ICE The elephant in the room

[Annie10]

Absolutely. As I said before I can’t imagine having a hard aisle without mats but apparently people do it. And yes if someone brought something they felt was unsafe to my attention I would rectify it ASAP. I would appreciate them
Bringing it my attention and giving me the opportunity.

[Angela_Freda]

@Willesdon

As a barn owner, you should rectify an identified problem well before someone, such as a contactor working at your barn, feels an imperative to call in the government authority with the legal power to rectify said problem. Common sense is, unfortunately, a very rare thing.

I’d go so far as to suggest you shouldn’t need it reported, it seems obvious if you have eyes and the experience in barns to be running one 🤷

[fordtraktor]

Something is wrong with the whole OSHA farrier story because self-employed people are not covered by OSHA and I don’t see how OSHA would possibly have any say over the issue of mats for a farrier. The details must have been lost in translation somewhere.

[sascha]

@fordtraktor

self-employed people are not covered by OSHA and I don’t see how OSHA would possibly have any say over the issue of mats for a farrier.

I’m pretty sure that independent contractors (self-employed people doing a contract job such as farriery) are covered.

[sascha]

@Angela_Freda

I’d go so far as to suggest you shouldn’t need it reported

Maybe you read this a little too quickly? Bolding mine.

@Willesdon

As a barn owner, you should rectify an identified problem well before someone, such as a contactor working at your barn, feels an imperative to call in the government authority with the legal power to rectify said problem

[BrownDerby]

The facility (barn, grounds, indoor etc) are owned by a State university. That may make a difference. My apologies for omitting that detail.

[avjudge]

@fordtraktor

Something is wrong with the whole OSHA farrier story because self-employed people are not covered by OSHA and I don’t see how OSHA would possibly have any say over the issue of mats for a farrier. The details must have been lost in translation somewhere.

Besides the State University detail just added, we also learned above that it was barn staff, not the farrier who called OSHA. Presumably if it was not safe for the farrier, it was also not safe for them. If barn staff were formal employees, then whether or not an independent contractor (the farrier) is covered, I would think OSHA would still be concerned .

[Angela_Freda]

That wasn’t the comment I was reacting to, but rather expanding on.

[sascha]

Oops, sorry, I didn’t realize you were reiterating.

[Angela_Freda]

My point being
“… you should rectify an identified problem…”
Identified by whom?
What kind of barn owner are g-you, how experienced are you that you need someone to tell you, identify for you, a problem like this?
Concrete is slippery. Surprise!

[sascha]

@Angela_Freda

What kind of barn owner are g-you

So many people, so much stupidity. It never fails to surprise me the idiocy that can be observed in people who should know better. There are many reasons I haul my ass to the barn every dang day no matter the weather. Feel good about where I am now, but oh my, I have seen some things over the years.

[Ghazzu]

@Annie10

they will tell you to travel “up the chain” with whatever your issue is before they will get involved.

If that is the case, and OSHA got involved, then it would seem the farrier did get his ducks in a row before calling them.

[hey101]

I’m just trying to understand how the farrier didn’t address it himself with two sentences. “Fix this now. Or find a new farrier”

(Hub is a farrier )

[ParadoxFarm]

Maybe it was a BIG job (and paycheck…which he may have lost at this point).

[SonnysMom]

I have been at barns with hard aisles without mats. If it is well brushed concrete or even macadam that has enough texture it may not be a problem.

[MHM]

@ParadoxFarm

Maybe it was a BIG job (and paycheck…which he may have lost at this point).

Plus if it was a state owned facility, maybe it was not quite that simple.

[Alterration]

We brushed our concrete. It’s not slippery unless the horses decide to CAREEN down the aisle and their shoes are particularly slick. Pain in the rear to clean without the blower.

All in all, if someone’s horses are slipping about, it’s too slippy.

[Aussie_2020]

How would that help the boarders and horses that are stuck in an unsafe place. Not everybody can pick up and move or walk out on a job.

[hey101]

Certainly, that can be a problem for some borders (like maybe there is literally no other place within 30 miles?) and some service providers (ditto? I guess?), but I think that would be more atypical.

I really can’t see how it being a state run facility would matter, to another persons comment. I doubt the farrier had a contract without various protection clauses, and most boarding situations are month to month.

From my perspective, if the situation was allowed to continue for so long that OSHA had to get involved, which is NOT normal, I would think that a farrier, who sees lots of barns and their living is a lot more precarious than most, would make it quite clear based on experience that the conditions are unsafe and fix it now. No dithering.

I mean honestly it’s like $100 worth of mats

Something just seems odd about that whole story

[Aussie_2020]

Perhaps only $100 where the farrier works but if they need to do the entire aisle that could be quite a chunk of dough. It all depends, at least 12’ wide (unless you’re going to be silly and just do a strip down the middle) and at least 48’ or more in length. And I’d think the length would be more like 120’. It’s not only the farrier, it’s the horses having to walk from their stall down the length of the barn aisle.