OAR 437-004-0240: Safety Orientation for Seasonal Workers

Definitions: Hand-labor operations, (as defined in OAR 437-004-1110(3) and reprinted here for ease of the reader) means agricultural activities or agricultural operations performed by hand or with hand tools, including: (a) Hand-cultivation, hand-weeding, hand-planting, and hand-harvesting of vegetables, nuts, fruits, seedlings, or other crops (including mushrooms); (b) Hand packing or sorting, whether done on the ground, on a moving machine, or in a temporary packing shed in the field. Seasonal workers are employed in a job tied to a certain time of year by an event or pattern and for not more than 10 months in a calendar year. NOTE: The following are only minimum requirements. Other parts of the agriculture standard require training for certain types of work in addition to these general orientation requirements. (1) Application: This applies to agricultural employers with seasonal workers. (2) Basic Safety Awareness Requirements. (a) You must provide seasonal workers with at least the following information: At their orientation meeting before beginning work for the first time, and; When work conditions or locations change in a way that could reasonably affect their safety or health. (A) Safety and health rules for their work. (B) Procedures for workers to contact supervisors or managers in case of accident, illness, or problems related to safety or health. (C) Procedures for treating injured or sick workers and for summoning emergency assistance. (D) The location of posted safety and health information. (b) If you have employees with language barriers, you must communicate safety awareness information in a manner that workers can understand. Include content that is either translated into the language used to hire and supervise these employees or that is otherwise effectively conveyed, such as through visual media. NOTES: Division 4/Z, Hazard Communication, OAR 437-004-9800(7)(d), requires employers to give a copy of the Oregon OSHA’s Safe Practices When Working Around Hazardous Agricultural Chemicals (#1951) to every employee. This publication provides an outline of the information that agricultural employers must provide during the initial training for workers under both the hazard communication rules and the pesticide worker protection standard (WPS) as covered in Division 4/W, 170.130(c). Contact Oregon OSHA for copies of this publication and information about available language formats. You must provide the initial WPS training if pesticide products labeled with “agricultural use requirements” have been used at the place of employment during the 30 days prior to the worker’s first day of employment or will be used during the worker’s period of employment. Additional WPS training requirements apply on the sixth day of employment, and in other work situations that fall under the definition of “pesticide handler.” See Division 4/W for these additional training requirements. For seasonal workers doing hand-labor operations only, you must provide all of the following to meet the initial training requirements under the WPS, this safety awareness orientation rule, and the hazard communication rule. • The training outlined in Safe Practices When Working Around Hazardous Agricultural Chemicals publication. • The basic safety awareness requirements information in OAR 437-004-0240. • Access to material safety data sheet information for the hazardous chemicals to which they reasonably may be exposed.