The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) is reminding agricultural employers that agricultural labor housing must be registered with Oregon OSHA before the housing is occupied. Housing certification must be renewed each year, and registration certificates must be displayed where housing occupants and Oregon 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 Oregon OSHA in order to receive a registration certificate. There is no cost for registering housing and no cost for a pre-occupancy consultation. The owner of the agricultural labor housing facility is responsible for making any corrections noted by an Oregon OSHA consultant.

Oregon OSHA will be continuing an emphasis on locating unregistered agricultural labor housing during the growing season, including assigning compliance officers to work on locating unregistered housing throughout the state. Any person found to be operating unregistered agricultural labor housing will face a minimum civil penalty of $ 5,000.

A searchable listing of registered agricultural labor housing facilities in Oregon is now available on the Oregon OSHA Web site, www.orosha.org, in the "Agriculture" section. A checklist is also available from Oregon OSHA field offices that can help familiarize operators with requirements prior to a pre-occupancy consultation. The checklist is also available on the Oregon OSHA Web site.

For questions regarding agricultural labor housing, contact the Oregon OSHA Salem Field Office, (503) 378-3274. Consultations can be arranged with any Oregon OSHA field office: Salem, (503) 378-7819; Eugene, (541) 686-7913; Bend, (541) 388-6068; Medford, (541) 776-6016; Portland, (503) 229-6193; and Pendleton, (541) 276-2353. Please call at least 45 days prior to occupancy to schedule a consultation.