The application of occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation in the dairy industry
varies throughout the world. Generally there is no specific OHS legislation that applies to the dairy
industry and mostly in countries the current OHS legislation applies to all workplaces with specific
guidelines that apply to agricultural industries. The main difference between countries is in the application
of OHS legislation specifically in relation to the size of the farms. In the USA, the OHS legislation,
and therefore enforcement, does not, in most cases, apply to farms with less than 11 employees, whereas
in other countries there is no minimum number of employees and in some cases such as the United
Kingdom and Australia it covers all people who work on the farm. The other area of difference is in
the use and publication of guidelines for the industry; some countries have a wide range of guidelines
whereas other counties have few. Generally, this relates to the jurisdiction of the OHS legislation, which
in several countries is not at a national level such as USA, Canada, and Australia. The main principal
of OHS legislation is that all workplaces, including dairy farms, should be a safe and healthy place
to work, and does not vary significantly between the countries reviewed even those with prescriptive
legislation.