Header:
PENNSYLVANIA STATUTES
TITLE 3. AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER 24. FARM SAFETY AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH ACT
Date:
08/31/2009
Document:
§ 1904. Farm Safety and Occupational Health Program
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.-- The secretary shall establish a farm safety and occupational health program, to be known as the Farm Safety and Occupational Health Program, to educate and train farmers, members of farm families, farm laborers, others involved in agricultural production and emergency service providers in the recognition, avoidance and prevention of and emergency response to farm accidents and occupational injuries and diseases.
(b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.-- The Farm Safety and Occupational Health Program may include:
(1) Development of age-appropriate materials for incorporation into
rural school curricula.
(2) Community farm safety and health day camps and other demonstration
projects for farm youth.
(3) Fire safety and electrical safety programs for farm youth.
(4) Agricultural equipment and machinery safety education programs for
farm youth.
(5) An equipment and machinery safety and maintenance program for the
training and voluntary certification of farm youth in the safe
operation and maintenance of agricultural equipment and machinery.
(6) First aid programs for farm youth, which may include a
cardiopulmonary resuscitation program sponsored by a human service
organization for the training and voluntary certification of farm youth
in first aid.
(7) Age-appropriate farm safety education and training for adult
farmers and farm workers, including instruction in:
(i) Safe operation and maintenance of agricultural equipment and
machinery.
(ii) Proper application and storage of agricultural chemical agents.
(iii) Agricultural respiratory hazards.
(iv) Methods for reducing hazards and unhealthful conditions
associated with farming.
(8) Methods for preventing or mitigating farm accidents and
occupational injuries and diseases, including:
(i) Information on equipment and machinery accidents and other farm
accidents, procedures for reducing or preventing farm accidents and
procedures for responding to farm emergencies.
(ii) Methods for the proper application, use, storage and disposal of
pesticides and other agricultural chemical agents and poisonous
substances or mixtures.
(iii) Methods to detect and avoid toxic gases.
(iv) Fire and electrical safety.
(v) Procedures for entry into and rescue from storage facilities and
other confined spaces.
(vi) Information on the impairment of audio, visual or respiratory
functions; the impact of such impairment on farm safety; prevention
of such impairments; and methods and techniques to correct,
accommodate or mitigate for such impairments.
(vii) Vocational and rehabilitative services available to help
farmers with disabilities continue in agricultural production.
(viii) Information on environmental stress factors and general
occupational stress factors and the impact of such factors on safety.
(9) Training of emergency service providers in methods and procedures
for responding to farm emergencies, including:
(i) First-on-the-scene programs for farm families.
(ii) Firefighting seminars for emergency service providers.
(iii) Fire safety practices and techniques for farmers.
(iv) Farm rescue and machinery extraction demonstrations.
(v) Instructions to reduce or eliminate the risk of exposure to toxic
gases.
(10) An on-the-farm program for voluntary safety audits of agricultural
equipment and machinery, facilities used to store agricultural chemical
agents, silos and other farm structures and the provision of
information or instruction on the proper use of safety devices and
procedures to avoid or eliminate unsafe and unhealthful conditions on
the farm.
(11) A safety device installation program for the retrofitting of
agricultural equipment and machinery with safety devices by students in
vocational and technical education programs at secondary schools,
manufacturers or dealers of equipment and machinery or any other
person, group or organization concerned with farm safety.
(12) The provision of information on the availability of vocational,
rehabilitation, counseling, assistive technology and other services to
persons injured in farm accidents or who suffer from occupational
injuries or diseases.
(13) The development and implementation of public service farm safety
advertisement campaigns through the use of appropriate media outlets in
farm communities.
(c) PROGRAM PRIORITIES.-- The secretary, in consultation with the advisory board and upon consideration of the availability of funds, may include in the Farm Safety and Occupational Health Program any or all of the program components provided in subsection (b). The secretary may use the results of farm safety pilot projects or successful farm safety programs implemented in other states or by private or public sector agencies or institutions to determine program priorities.
(d) UTILIZATION OF EXISTING PROGRAMS OR RESOURCES.--
(1) To the extent feasible, the secretary shall incorporate the farm
safety and occupational health education programs developed by the
College of Agricultural Sciences of The Pennsylvania State University
into the Farm Safety and Occupational Health Program. The secretary
may by grant or contract or memorandum of understanding utilize farm
safety and occupational health programs of the College of Agricultural
Sciences, State agencies, cooperative extension services, farm
organizations, agriculture and rural youth organizations or other such
organizations.
(2) The secretary may adopt curricula developed under existing programs
for the training of emergency service providers in the proper response
to farm accidents.
(3) The secretary, to the extent practical, may train and empower
agents of the department who are authorized to perform specific
inspection duties in connection with State-regulated agricultural
production activities or employees, agents or officers of other public
or private organizations concerned with agriculture to carry out
voluntary farm safety audits pursuant to this act.
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