(March 2014) Only large dairies will be inspected between July and September 2014
On Friday, Feb. 28, important clarification was received from OSHA officials regarding the coming round of random comprehensive dairy farm inspections that are scheduled to begin on July 1, 2014: only large dairies will be inspected between July and September 2014.
It is our understanding that for the purposes of this process, “large” dairies are those that have had 11 or more non-family employees at any one time in the last 12 months. This means smaller farms that house workers will not be inspected, at least through the end of September 2014, even though OSHA may consider those workers to be temporary.
This announcement will help the many organizations that are working hard to assist producers to focus scarce resources on the farms that are most likely to be inspected in the near-term.
We appreciate this clarification and will continue to work with OSHA officials to address other matters relating to this enforcement effort. We encourage all dairy farms to continue efforts to address health and safety issues at their facilities.
This message is brought to you by members of the NYS OSHA Work Group, including: PRO-DAIRY, Northeast Dairy Producers Association, NY Farm Bureau, NY Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health, and Cornell Cooperative Extension.