Cows, equipment and weather all contribute to dairy farm dangers. (Photo via ProPublica) |
ProPublica reports on three specific deaths of immigrant dairy workers that may have resulted from a lack of safety or training, but in each case, OSHA inspectors "went to the farms [and] left within an hour — without conducting investigations into the deaths. . . .The inspectors concluded they couldn't investigate because OSHA is banned from enforcing safety laws on farms with fewer than 11 workers unless they have employer-provided housing known as a 'temporary labor camp.'"
A broader look at dairy farm deaths raises more questions. "Since 2009, at least 17 workers, most of them immigrants, have died on Wisconsin dairy farms. Twelve of the deaths happened on farms with fewer than 11 workers. OSHA did not inspect eight of those 12, each time citing the small farms' exemption," Jameel and Sanchez write. "Records reviewed by ProPublica and interviews show that the agency may have more power to open an investigation into these farms than even its own leaders seem to be aware of."
In all three deaths ProPublica examined, how the inspectors so quickly came to their conclusions seems unclear. ProPublica reports, "Had the inspectors taken a slightly closer look, they might have learned that the farmers had readily talked with law enforcement officials about providing housing for their immigrant workers. . . . And if the inspectors had read OSHA's own files, they would have known that the agency has repeatedly, though inconsistently, inspected small farms after concluding a housing arrangement was a temporary labor camp."
Lola Loustaunau, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School for Workers, told ProPublica that 'it would really open the door for a lot of protections for workers' if OSHA consistently inspected small dairy farms that provide housing to immigrant workers."
For more about the history on the small-farm exemption as a budget rider, Christina Cooke of Civil Eats discusses it here.
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