Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 4/18/16


Poultry industry say they are concerned about recent attempts to expand the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) authority to conduct wall-to-wall inspections of poultry processing facilities whenever they receive notice of any accident or employee complaint.
Poultry worker injury and illness rates have declined 81 percent in the last in the last 20 years and continue to decline, according to the 2014 Injury and Illness Report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There are legal limits on when and how OSHA may inspect, and the industry argues that those inspections should be conducted “within the scope of the law,” according to a joint news release from the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, National Chicken Council and National Turkey Federation.

They argue that poultry companies currently cooperate with OSHA through:
• Normally scheduled comprehensive inspections that may be conducted at any time. Facilities to be inspected must be selected on a random, administratively neutral basis;
• Specialized inspections targeted on particular hazards or industries pursuant to special emphasis programs, such as the Regional Emphasis Programs for Poultry Processing in Regions 4, 6 and 7. Facilities must be selected on a random, administratively neutral basis from a list prepared in advance; and
• Investigations of a specific accident, injuries, complaints or fatalities. “However, the courts have ruled that investigating a specific accident does not give OSHA probable cause to expand the inspection beyond the scope of the initial reason for the investigation, unless they identify other hazardous conditions in the course of the investigation: even then, the inspection may be expanded to include only those areas or conditions as to which OSHA can show probable cause,” according to the news release.

In a letter to OSHA dated March 4, the groups cited the Fourth Amendment's bar on unreasonable searches and seizures:

“[W]e continue to believe that OSHA’s October 2015 [Regional Emphasis Program] and the October 28 Memorandum declaring the intention to expand narrow complaint and referral investigations in poultry processing facilities to wall-to-wall investigations overstep the legal boundaries of the Fourth Amendment’s bar on unreasonable searches and seizures as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in Barlow’s and the Sixth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals in Trinity and Sarasota Concrete,” according to the letter. “We request that OSHA reissue its October 28 memorandum and the REP after removing the selection criteria that seek to expand unprogrammed inspections into comprehensive inspections.”

It’s this renewed scrutiny of the safety of poultry line jobs by government and non-profit activist organizations, and a series of high-profile reports and announcements that these agencies have released, that has caught OSHA’s attention.

“[The Occupational Safety and Health Administration] is concerned that the extent of poultry workers’ injuries may be far greater than the elevated risks reported by employers and seen in Bureau Of Labor Statistics data,” an OSHA spokesperson wrote in an email to Meatingplace.

“The poultry industry is committed to health and safety, but it also takes the law seriously. We believe that OSHA can fulfill its mission within the bounds set by the Constitution, and we will continue to defend the industry against practices that are not consistent with those guarantees,” according to the groups.

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