I chuckled after reading the original post; I knew where this would go before reading futher; calling Phipps a meddling dumbass.... I've been on both sides of the issue. ie, a farmer with some casual labour; and a full time employee on a commercial farm.

Here in Ontario farms are exempt from industrial safety standards; There is a Farm Safety Assoaciation that tries to be proactive, but farmers here are similar to US farmers; more damn government regulations,... Lot of operations want to be called 'Farms' to get the exempt status, regardless of number of employees, including vertically integrated companies; also gets around hours of operation, overtime requirements as well as labour laws.

I note the contrast to previous theads about how hard it is to find competent employees at competitve wages when there are other employment opportunities avaailable. Why would a good operator work irregular hours in un-regulated industry when he can work in a more controlled safety-wise workplace.

Personally, I would prefer the lesss regulated ag workplace; but then I have common sense to recognize and refuse dangerous work.

Flame away.