Costs should not outweigh farmers’ lives

Letter to Editor re: Government, Unions on different sides of WCB, OHS coin

Ian Donovan very much makes the case for mandatory OHS regulations for Alberta’s Agriculture Industry. He cites the example of cleaning a bin bottom and confined space regulations, suggesting it would be too expensive to do the necessary steps to prevent killing the worker.

MLA Donovan argues that it would be cheaper to risk killing the help than to take the same precautions used everywhere else. I wonder if his hired help would agree.

Little Bow MLA Donovan states no employer would intentionally put his worker at risk, he then goes on to say he would not follow confined space protocol thereby intentionally putting his worker at risk.

Little Bow MLA Ian Donovan, a farmer, is precisely why we need legislation, to prevent employers from making these very same sort of decisions.

ERIC MUSEKAMP
Farmworkers Union of Alberta president