NC labor ledger [2013 : July-August]

July-August 2013 share ф Tweet IMCOOL N.C. Department of Labor Cherie Berry, Commissioner www.nclabor.com 1-800-625-2267 ШШШ On-Farm Training Sessions By Regina Cullen ASH Bureau Chief May 1 4, a team of health and safety professionals traveled to Whiteville for an on-farm training session. Grower Mel Ray hosted the training, providing ample space for all learning stations under the roof of his large farm shop. Training began promptly at 9 a.m. and lasted until noon. In addition to bureau staff' members, employees of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division and health professionals from the Office of Migrant Health took part in this training session. R.J. Reynolds sponsored the event and provided the lunch at the end of the three-hour training. “The North Carolina Farmworker Health Program, within the Office of Rural Health and Community Care, has enjoyed the opportunity to partner with the Department of Labor, Cooperative Extension, and local community health programs to hold Farm Safety Days,” said Elizabeth Freeman Lambar, program director. “It’s a collaborative effort to promote safety on the farm to help ensure the well-being of those who work so hard to plant, cultivate and harvest the crops that we all rely on.” Topics addressed in the training included heat stress recognition and prevention; tobacco baler and harvester safety; housing and field sanitation standards; proper wage payment; farm labor contractor regulations; worker protection standard certification; and green tobacco sickness identification and prevention. Each team took a station, and the fanners and farmworkers moved from station to station. Each session lasted about 20 minutes. About 80 individuals, both farmers and farmworkers, attended from area farms, including a number from South Carolina. The bureau conducted a similar training at Ray Cassteven’s farm in Boonville on June 26. The ASH Bureau’s “foresight into providing these ‘on-farm trainings’ has encouraged the regulated community to take a proactive interest in the area of agriculture labor law compliance,” said Richard Blaylock, district director of the USDOL’s Wage and Hour Division office in Raleigh. “It is also a privilege to meet with fanners, workers, and farm labor contractors in an uninhibited and teachable environment that provides them with an opportunity to comfortably ask any and all questions of the trainers and instructors regarding compliance. Special thanks should be given to those farmers who lend their facilities for these trainings. The Department of Labor recognizes that there is cost to the farmers to attend these trainings. I sincerely hope that the time spent participating in these sessions are informative, engaging and well worth the cost.” The Agricultural Safety and Health Bureau has conducted nearly 20 on-site training sessions since 2008. They strive to conduct three on-farm training sessions during the summer, and each involves multiple growers and their farmworkers. Typically, 100 people are in attendance. All training is conducted in Spanish and English. Bureau staff prefers to work directly with farmers and farmworkers, to be able to respond to questions, and to discuss safety topics that are important to those who attend the sessions. Some PowerPoint presentations are used, highlighting the bureau's safety DVDs, and actual machinery is used as well to illustrate safety features and to discuss safe operation. “When you can work with people face to face, you know when they understand— they ask questions and let you know if they’re missing something,” said Alan Fortner, ASH safety officer. “It’s great partnering with other safety and health agencies such as USDOL and the Office of Migrant Health. Working as a team, we can cover a lot of ground in three hours.” Updated OSH Standard Books Available The 2013 OSH standard books have arrived. The price remains the same: S37 for the 29 CFR 1910 Occupational Safety and Health Standards for General Industry and $32 for the 29 CFR 1926 Occupational Safety and Health Standards for Construction Industry. Books may be ordered by calling 919-807-2875.