At the 1992 Helsinki Summit, previously limited references to migrant workers were expanded, and the heads of state or government mandated the newly established Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to convene a seminar on migrant workers. In the context of this expanded OSCE focus, the Helsinki Commission organized five days of public briefings examining: farm labor economics, demographics and living conditions, health and safety concerns, farmworker children’s issues, and possible strategies for addressing problems facing farmworkers, their families and their employers. Those briefings were held on July 20, 1992; October 9, 1992; February 19, 1993; March 1, 1993; and April 8, 1993. The Commission subsequently published the briefing transcripts along with materials for the records submitted by the panelists. In addition, the Commission held a briefing on April 21, 1993, to hear from participants in that first OSCE seminar on migrant workers. The first four briefings were published on the Commission website in May 1993.
The Environmental Protection Agency has revised its Worker Protection Standard (WPS) dealing with the protection of agricultural workers from pesticide exposure (40 CFR Part 170). The new Worker Protection Standard contains requirements designed to reduce the risks of illness or injury resulting from pesticide handlers’ and agricultural workers’ occupational exposures and agricultural workers’ and other persons’ accidental exposures to pesticides used in the production of agricultural plants on farms, nurseries, greenhouses, and forests.
