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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • AUGUST 2018 The right tools. Young Agrarians push PROVEN POWER & EFFICIENCY


small-scale premium Grower petitions WorkSafeBC for changes


by PETER MITHAM


KELOWNA – Should small-scale farmers pay the same premiums for workplace insurance as large-scale farmers? Vegetable grower John


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Hofer of Wise Earth Farm in Kelowna doesn’t think so, and in June he rallied support from the Young Agrarians behind a petition asking WorkSafeBC to create a new category for small farms. “Currently, all vegetable


farms are classified as if they use large mechanized equipment, toxic pesticides and fertilizers and mass produce-handling systems,” states Hofer’s rationale for a petition posted on the popular petition site Change.org (see [http://bit.do/erhZL]). “Small vegetable farms do not operate with those risks and we think it is unfair to expect small operations to subsidize large farming operations.” Hofer believes small vegetable farms should


pay lower premiums because they don’t face the same kind of risks as large operations. WorkSafeBC, however, says insurance rates


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aren’t such a simple matter. To ensure a fair and equitable rate for specific industry groups, WorkSafeBC needs to have a sufficient number of claims on which to price the sector’s risks. “Smaller industries are gathered into


industry groups so we can reliably track their claim performance over time,” explains Gerry Paquette, manager, classification and rates with WorkSafeBC. “We then place each industry group into the rate group band that matches their claim cost rate.” Since the vegetable sector as a whole


makes relatively few claims, it is grouped with five other sectors for the purposes of calculating what Paquette calls “a reliable and stable insurance rate.” These include the farm labour supply, white mushroom, nursery and wild plant harvesting sectors. “The industry group is in turn placed in rate


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group 12 for 2019,” Paquette says. “Vegetable farming is projected to have its base premium rate drop from 4.24% of assessable payroll to 3.41%.” Would small farms pay a lower rate if they


formed their own group? WorkSafeBC data doesn’t support this claim, indicating that injury rates – including the rate of severe injuries – are typically equal or greater than that for the sector as a whole. “A review of vegetable farm claims does not demonstrate that small operations are subsidizing the large operations,” Paquette says. “Since small operations as a group have the very similar claim frequency and same return-to-work outcomes as the industry at large, it appears reasonable to keep all vegetable farms in the same industry classification regardless of size.” Hofer is seeking 200 signatures in support of his cause. The petition had attracted 149 signatures by mid-July. WorkSafeBC, meanwhile, is conducting consultations with industry through September regarding 2019 premiums. Steps to reduce claim rates were also on the agenda for discussion. WorkSafeBC released preliminary rates for 2019 in July, with the average base rate unchanged at 1.55% of assessable payroll. The agency expects more than half of employers in the province will see their premiums decline.


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