Mr. William H. Bryan, President
Mount Olive Pickle Company, Inc.
P.O. Box 609
Mt. Olive, N.C. 28365
Dear Mr. Bryan:
Thank you for your letter requesting information about our
activities with the farm workers and farm worker housing in
North Carolina.
The North Carolina Department of Labor conducts annual migrant
housing registration, inspection and compliance programs to
ensure that farm worker housing is maintained in a safe and
healthful condition. As you know, this program is a part of
the Migrant Housing Act of North Carolina. At the time this
law was passed it was considered the most progressive in the
Southeast and today remains more stringent in protecting our
farm laborers than even federal occupational safety and health
standards. Mt. Olive Pickle Company was instrumental in
designing and pushing for passage of this law. I'm sure many
in your company remember their work to help pass this
protective legislation in 1989.
According to the act, a grower who owns or operates a housing
unit for any number of migrant workers must register the
housing with the Labor Department 45 days before the migrants
are to arrive. After registration, the department performs a
pre-occupancy inspection and requires that necessary repairs
be completed before pre-occupancy certificate is issued. Thus
far during the 1999 growing season, over 1,750 migrant camps
have been inspected by the Agricultural Safety and Health
Section (ASH) of the Labor Department. Camps are inspected
using a detailed checklist that includes requirements related
to lighting, water supply, sleeping and washing facilities,
kitchens, sanitation, and fire protection. The Department
continually seeks to find additional unregistered housing in
the state using scouting efforts and community action. An
unregistered migrant housing camp is subject to an unadjusted
penalty of $5,000, which is strictly enforced by the
department.
To increase its resources for compliance inspections and
scouting for unregistered housing, the department has begun
the very successful Gold Star Grower program which allows
growers who maintain safe and healthful housing to complete
inspections on their own for a one-year period. I am happy to
report that the number of Gold Star Growers has increased each
year. The percentage of Gold Stars who are compliant at
inspection compared to the total number of registered and
inspected growers has risen from 13% in 1994-1995 to 40% in
1997-1998. This is good news for our growers and our farm
laborers. Plus, it allows our inspectors -- who drive an
average 638 miles each week -- to devote their time to finding
unregistered housing and completing safety and health
inspections at houses not in compliance.
The department, through its ASH section and Occupational
Safety and Health Division (OSH), responds to a variety of
complaints. On average, the department performs a minimum of
45 compliance inspections during the growing season. In
approximately one-third of the inspections, we look at
unregistered or uncertified houses for which no registration
forms have been received. Another one-third of the section's
compliance efforts involve routine compliance checks on
housing which has been referred by other agencies, or those
currently under abatement orders which the ASH section is
confirming. The final one-third of the compliance effort takes
place following the report of a fatality, an accident, an
illness such as heat stroke, or a call reporting pesticide
exposure. Pesticide exposures are investigated within eight
hours of being reported to the section. Accidents and
fatalities, by law, must be reported to OSH within eight hours
of occurence.
Please find enclosed two tables which provide details on the
registrations, etc. of all growers as well as H2A growers
dating from 1992 to 1999. We are always happy to provide
updated information about our registration, inspection and
certification programs. We continue to look for migrant
housing that has not been registered with the department and
encourage the reporting of unregistered housing. In the ten
years since the passsage of the Migrant Housing Act of North
Carolina, migrant housing conditions have continued to
improve.
With the help of programs such as the Gold Star Growers, the
assistance and advice of our Agricultural Safety and Health
Advisory Council, and the continuing interest of corporate
citizens like Mt. Olive Pickle Company, this department looks
forward to meeting the growing challenges in our agricultural
communities.
Again, thank you for your past work in helping to assure safe
and healthful living conditions for farm workers and for your
continuing interest in our regulatory efforts.
