The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SMALL FARM RIDER AMENDMENT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Senate section on pages S3294-S3295 on March 24, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SMALL FARM RIDER AMENDMENT
Mr. REED. Mr. President, I want to speak briefly about an amendment regarding OSHA inspections of small farms, which I was prepared to offer to S. 544, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill. To expedite the consideration of this emergency legislation, I withdrew my amendment, but I want my colleagues to know that I will continue to press this issue.
As other Senators may know, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, by statute, can enforce health and safety rules and investigate accidents on farms or businesses of any size.
However, a rider prohibiting OSHA from expending funds to carry out its statutory duty with respect to small farms has been attached to Department of Labor appropriations bills for the past several years. Small farms are those that employ ten or fewer workers and do not maintain a camp for temporary employees.
I want to emphasize that this prohibition extends even to the investigation of fatal, work-related accidents. I am not speaking of malicious acts leading to deaths on the job--law enforcement authorities are capable of addressing those circumstances. I am speaking of deaths caused by preventable health and safety hazards--
hazards that no agency other than OSHA has the capacity to address.
Since the death of a sixteen-year-old Rhode Islander in an accident on a small farm in 1997, I have worked to address this issue.
Mr. President, it is heartbreaking for a parent to send a child off to a summer job only to see him die in an accident, and it is infuriating for these parents to wonder whether other youngsters now working on that job are safe.
I am sensitive to the concerns that some Senators will have about protecting the interests of family farms. That is why I have attempted to only moderately amend the current rider. Indeed, my amendment only allows OSHA access to small farms if there is a death, and only for investigation, not punitive action.
I have advanced this proposal in the hope of disseminating information about the causes of fatalities in order to prevent repeat tragedies and to bring a sense of closure to families who lose a loved one.
When I raised this issue during the markup of the Safety Advancement for Employees (SAFE) Act in the Labor and Human Resources Committee during the last Congress, several of my colleagues expressed a willingness to work with me on this issue. Regrettably, there is little the authorizing committee can do, because the problem stems from an appropriations rider, and an appropriations bill is where a correction should be made.
Mr. President, agriculture is one of the most hazardous industries in the United States today. We should take at least this minimal step to ensure the safety of agricultural employees.
Last Fall, the National Research Council (NRC), an arm of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), issued a report entitled Protecting Youth at Work. Among its recommendations was the following related to small farm safety:
To ensure the equal protection of children and adolescents from health and safety hazards in agriculture, Congress should undertake an examination of the effects and feasibility of extending all relevant Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations to agricultural workers, including subjecting small farms to the same level of OSHA enforcement as that applied to other small businesses.
Mr. President, it is the opinion of the NAS panel that small farms should be subject to the same level of enforcement as all other small businesses. In comparison to this recommendation, my proposed amendment is moderate, because, again, my amendment only allows an OSHA inspection on a small farm following a fatal accident. The inspection could not result in fines or any other OSHA enforcement.
During consideration of the SAFE Act in the 105th Congress, the Labor Committee voted for a provision requiring an NAS peer review of all new OSHA standards. Today, we have a report from the NAS making recommendations on OSHA enforcement on small farms. I hope that colleagues will keep that in mind and that they will remember that my amendment is not as extensive as the NAS recommendation.
Mr. President, some have criticized my amendment as unfair to small farm owners. I am mystified by their argument. The only small farms to be impacted would be those where an employee dies in a work related accident. Then, the only imposition the business would face would be an investigation: no fines, no enforcement, and no regulation. If information could be disseminated to prevent just one of the 500 deaths that occur annually in the agriculture industry, I believe this minor inconvenience would be worth it. I know my constituents who lost their son feel that way, and I would venture to guess that many other families would feel that way too.
Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Specter, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, for his good faith efforts to address this issue. His commitment to continue working with me was a major reason for my decision not to proceed my amendment on the Supplemental Appropriations bill. I look forward to working with the Senator from Pennsylvania and other concerned Senators in the months ahead.
____________________
