A Mandated Plan Proposed for Ag Facilities to Protect Employees From COVID- 19
Roger Isom is president and CEO of other Western Agricultural Processors Association based in Fresno. It's a trade association representing tree nut processors.He explains proposed regulations to protect employees from COVID-19. “So recently CalOSHA issued guidance that mandated that facilities that have workers not just implement control measures to protect against COVI-19 and the spread of it, but to have a mandated written plan that lists all those procedures and practices you're putting in place to conduct a risk assessment around your facility,” Isom said.
Isom said you certainly want to protect your employees. “They're valuable. You need them. You don't want to see anybody get sick and have to leave work. The issue is this was simply guidance, but it in there, they use the word mandate and so we've been working very recently on that plan,” noted Isom.
At the very same time, California Assemblyman Robert Rivas from the Monterey, Salinas area introduced legislation that basically took what CalOSHA has been petitioned to do and made that applicable only to agriculture and said all ag places, whether it's farms, hullers, processors, packing houses, whatever, would have to adopt a plan to protect against COVID- 19 and failing do so correctly would be a crime. So it would be criminal penalties, criminal actions could be taken against you for failure to do that,” Isom said.
We will keep abreast of how the industry deals with this proposed criminal element of the regulation.