10-29-2012, 06:40 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/us/on-...st.html?hp&_r=0
(NY Times... paywall suspended during the Hurricane)
Synopsis: The article is a very thorough review of some specific accidents and the (over) reaction by DOL to restrict youths from performing dangerous tasks on family farms. And how the farmers and the youth's parents react.
What do you think ? Balancing safety, rules, and the ability to survive economically ?
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Don't start on the 'It's all agribusiness' meme. There *are* family farms. I've worked on several of them, and I know people who encourage their teenagers to also work on them. They exist. That is the specific purview of the article.
What brings this closer to home is that I *have* walked corn in a silo. In the 1970's. And did receive a thorough safety briefing from the farmer (college roomate's dad), safety equipment (respirator, fall belt, rope sling), and watched the lockout procedure of all power equipment. So the accidents noted in the article are definitely a case of cluelessness by the farmer and lack of information on the part of the children injured or killed.
Of course the farmer in question was also a professional engineer and retired naval flight instructor at Miramar, so maybe I got lucky.
(NY Times... paywall suspended during the Hurricane)
Synopsis: The article is a very thorough review of some specific accidents and the (over) reaction by DOL to restrict youths from performing dangerous tasks on family farms. And how the farmers and the youth's parents react.
What do you think ? Balancing safety, rules, and the ability to survive economically ?
- - - - -
Don't start on the 'It's all agribusiness' meme. There *are* family farms. I've worked on several of them, and I know people who encourage their teenagers to also work on them. They exist. That is the specific purview of the article.
What brings this closer to home is that I *have* walked corn in a silo. In the 1970's. And did receive a thorough safety briefing from the farmer (college roomate's dad), safety equipment (respirator, fall belt, rope sling), and watched the lockout procedure of all power equipment. So the accidents noted in the article are definitely a case of cluelessness by the farmer and lack of information on the part of the children injured or killed.
Of course the farmer in question was also a professional engineer and retired naval flight instructor at Miramar, so maybe I got lucky.