Neither Healthy nor Safe: Insufficient Regulation of Occupational Health and Safety for Migrant Farmworkers in Europe

Abstract

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Occupational safety and health (OSH) began to be regulated at the EU level with the OSH Framework Directive in 1989. Since then, many other legal acts and policies have followed, enriching the complex European set of legal tools and protections on work-related health and safety. However, they all share the same approach: only eventualities happening to workers in the workplace, during working hours and/or caused by their work tasks can potentially be designated as an OSH impact; andtherefore be legally problematised and tackled. This paper argues that such an approach is insufficient for a sector like European agriculture, whose workforce is increasingly composed of migrant labourers. As scientific evidence reveals, migrant farmworkers face another whole set of severe health and safety risks directly linked to their jobs, which nonetheless would not fit in the traditional definition of OSH. From deficient and substandard accommodation to isolation and lack of access to vital services, these people's jobs potientially expose them to potent health stressors. The sector urgently needs a new and more ambitious conception of OSH to develop legislation and/or policies adapted to the needs of all its workers, including migrants.