Annabelle Bamford University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia

1. Work organisation and occupational health and safety in Australian and United Kingdom horticulture Annabelle Bamford University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia

2. PLAN • Overview of the horticulture industry • Overview of OHS regulation • The problem • Methods • Common aspects of employment practices • Responsibility • Inspection and enforcement • Unions • Some conclusions • References

3. OVERVIEW OF THE HORTICULTURE INDUSTRY Reliance on temporary and highly mobile workers, and the concomitant shift of economic risk from employer to worker, is no less evident in horticulture than other industries1 • Shrinking profit margins • Seasonal variations in production, and handling and grading demands • Foreign-born workers feature prominently through seasonal worker schemes Many hazards are inherent to the way the work is done2 • Remote rural areas • Piecework which encourages high production • Little discretion over how the work is performed • Workers are often temporary and foreign-born which limits their ability to organise collectively

4. OVERVIEW OF OHS REGULATION Horticultural work is subject to the full range of OHS legislation which includes a hierarchy of overlapping and complimentary responsibilities Supply chains can present a serious challenge • Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 • REACH • Australian initiatives, though not pertaining to horticulture, suggest a model that could be applied to it Legal regulation backed by credible enforcement is the primary driver for organisations to initiate changes to improve OHS performance3 • Inspection in agriculture/horticulture is not a priority and is under-resourced • Work-related mobility can complicate the diagnosis , treatment and recording of occupational illness

5. THE PROBLEM This study describes how work organisation, particularly temporary and itinerant employment, is affecting OHS protections for horticultural workers, many of whom are foreign-born temporaries, in two countries: Australia and the UK.

6. METHODS Country Selection Comparable legal frameworks and comparable dilemmas Working class families traditionally provided the peak harvest workforce but temporary foreign-born workers now feature prominently • Working Holiday Maker program and far less so the Seasonal Worker Program (AU) • Recently acceded EU Member States and other eligible aliens (UK) Participant Selection Snowball sampling beginning with in invitation email to horticultural businesses and labour providers, regulatory agencies and unions, and in-person recruitment of workers at camping sites, working hostels and workplaces In total 67 semi-structured interviews were undertaken

7. COMMON ASPECTS OF EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES Common tasks: picking, thinning, pruning, pesticide spraying (AU only), ancillary jobs • Manual, repetitive, physically demanding Award baseline appeared irrelevant, especially under subcontracting arrangements • Willingness to engage in short-term casual work and be available without notice Discrepancy with regard to induction and training • Critical factor seemed to be workers’ temporariness Workers frequently associated OHS risks with an immediate effect • Temporary nature of workers’ employment appeared to affect their attitudes

8. RESPONSIBILITY Concerns about potential avoidance of OHS responsibilities • Perceptible but not pervasive • The nature of the work appeared critical to workers’ uncertainty in regards responsibilities, and their likelihood of reporting mistreatment • Backpacker-tourists in Australia, often proficient in English and educated, did not appear more conversant or willing to speak out • Viewed the work as short-term Limited knowledge of entitlements to worker’s compensation • Again, it was the nature of the work that appeared critical Findings contribute to growing awareness that flexible work arrangements and worker mobility challenge existing workers’ compensation frameworks4, 5

9. INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT A common sentiment in both countries was that OHS inspectorates are under-resourced and inspections rare • Geography • Presumption against proactive inspections • Limited resourcing and remit of GLA • ‘Discretionary’ approach Discrepancy within Australian jurisdictions in terms of inspectorates’ accessibility and service • Difficulties in allaying fears of inspection and government encroachment EU supply chain provisions for chemicals were not being very effectively enforced

10. UNIONS Union officials reported finding it almost impossible to penetrate the industry • Scattered workplaces • Resource pressures • Employer hostility • Short-term employment Cleavages based on ethnicity and national origin can diminish worker solidarity

11. SOME CONCLUSIONS The findings raise significant questions about the extent to which the vulnerability that comes from being foreign-born can be disassociated from vulnerability arising from the work situation • The evidence tends to suggest that it is the nature of the work that is critical • Despite these being very different groups of workers the results are similar Reliance on foreign-born workers is part of explicit work organisation and supply chains nowadays • The ‘outsider’ status exacerbated vulnerability Regulatory coverage in agriculture/horticulture has always been limited and under-resourced but with the growth of more intensive production regimes there is more need for closer regulatory scrutiny

12. REFERENCES • BinfordL. From fields of power to fields of sweat: the dual process of constructing temporary migrant labour in Mexico and Canada. Third World Quarterly. 2009; 30(3): 503-517. • GrzywaczJG, Lipscomb HJ, Casanova V, Neis B, Fraser C, Monaghan P, Vallejos QM. Organization of work in the agricultural, forestry, and fishing sector in the US southeast: implications for immigrant workers’ occupational safety and health. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 2013; 56(8): 925-939. • Walters D, Johnstone R, Frick K, Quinlan M, Baril-Gingras G, Thébaud-Mony A. Regulating workplace risks: a comparative study of inspection regimes in times of change. Cheltenham, GB: Edward Elgar, 2011. • Quinlan M. Workers’ compensation and the challenges posed by changing patterns of work: evidence from Australia. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety. 2004; 2(1): 25-52. • AsfawA. Disparities in access to health insurance and workers’ compensation benefit between non contingent and contingent farm workers in U.S. agriculture. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice. 2014; 7(3): 81-97.