Oregon OSHA Registration Required for Agricultural Labor Housing
As agricultural producers across Oregon get ready for springtime and a
busy growing season ahead, Oregon OSHA is reminding the public that agricultural
labor housing must be registered with OR-OSHA before the housing is occupied.
Housing certification must be renewed each year, and registration certificates
must be displayed where housing occupants and OR-OSHA personnel can read
them.
Agricultural labor housing that has not been registered before,
or whose registration has lapsed, must have a pre-occupancy consultation
performed by OR-OSHA in order to receive a registration certificate. There
is no cost for registering housing and no cost for a pre-occupancy consultation.
If OR-OSHA's consultation report calls for changes, however, the owner
of the housing is responsible for making the corrections.
This year, OR-OSHA will be continuing its enforcement emphasis in
locating unregistered housing. OR-OSHA will be assigning compliance officers
to work on locating housing throughout the state. “The feedback we have
received from customers tells us there is more housing out there than
our registration data reflects,” says Nancy Cody, manager of OR-OSHA’s
Salem field office. “Our goal is to ensure all operators have registered
their agricultural labor housing and, at a minimum, are following all
safety and health standards.”
This season any operator of unregistered agricultural labor housing
will face a minimum fine of $ 5,000 with additional penalties leading
to a maximum fine of up to $7,000.
A checklist is available from OR-OSHA field offices that can help
familiarize operators with requirements prior to a pre-occupancy consultation.
The checklist is also available on the OR-OSHA Web site, www.orosha.org,
under "Publications."
Consultations can be arranged with any OR-OSHA field office: Salem,
(503) 378-3274; Eugene, (541) 686-7562; Bend, (541) 388-6066; Medford,
(541) 776-6030; Portland, (503) 229-5910; and Pendleton, (541) 276-9175.
Call at least 45 days prior to occupancy to schedule a consultation.
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