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AgSafe marks quarter-century Strategic review in organization’s future
by DAVID SCHMIDT ABBOTSFORD – Hard as it is to believe,
AgSafe BC’s annual general meeting in Abbotsford on April 11 also marked its 25th anniversary. Still officially known as the Farm and Ranch Safety & Health Association, AgSafe was the first safety organization in a primary resource industry to work with and be funded by WorkSafeBC. Just as hard to believe, Don Dahr, who became chair a year ago, is only its third chair and Wendy Bennett is just its second executive director. Dahr says AgSafe’s role is to provide
“leadership in health and safety to support the sustainability of agriculture.” Farmers aren’t sure they are still
providing that, asking AgSafe to do a strategic review of operations to ensure they meet the needs of a changing workforce. Western Agriculture Labour Initiative (WALI) chair Rhonda Driediger initiated the motion, pointing out foreign workers now represent over half of BC’s agricultural workforce. “We need to develop and strengthen
new linkages,” she said. AgSafe has already taken a first step in
that direction, adding a new safety advisor, bilingual in English and Spanish, in the Lower Mainland. Braulio Mariscal previously worked with the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program through the Mexican consulate.
Mariscal has already translated various
AgSafe training programs, tools and resources into Spanish and worked with many employers, liaising between workers, employers and Canadian and Mexican authorities. Bennett reported that the COR
(Certificate of Recognition) program added 11 farms in 2018, bringing the total number of COR-certified farms in BC to 37. COR farms receive a discount on their WorkSafeBC premiums. A highlight of 2018 for Bennett was the
12 emergency management workshops AgSafe provincial ranching safety consultant Reg Steward delivered in conjunction with the BC Cattlemen’s Association. Despite AgSafe’s efforts, agriculture continues to see an above-average injury rate in comparison to other sectors in BC. The injury rate for agriculture has been hovering around 2.5% for the past five years compared to a rate of 2.2% for the entire BC workforce. At 0.6%, the serious injury rate for agriculture is also double that of the BC average.
Bennett noted WorkSafeBC did about 1,500 inspections on BC farms and ranches in 2018, writing about 3,000 orders. She reminded farmers and ranchers that AgSafe staff will come to their site to help them comply with those orders. “You have already paid for our services
[through your WCB rate] so I would encourage you to use them,” she said.
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • MAY 2019 COLONIES rebound
colonies may recover. “I already have an email
from someone who says they cannot believe it, but as soon as the weather changed, colonies that they thought that were in the process of collapsing bounced back up and are going full steam,” he says. “You need a bit of warm air, you need the first flowers to come in and things are starting to go.” When pressed for reasons,
van Westendorp was reluctant to draw conclusions, but shifting weather conditions could be one reason. “We had an unusually mild winter until the end of January and somebody suddenly turned the switch and everything became super cold and exceedingly windy,” he said. “The Arctic outflows … really had a terrible impact on the bees.” Van Westendorp urged members to complete the spring survey they receive by email so the province has an accurate picture of mortalities. “We would like to have
information on where you operate your bees and what the wintering results have been in early May,” he says. “It’s painless, anonymous, and it takes about five minutes.” He reminded beekeepers that if they see something suspect in a hive, grab a smart
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phone, take a photo and email it to him. “It’s quickly done and you
will probably get an answer in 20 minutes,” he says, reassuring growers: “90% of the odd things we see turn out to not be a problem.” Stock and queen producers should get their operations inspected prior to selling to other beekeepers, he adds. “It is good management
and you can show that you are actually selling clean bees to another beekeeper,” he says, noting that inspections are free. “Likewise, those that purchase stock from another beekeeper should ask, ‘Have those bees been inspected?’” One attendee reported an
ad on Kijiji for nucleus colonies with 15-20% mite loads. “The advertiser was quite
happy with that. He said it meant that his bees were survivors,” the producer said. But van Westendorp was less enthusiastic. “The Animal Health Act and the bee regulations clearly define that if we have cause to believe that there is livestock in the form of bees being sold or made available to other beekeepers that pose a potential health risk, we have legal authority to inspect the operation and deny that kind of sale.”
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