Coming up on Saturday, December 1st, Albertas Occupational Health and Safety Code will apply to farms and ranches.

Farmers attended a workshop put on by the M.D. of Foothills Wednesday, November 14th at the Memorial Centre in High River to learn more about the legislation and farm safety.

Presenter Donna Trottier with AgSafe Alberta says, the code will apply to waged, non-family member employees and will be a unique situation for each farm.

"It's important for farmers to take a look at their farm and determine what sections of the code apply to them if they want to meet the legislation."

Trottier says the OHS Act and Regulations are already applicable to farms and ranches, and the Code is the third, and final, part of the legislation to come into effect for these operations.

She adds just because legislation doesn't apply to all farms, doesn't mean the hazards don't.

"I encourage people to have a safety management program to protect the people, I want that to be their motivation for safety. Legislation comes into it, and liability, but if they're showing some due diligence to protect the people on their farm, that goes a long ways."

There are exemptions for farms and ranches for things like seat belts, fall protection and recapping needles.

The Alberta Government says, when enforcing the code, OHS officers will initially focus visits to operations where there's a complaint, or a serious incident.

Longer term, the Province says officer visits will be focused on operations where there are higher incidences of injuries and incidents and will concentrate on compliance, assistance and promotion of AgSafe Alberta’s resources.

For more information, you can visit the Alberta Government's website, and resources are available through AgSafe Alberta.

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