency principally involved in compliance matters, regardless of the number of employees who are hired.

OSHA's provisions do not apply to family members employed on a farm by a member of the immediate family. Also, in past years, Congress has been unwilling to appropriate money to the Department of Labor to enforce OSHA rules, regulations, and orders against any person engaged in a farming operation that does not maintain a temporary labor camp and that employs 10 or fewer employees (members of an employer's immediate family are not counted in the total number of employees in such cases). Whether Congress will continue to hold this viewpoint is uncertain.


OSHA Hazard Communication Standard


This standard is concerned only with the question of an employer's obligation to employees. The standard does not address the rights of the public to request information about hazardous material from employers.

To comply with obligations owed by an employer to an employee, as defined by the standard, the employer has to do four things:

  1. Determine which materials in the workplace are hazardous.
  2. Obtain and file material safety data sheets (MSDS) for each identified hazardous material.
  3. Develop and implement a written hazard communication program for the employer's workplace.
  4. Ensure that labels and other forms of warning used on containers of hazardous materials meet the standard's requirements.


MSDS prepared by chemical manufacturers and importers contain information about chemicals present, health hazards, physical hazards, control measures, emergency first aid, and safe handling procedures associated with the chemicals. Employees are to have access to MSDS information. An employer is required to train employees when initially assigned to a job and whenever a new risk develops in the workplace.

Since 1988, the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard applies to manufacturing and nonmanufacturing employers, including those in production agriculture. Under federal law, if the OSHA standard applies to an employer, the OSHA standard will preempt any inconsistent state law, such as Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Act provisions that affect an employer's obligation to employees. Since OSHA does not apply to the general public, Pennsylvania law will continue to apply to those issues affecting an employer's obligation to the general public.

For more information
For more information about the Hazard Communication Standard, materials considered hazardous, how the standard may affect you, or any other OSHA question, contact any OSHA office.

Pennsylvania Worker and Community Right-to-Know Act


This act is intended to be a comprehensive program for dealing with the risks and hazards faced by workers in their jobs and by public citizens who live or work in Pennsylvania. Effective in 1986, the act requires employers to survey their workplace to determine if they have any of the materials the act identifies as hazards, special hazards, or environmental hazards. Once the surveys are completed, the employer is required to make that information available upon request to any employee who could come in contact with these materials.

Who must comply?
As originally passed, the act applied to all employers in Pennsylvania. The term employers was defined to include individuals, partnerships, corporations, or associations doing business in the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth and its political subdivisions, such as cities, boroughs, townships, school districts, and authorities, are also considered employers under this act. As explained above, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also issued its Hazard Communication Standard. If an employer is subject to the OSHA standard, the standard will prevent the application of the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Act provisions that relate to an employer's obligations to an employee. Since the OSHA standard does not apply to an employer's obligation to disclose information to the general public, the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know rules dealing with that obligation will continue to apply to all employers.

In light of the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard's application to production agriculture and agribusiness, provisions of the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Act regarding the public's right to this information require the following steps to be taken to comply with the act.

  1. Survey the workplace to identify hazards and complete the hazardous substance survey form annually by April 1.
  2. File the survey form for future reference.
  3. Update the form during the year, as needed.
  4. Make the form available if requested by the Department of Labor and Industry.


Requests for this information are made directly to the Department of Labor and Industry, which contacts the employer. Requests by local police, fire, or emergency response agencies may be made directly to the employer concerned.

For more information
If you need information about this act and how it may affect you, or information about materials considered hazardous, contact the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

 

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)


This act continues the superfund program that is targeted at cleaning up the environment. In 1986, new amendments were added, entitled "Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know." The agency involved with this program is the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

What does the act require?
The act created four major responsibilities:

  1. The first is to report the presence of hazardous materials at a facility to the state emergency response commission and the local emergency planning committee. The obligation to file this report is tied to the presence of the hazardous material in a quantity that exceeds the threshold amount set by EPA in its regulations. Once this report is filed, the person having the material appoints someone to be involved in local planning committee activities. State and county offices of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service can assist you in identifying hazardous materials and threshold amounts;
  2. The second major responsibility under this act is to report the release of any of these hazardous materials. In this case the duty to file the report is triggered by the release of hazardous material in an amount exceeding that set by EPA in its regulations. Under this section, pesticides registered under federal law that are used in accordance with their intended purpose and the normal application of fertilizers are exempt from the release-reporting requirement.
  3. The third major responsibility applies to employers subject to the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard. It requires those employers to make information available to the general public and emergency response agencies. This provision becomes particularly important in light of the decision to expand coverage of the OSHA standard. Under this section as well, chemicals used in routine agricultural operations and household products are not subject to this reporting requirement.
  4. The fourth major responsibility applies to manufacturing employers with 10 or more full-time employees who use specified toxic chemicals. If these toxic chemicals are released into the environment, the employer must report the release in the manner required by the act.


Since this act involves the federal government and its agencies with the rights of the public regarding hazardous materials, the question of the relationship between state and federal law arises. The SARA amendments are not intended to preempt any state or local law, as in the case of the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard. Therefore, state and federal laws could both apply to these situations.

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