Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 12/8/17



Industry groups representing the red meat and poultry industries say they will review a new report by the General Accounting Office that recommends that agencies better coordinate their efforts to ensure safe working environments for meat and poultry plant employees.

“The poultry industry is constantly looking at ways to continue to improve on bettering the safety of our workforce,” said the joint statement from National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and US Poultry & Egg Association. “We look forward to reviewing the report and recommendations in detail to determine if they will have a meaningful outcome in helping to continue the progress we’ve made in keeping our employees safe.”

North American Meat Institute CEO Barry Carpenter was more critical: “We are concerned that some parts of the GAO report appear to rely on anecdotes and it is difficult for us to respond to those. However, we can say that our industry has always been committed to continuous improvement in workplace safety, and OSHA data reflect this commitment in the form of sustained declines in injury and illness rates for the past several decades.”

While beef, pork and poultry processing remain industries with relatively high rates of injuries to employees, the groups noted that over the past 25 years, the poultry industry has reduced its injury and illness rate by 82 percent and it continues to decline, citing Department of Labor data.

The total recordable poultry processing illness and injury rate for 2016 was 4.2 cases per 100 full-time workers (per year), down from 4.3 in 2015, and lower than the rate of 4.7 for the entire food manufacturing sector, the statement pointed out.

Nevertheless, “the poultry industry will continue to seek new and innovative ways to protect our workforce,” the groups promised.

Carpenter added, “The U.S. meat industry benefits by ensuring that our workplaces and our employees are safe. In a tight labor market like the one we have now, there is an even stronger incentive to protect our employees and ensure that they are healthy and able to perform their jobs.”

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