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Source: USDA'S FSIS 11/30/12
On Sept. 27, Docket No. FSIS-2011-0032, FSIS made additional changes to 9 CFR 307.4(c) and 381.37(c) to define the 8-hour workday as including time that inspection program personnel need to prepare the inspection station, if necessary, or retrieve and return lot tally sheets; the time necessary for FSIS inspection program personnel to sharpen knives, if necessary; and the time necessary to conduct duties scheduled by FSIS,
including administrative activities. The activities are integral and indispensable to inspectors’ work and are part of the continuous workday as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Therefore, they are activities that need to be part of the agency’s regulatory definition for the 8-hour workday.
In addition, FSIS issued Directive 5090.1 today, providing Supervisory Public Health Veterinarians (SPHVs), Supervisory Consumer Safety Inspectors (SCSIs) and Frontline Supervisors (FLSs) instructions on how to measure the time it takes them to retrieve and don required gear, walk to an on-line station, set up
the inspection station (if applicable), retrieve and return lot tally sheets (if applicable), walk back from the on-line station, and clean and doff required gear. These personnel will measure these times primarily for on-line personnel.
Current time measurements at meat slaughter establishments may not have to be re-done as a result of this directive. The instructions apply for when an establishment makes changes that would change the donning, doffing and walk time, to establishments receiving their first grant of inspection, and, as a result of the new regulation discussed in Section II B, to poultry slaughter establishments so that time to pick up required forms and drop off required forms is included in the time measurement.As detailed in the directive, any time the SPHV, SCSI or FLS plans to conduct a time measurement, they are to inform the establishment management at a weekly meeting. Establishment personnel and union representatives may observe the time measurement.
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