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Does the small farm exemption cost lives?
Philip D Somervell1, George A Conway
1Epidemiologist Alaska Pacific Regional Office, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Anchorage, Alaska 99508, USA. gjx7@cdc.gov
American Journal of Industrial Medicine
|March 15, 2011
Summary
States that enforce occupational safety laws on small farms have significantly lower farmworker fatality rates. Opting out of the small farm exemption appears to improve agricultural safety and reduce injury.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health
- Agricultural Safety
- Public Health Policy
Background:
- Federal law exempts farms with fewer than 11 employees from the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
- Three states (California, Oregon, Washington) do not enforce this small farm exemption.
- This creates a natural experiment to study the impact of the exemption.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare fatal occupational injury rates in agriculture.
- To assess the effect of the small farm exemption on agricultural safety.
- To evaluate the impact of state-level occupational safety and health programs.
Main Methods:
- Compared fatal occupational injury rates in agriculture from 1993-2007.
- Analyzed data from California, Oregon, and Washington (exempting states) versus other states grouped by safety program status.
- Conducted analyses with and without the agriculture industry.
Main Results:
- Fatal injury rates were 1.6 to 3 times higher in states observing the small farm exemption.
- The disparity was most pronounced within the agriculture industry.
- Excluding agriculture weakened the observed differences.
Conclusions:
- States opting out of the small farm exemption show lower agricultural fatality rates.
- This suggests a more effective occupational health and safety approach in these states.
- Further investigation is warranted due to high injury and fatality stakes.
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