Dangerous workplaces such as factories, coal mines, and construction sites are safer as a result of regulation, but the family farm is an exception. A Minneapolis Star Tribune investigation, which ran in four parts Oct. 4- 7, traces a 30 percent rise in Minnesota farm deaths between 2003 and 2013, compared with the previous decade. At least two-thirds of those deaths were results of practices that violate federal workplace rules. “Minnesota and other Midwestern states allow small farmers to rely on their own judgment and experience to decide what’s safe and what isn’t,” reports the Star Tribune.
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