OSHA Grain Bin Overreach Must End – Farm Bureau

An Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidance memo on grain bins and grain storage should be withdrawn because it provides authority for enforcement activities on small farms that are exempt under law, the American Farm Bureau Federation told Congress earlier this month. The Farm Bureau asserted that the OSHA memo overreaches agency authority and circumvents clear legislative language.

“Farm Bureau understands OSHA’s concerns with grain bin safety,” said Scott VanderWal, president of the South Dakota Farm Bureau Federation, testifying to the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections on behalf of AFBF. Further, noted VanderWal, “Farm Bureau remains committed to grain bin and farm safety generally. Had OSHA reached out to Farm Bureau and others in agriculture, we would have been eager to work with them to develop additional safety training programs.”

Instead, OSHA inspectors began investigating farmers in areas where agency authority is limited, if not entirely restricted, by Congress, said VanderWal.

He called on Congress to prevent OSHA’s continued regulatory overreach.