New Alberta Farm regulations

[Steve_Winkler]

Thanks mcfarms.

It has been great to see the turnouts at the Legislature and the growing awareness as to what is wrong with this bill as it was presented.

There has been too much misinformation and only a small amount of media coverage has gotten the facts straight.

An acquaintance of mine had a great quote yesterday: " It's not that agriculture isn't ready for Bill 6, it's Bill 6 that isn't ready for agriculture."

[Jay-mo]

A few years back a friend of mine that runs a construction business was told his forklift mounted scaffold was no longer "safe".
This was because it didn't have railing on three sides.
So he spends 3k on a "safe" scaffold with railing on three sides.
His workers love it because now they climb up the railing and standing on the rail can reach 4' higher now!!
Now that's safety!

[TOM4CWB]

Jay-mo,

OHS in Alberta is messed up... no matter how anyone looks at it.

In England... they do 10x as much work... and have one quarter of the fatalities.. because the work... and safety culture is radically different than in Alberta. The Engineers in England actually consult with the installing crew... to find the best most safe way to do a project.

It is all about communication... consultation... and consideration of the needs of those who will execute the safely designed work plan...
Time is saved, costs are reduced... and lives/injuries are protected. Innovation and streamlined work plans... equal happy workers and management.

[grassfarmer]

Seem to be good at the misinformation yourself Steve.

Did you read the ministers statement?
http://alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=38924F29E5708-A79B-F147-AFA29B581E073EAD

Quite clear in another statement by the Labor minister was that this is for employed farm workers - not farm kids, not neighbours helping out.

[mcfarms]

Read the bill don't listen to the politicians. Read the bill don't listen to the politicians.

( feel like there are two dobermans chasing me)

[mcfarms]

now Notley says it was someone else's doing and is inferring Farmers can not read as well as raise their children safely.

[wmoebis]

Tom has talked about being on a focus group or the like. Like to here more about that work.

[TOM4CWB]

Wm,

We have a 'Crop Sector Working Group' [CSWG]which basically covers all the grains, oilseeds and specialty crop sector... we work as well with the 'Intensive Livestock Working Group' [ILWG]which helps with oversight on the Animal Agricultural side of the industry in Alberta.

Together the CSWG and ILWG met with AB AG... we ran pilot 'Farmsafe' seminars to start the process of education and implementation of 'Farm Safety Plans'. Many of us in this process were hopeful that in the same way education and beneficial marketing goodwill encouraged Alberta farmers to sign up and take the Environmental Farm Plan course and certification...

We had hoped this same type of process would encourage and educate our Alberta Agricultural Industry to culturally integrate 'Best Farm Safety Practices' in a template generally being made available as was done on the Environmental Farm Plan side 5-10 years ago.

The ND's got elected in May... and perhaps they became over exuberant in pushing ahead... and added the Labour and Employment standards changes as a top load which has been poorly recieved without any real consultations... we as AG industry leaders being told the farm worker structure is the simple implementation of the May 2015 ND election promises.

As the Urban population elected the ND Gov... the Urban Rural political split has really become raw and an open sore.

Hope this provides some context to how we got to this stage in this issue on Bill 6 for Farm Regulations.

[Happytrails]

I can't imagine why the government wants to go the regulatory route instead of the encouragement route. We know what is safe and what isn't. Do they think we want to get hurt at work?

Thankfully enforcement of OHS rules on farms is impossible IMHO. If somehow it was possible food production would dry up almost completely.

Quote "don't let your neighbor catch your man lifting over 40 lbs." Guess I'll need to talk to my guy. He said the other day that he had to hand bomb 4 crystalyx tubs (250 lbs). Actually we've already had a short discussion and I've made a note to not piss him off.

[wmoebis]

Thanks Tom.

[Steve_Winkler]

Grassfarmer, I urge you to read the bill as it was presented, not a suggestion of what their intentions were.

Zero misdirection on my part. Utter misdirection by the NDP, and/or a complete lack of comprehension of their own bill and what it stated.

[oneoff]

The important things are what the intent is...and how far enforcement will be carried.

The wave of support for not killing animals for the purpose of eating their meat is real. Just as banning ALL chemical compounds and pesticides is the goal of misguided people who believe we will be better off without them.

It isn't yet quite safe to demand those objectives...yet... but with growing momentum and overwhelming evidence such as that it takes 7 pounds of input to produce a pound of steak; or that organic production is pollution free and the only production method that can be allowed.....or that controlling CO2 will bring the world back to near ideal temperatures and conditions for everyone.

Still not a word about controlling the number of human beings competing for finite resources and producing the metabolism and processing and manufacturing and input byproducts that are the real future problems.

Apparently we don't even know what questions to ask...before deciding on the poorly designed solutions.

Oh...and....legislation such as Albertas will only spread; and grow; and become more onerous. We won't have to move to Alberta to become affected.

[oneoff]

The important things are what the intent is...and how far enforcement will be carried.

The wave of support for not killing animals for the purpose of eating their meat is real. Just as banning ALL chemical compounds and pesticides is the goal of misguided people who believe we will be better off without them.

It isn't yet quite safe to demand those objectives...yet... but with growing momentum and overwhelming evidence such as that it takes 7 pounds of input to produce a pound of steak; or that organic production is pollution free and the only production method that can be allowed.....or that controlling CO2 will bring the world back to near ideal temperatures and conditions for everyone.

Still not a word about controlling the number of human beings competing for finite resources and producing the metabolism and processing and manufacturing and input byproducts that are the real future problems.

Apparently we don't even know what questions to ask...before deciding on the poorly designed solutions.

Oh...and....legislation such as Albertas will only spread; and grow; and become more onerous. We won't have to move to Alberta to become affected.

Sorry if this turns into a second post; but I hate retyping.