**1. Introduction**

There is a decade long worldwide trend of labour migration from the developing and underdeveloped countries to the developed countries. European, North American, and Oceanic agricultural sectors heavily depend on the foreign workers, migrating temporarily to carryout seasonal agricultural work that are not attractive to local citizens. Long work hours, low pay, hard work and hazardous work environments makes the agricultural sector unattractive to local labour force. Seasonal agricultural

workers migrate to North America and Europe from developing and underdeveloped countries in the regions of South America, Caribbean, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia with little or no prior training to gain knowledge about occupational health and safety guidelines and issues in the host country. Most of the seasonal agricultural workers to Canada and United States are from 11 Caribbean countries and Mexico [1]. There is abundance of research-based evidence merging from Europe, North America and Oceania confirming agricultural workers, in general, and foreign seasonal farm workers more specifically, as experiencing high occupational health associated health risks and injuries [2]. Focus of this chapter is to elucidate existing occupational health and safety standards and how these standards are applied to foreign seasonal farm workers, using case studies and interview data collected from Canada that offers a universal healthcare coverage to all permanent residents and citizens.

The term "foreign seasonal farm worker" refers to those temporary workers, who come under "work visa" to work in the farms, vegetation, animal husbandry, meat, or fish production facilities [1]. These foreign seasonal farm workers (FSFW) often get attracted to concentrations of agricultural facilities, where workers are paid minimal wages, work has to be carried out under hazardous conditions and workers are required to work long hours [2]. Due to those conditions and the work is only available seasonally, those jobs are unattractive to local people and often requires foreign workers to fill the essential labour shortage. It was reported in the year 2004 that of the 1.2 million farm workers in the United States, 12% of them were migrant workers [2]. In Finland 42% of the berry and vegetable picking industry relies on foreign seasonal farm workers [3]. Canadian agricultural sector heavily depends on the seasonal migrant workers and around 70,000 agricultural workforces (75% of the total agricultural labour force) during the period 2015–2017 were foreign seasonal farm workers [4].

Occupational health and workers' safety are inseparable issues, especially with regards to FSFWs since their occupational health issues of interest in this chapter are intrinsically related to lack of safety measures. FSFWs go through pre-migration medical screening prior to obtaining work VISA to enter into the host country. Those screening would prevent, those who have communicable diseases that threaten Canadian public and those who have disabilities, to migrate as temporary workers. Recent global pandemic has added a new dimension of public health related safety issues to the population of migrant workers. A section of this chapter will provide an overview of recent experience using a scoping review of gray literature and government reports. Through an occupational health and safety lens, this chapter illustrates a wide spectrum of issues; starting from the contractual agreements that impede equitable access to health and safety measures, through micro level migration related cultural and language issues to macro level housing and safety matters.

There is under reporting of injury and illnesses of FSFW due to the temporary nature of the work, language and cultural barriers [5] and these individuals' participation in the healthcare is minimal [6]. Underreporting of injuries and illnesses by the FSWF is partly due to fear of being deported or losing their job [5], in line with systemic structural issues. Two lists are maintained by employers who request foreign seasonal workers; a named list in which they specify the names of the workers whom they want to come back next year and then unnamed list where the liaison office from the sending country provide a list. In order to be in the named list, workers need to be the chosen ones from the previous employer and those who demand health and safety measures are unlikely to be chosen ones.

Two-year chart review in the United States reported 516 cases of work related injuries, over two seasons, that includes; muscle and joint strains (31%), falling (18%), object strikes (8%), and poison IV contacts (10%) [6]. There are considerable

**35**

rest is covered by the employer [12].

**1.1 Health and safety insurance coverage**

*Occupational Health and Safety Standards of Foreign Seasonal Farm Workers…*

scoping review on existing guidelines lead by authors research group.

The living conditions and health and safety issues of FSFWs raise a global health and human rights issues. Stemming from research findings, many researchers share concerns on violation of human rights in access to sanitary conditions and denial of access to timely and needed healthcare. This vulnerable population shares common occupational health safety issues despite the country of origin and the host country of working. This chapter illustrates case studies and research conducted in one province in Canada, Nova Scotia, while elucidating the issues that are common to all migrant farm workers around the world that are stemming from the literature. Canada employs between 27,000and 42,000 foreign seasonal farm workers annually and United States employs around 3 million from Caribbean countries [9]. Of these positions, 1855 were in the province of Nova Scotia, where case studies were resonated [10]. Foreign seasonal farm workers come to Canada under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) and Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). SAWP workers come to Canada from Mexico and 11 Caribbean countries and can stay and work in Canada for up to 8 months [1]. Canada has a publicly funded universal healthcare system that covers necessary primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare with an exception of coverage for prescription medications, dental and vision care, physiotherapy and ambulance services, for all citizens, permanent residents and those who are on minimum of one-year work permit [11]. Whereas refugees and refugee claimants are covered by the Interim Federal Health program which covers almost all of the basic care [11]. Students are eligible for government health insurance after 1 year of residency in Canada. FSFWs do not fall into any of those Canadian healthcare eligibility categories due to their eight-month long contract obligations even if they return year after year for nearly 15 years. FSFWs contractual obligations dictate that the need to purchase private medical insurance, a portion of the cost is paid by the employee from hourly wages and the

The SAWP workers' contract stipulates that the workers are required to have health insurance and additional workers' compensation insurance coverage and transportation to medical facilities must be provided by the employers [13]. However, the reality of the situation requires further attention. Our research

number of female FSFWs working in agricultural sector. It was noted in the North American literature that female FSFWs are at increased risk of injuries due to improper machinery, equipment and tools use [7]. Among pregnant workers, increased incidences of pesticide and weedicide chemicals and veterinary pharmaceutical exposures had resulted in reproductive health concerns and miscarriages [7]. Studies in Canada and US among FSFWs have identified agrochemicals and heat exposure related illnesses, musculoskeletal injuries from repetitive motions, ubiquitous posture, resulting from manually lifting heavy loads, in addition to motor vehicle and machinery injuries [1]. Migrant farmers live in poor housing conditions in the host country and the researchers in Canada and US have noted unhealthy living and working environments, with the presence of mold, pesticide, weedicide residues, infested with disease carrying pests, rodents, mice and cockroaches in occupational and residential settings. Authors from a US study found a significant association between poor indoor living environments and upper respiratory symptoms among migrant farm workers [8]. Given these research-based evidence on farm workers tendency to be prone to illnesses and injuries and engagement in high risk occupations, occupational health and safety guidelines and procedures plays a critical role in this population. A section in this chapter will outline findings from a

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94056*

#### *Occupational Health and Safety Standards of Foreign Seasonal Farm Workers… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94056*

number of female FSFWs working in agricultural sector. It was noted in the North American literature that female FSFWs are at increased risk of injuries due to improper machinery, equipment and tools use [7]. Among pregnant workers, increased incidences of pesticide and weedicide chemicals and veterinary pharmaceutical exposures had resulted in reproductive health concerns and miscarriages [7]. Studies in Canada and US among FSFWs have identified agrochemicals and heat exposure related illnesses, musculoskeletal injuries from repetitive motions, ubiquitous posture, resulting from manually lifting heavy loads, in addition to motor vehicle and machinery injuries [1]. Migrant farmers live in poor housing conditions in the host country and the researchers in Canada and US have noted unhealthy living and working environments, with the presence of mold, pesticide, weedicide residues, infested with disease carrying pests, rodents, mice and cockroaches in occupational and residential settings. Authors from a US study found a significant association between poor indoor living environments and upper respiratory symptoms among migrant farm workers [8]. Given these research-based evidence on farm workers tendency to be prone to illnesses and injuries and engagement in high risk occupations, occupational health and safety guidelines and procedures plays a critical role in this population. A section in this chapter will outline findings from a scoping review on existing guidelines lead by authors research group.

The living conditions and health and safety issues of FSFWs raise a global health and human rights issues. Stemming from research findings, many researchers share concerns on violation of human rights in access to sanitary conditions and denial of access to timely and needed healthcare. This vulnerable population shares common occupational health safety issues despite the country of origin and the host country of working. This chapter illustrates case studies and research conducted in one province in Canada, Nova Scotia, while elucidating the issues that are common to all migrant farm workers around the world that are stemming from the literature. Canada employs between 27,000and 42,000 foreign seasonal farm workers annually and United States employs around 3 million from Caribbean countries [9]. Of these positions, 1855 were in the province of Nova Scotia, where case studies were resonated [10]. Foreign seasonal farm workers come to Canada under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) and Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). SAWP workers come to Canada from Mexico and 11 Caribbean countries and can stay and work in Canada for up to 8 months [1]. Canada has a publicly funded universal healthcare system that covers necessary primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare with an exception of coverage for prescription medications, dental and vision care, physiotherapy and ambulance services, for all citizens, permanent residents and those who are on minimum of one-year work permit [11]. Whereas refugees and refugee claimants are covered by the Interim Federal Health program which covers almost all of the basic care [11]. Students are eligible for government health insurance after 1 year of residency in Canada. FSFWs do not fall into any of those Canadian healthcare eligibility categories due to their eight-month long contract obligations even if they return year after year for nearly 15 years. FSFWs contractual obligations dictate that the need to purchase private medical insurance, a portion of the cost is paid by the employee from hourly wages and the rest is covered by the employer [12].

#### **1.1 Health and safety insurance coverage**

The SAWP workers' contract stipulates that the workers are required to have health insurance and additional workers' compensation insurance coverage and transportation to medical facilities must be provided by the employers [13]. However, the reality of the situation requires further attention. Our research

*Occupational Wellbeing*

workers migrate to North America and Europe from developing and underdeveloped countries in the regions of South America, Caribbean, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia with little or no prior training to gain knowledge about occupational health and safety guidelines and issues in the host country. Most of the seasonal agricultural workers to Canada and United States are from 11 Caribbean countries and Mexico [1]. There is abundance of research-based evidence merging from Europe, North America and Oceania confirming agricultural workers, in general, and foreign seasonal farm workers more specifically, as experiencing high occupational health associated health risks and injuries [2]. Focus of this chapter is to elucidate existing occupational health and safety standards and how these standards are applied to foreign seasonal farm workers, using case studies and interview data collected from Canada that offers a universal

The term "foreign seasonal farm worker" refers to those temporary workers, who come under "work visa" to work in the farms, vegetation, animal husbandry, meat, or fish production facilities [1]. These foreign seasonal farm workers (FSFW) often get attracted to concentrations of agricultural facilities, where workers are paid minimal wages, work has to be carried out under hazardous conditions and workers are required to work long hours [2]. Due to those conditions and the work is only available seasonally, those jobs are unattractive to local people and often requires foreign workers to fill the essential labour shortage. It was reported in the year 2004 that of the 1.2 million farm workers in the United States, 12% of them were migrant workers [2]. In Finland 42% of the berry and vegetable picking industry relies on foreign seasonal farm workers [3]. Canadian agricultural sector heavily depends on the seasonal migrant workers and around 70,000 agricultural workforces (75% of the total agricultural labour force) during the period 2015–2017

Occupational health and workers' safety are inseparable issues, especially with regards to FSFWs since their occupational health issues of interest in this chapter are intrinsically related to lack of safety measures. FSFWs go through pre-migration medical screening prior to obtaining work VISA to enter into the host country. Those screening would prevent, those who have communicable diseases that threaten Canadian public and those who have disabilities, to migrate as temporary workers. Recent global pandemic has added a new dimension of public health related safety issues to the population of migrant workers. A section of this chapter will provide an overview of recent experience using a scoping review of gray literature and government reports. Through an occupational health and safety lens, this chapter illustrates a wide spectrum of issues; starting from the contractual agreements that impede equitable access to health and safety measures, through micro level migration related cultural and language issues to macro level housing

There is under reporting of injury and illnesses of FSFW due to the temporary nature of the work, language and cultural barriers [5] and these individuals' participation in the healthcare is minimal [6]. Underreporting of injuries and illnesses by the FSWF is partly due to fear of being deported or losing their job [5], in line with systemic structural issues. Two lists are maintained by employers who request foreign seasonal workers; a named list in which they specify the names of the workers whom they want to come back next year and then unnamed list where the liaison office from the sending country provide a list. In order to be in the named list, workers need to be the chosen ones from the previous employer and those who

Two-year chart review in the United States reported 516 cases of work related injuries, over two seasons, that includes; muscle and joint strains (31%), falling (18%), object strikes (8%), and poison IV contacts (10%) [6]. There are considerable

demand health and safety measures are unlikely to be chosen ones.

healthcare coverage to all permanent residents and citizens.

were foreign seasonal farm workers [4].

**34**

and safety matters.

revealed contradictions to the written obligations, that are clearly stated in the contract documents. Wherein the employers' agreement states "*That according to the approved guidelines and regulations in the province/territory where the WORKER is employed the EMPLOYER shall take the WORKER to obtain health coverage in a timely manner*." [13], which never becomes a reality since provincial regulations requires minimum of 12-month residency in the province of Nova Scotia and SAWP workers who comes for an eight-month contract never becomes eligible. New provisions have been added to the contract due to COVID-19, whereby the employer is required to submit a Housing Inspection Report prior to or during the time of application to Citizenship and Immigration Canada to obtain farm permits under SAWP (12). Workplace safety insurance in Canada is provided by provincial insurance provider Workers Compensations Board of Canada and the SAWP contract indicates that the employers must ensure that the workers are covered by provincial workplace safety insurance at no cost to them and in a situation that private insurance plan is preferred employers, must ensure the coverage is the same as the provincial plan [12].

## **1.2 Vulnerability**

Only a few studies have examined the health and safety of SAWP in Canada and how the contractual obligations were met was understudied. The limited research has revealed significant barriers for healthcare accessibility, lack of proper occupational health and safety standards and noncompliance to existing guidelines. Recent global pandemic of COVID-19 has claimed three FSFW deaths and thousands of other FSFWs have been tested positive in Canada. There is an outcry from activist groups representing FSFWs, demanding actions on justice on migrant workers' health. This population falls under vulnerable populations based on Canadian public health guidelines. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, vulnerable communities of COVID-19 includes those with; difficulties in communication, difficulties in accessing healthcare and engaging in preventive activities such as frequent hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes, difficulties in accessing transportation, unstable employment and working conditions, living in geographically isolated remote areas and insecure and inadequate housing conditions [14]. Albeit FSFWs have all of the above conditions that categorize them as vulnerable to COVID-19, there were no proper health safety measures taken to prevent their exposure to COVID-19.

This chapter comprise findings from three studies. Author led research team carried out a scoping reviews of the documents from non-governmental and governmental agencies, specifically aiming at the health and safety of FSFWs, followed by individual interviews with FSFWs and farmers (their employers). Third scoping review was carried out on COVID-19 related public health measures and extent to which these measures were applied to FSFWs in Canada using gray literature, pertaining to pandemic related health and safety concerns of the FSFWs. In this chapter, attention will be paid to contractual obligations of FSFWs through the documents available to them and the status of implementation of occupational health and safety guidelines will be examined through. Resurrection of occupational health and safety is a joint effort of the workers and employers. I have presented an exploration of present working conditions, individual and systemic barriers and incentives that prevent/promote hazardous working environments. Finally, existing guidelines and policies and the research-based evidence on individual and systemic factors that impede or promote occupational health and safety of FSFWs will be applied and evaluated to COVID-19 pandemic case scenario using the findings from the third scoping review. Given the limited geographical scope of the authors interview data, comparisons will be made to research findings that

**37**

*Occupational Health and Safety Standards of Foreign Seasonal Farm Workers…*

are stemming from other national and international research findings. This chapter will be finalized by making recommendations, on how to manage personal protective measures, implement policies and practices, focusing broadly on physical and

**2. Occupational health and safety standards, guidelines, and policies**

to existing guidelines were universal and were not unique to one country.

occupationally healthy and free from injuries needs to be fully explored.

The scoping review of the documents revealed that the health and safety of Canadian FSFWs is the joint effort of three parties: a) workers, b) employers, and/or c) third parties including federal health agencies, Canadian police, workers' home government organizations and agents, farm owners (where not the employer), and local, provincial, and Canadian labour and social development departments. Workers are responsible for helping employers to make the workplace safe by ensuring they obtain sufficient training to safely carry out their assigned

**2.1 Parties responsible for monitoring health and safety guidelines**

In the first scoping review, we reviewed 27 online documents including FSFW recruitment documents, contracts, and information provided by relevant nongovernmental and governmental agencies, pertaining to occupational health and safety of migrant farm workers in Canada. Inductive analysis of the text data collected from the documents revealed (a) lack of clear identification of parties responsible for implementing and monitoring health and safety guidelines and (b) there were no mechanisms of facilitating existing health and safety information dissemination to FSFWs. Upon further review, it became clear that documents were not targeted specifically towards FSFWs and several documents were written at very high reading levels, at collage level and none of the FSFWs has reached that level. This "*passing the buck*" practice of evading the responsibility to keep FSFWs

Foreign workers' legal residence status is tied to their employment contractual obligations, which stipulates access to healthcare, occupational health insurance, working and living conditions. Thus, individual workers lack full control over maintaining their own health and safety conditions, even if the guidelines are stipulated by the inter-governmental authorities of sending and receiving countries. The FSFWs' legal residence status in Canada is entirely based on their employment contractual stipulations that results in lack of control in determining their own health and safe working and living circumstances, since they are fully dependent on the conditions set by their employers [15–17]. The situation of lack of policies and regulations to protect foreign worker conditions is not unique to Canada. In Norway, though they have established different regulations for foreign seasonal workers, called transitional rules, the Norwegian researchers found these statelevel formal labour regulations were not sufficiently implemented at the farm level resulting in structurally disempowered Polish farm workers, who had to accept the unhealthy working conditions provided by their Norwegian employers [18]. In Thailand, the existing regulations for local farm workers' protection from; labour, health, housing and sanitary conditions and health insurance, do not apply to migrant workers [19]. More so the existing policies, regulations and standards are not translated into accessible information. Canadian researchers have identified lack of information resources as a barrier to the maintenance of FSFWs health in Ontario, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia [15–17]. The situations of lack of proper labour regulations to protect migrant farm workers and evidence of non-compliance

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94056*

mental health of FSFWs.

are stemming from other national and international research findings. This chapter will be finalized by making recommendations, on how to manage personal protective measures, implement policies and practices, focusing broadly on physical and mental health of FSFWs.
