Health and Safety Issues

Health and safety conditions in poultry processing plants can pose a threat to both workers and consumers. Unhygienic and unsafe environments combined with rapid line speeds result in injuries and illness for workers, as well as contamination of the poultry product.

Contamination of poultry meat

Almost one-third of workers (31%) responded that they had observed contamination of the poultry meat during processing or packaging. Common types of contamination that workers reported observing included human germs from sickness or lack of gloves, contamination from chemicals or bleach, and dirt, dust, or oil. In at least one instance, meat that had fallen on the floor was reported sent onward for processing and sale.

The minority of workers with paid sick days were much less likely to report that they had seen meat contamination, compared to those who reported having no sick days or unpaid sick days. Workers with earned sick leave are less likely to come to work sick, so it follows that fewer of these workers would observe contamination due to sick workers handling the meat.

Surveyed workers attributed the cause of the behavior that contaminated the meat to the intense time pressure that many of them face for completing their processing or packaging tasks. Over half (54%) of workers surveyed answered yes to the question:

“Have you ever been forced to do things because of time pressure or line speed that might harm the health and safety of the consumer?”

Worker reports of contamination were more common at plants with over 1000 employees, compared to smaller plants (Table 17).

Injuries and accidents

Injuries on the job are a serious problem among poultry processing plant workers. Almost six out of ten workers surveyed (59%) reported that they suffered from injuries or health issues while working at the poultry plant, the most common being cuts, falls, and headaches. The types of injuries that workers reported are shown in Table 18. Latino and foreign-born workers were both more likely to report having suffered from one or more injury, although the rates of injury and illness reported were quite reportedly high for all workers (see Table 19).

Workers who were hurt during their work said they typically received no treatment or compensation for any missed work, and many were punished by their employers. Most workers who were hurt on the job (57%) reported taking no action after their injury, and 22% were fired after being injured. Only 5% said they received medical treatment after filing a successful workers’ compensation claim, and 5% reported applying for and receiving up to three months of unpaid leave (without losing their jobs) through the Family Medical Leave Act. Only 1% reported that they received payments for work time missed through workers’ compensation, and 2% reported that they received payments from an unemployment claim after losing their job.

Working while sick

In addition to suffering injuries or accidents on the job, almost two-thirds of workers surveyed (62%) reported that they have gone to work during times that they were sick. Most reported working sick several days during the past year, and many responded that they had worked sick as many as one to two weeks during the past year.

When asked why they had gone to work sick, 77% responded that they did not have earned sick leave and needed the money. Over half (54%) said they were afraid of disciplinary action if they missed work while sick, and 44% reported that they had been directly threatened with discipline or firing if they missed work because of illness. One worker said they had been sick at least four to five times but their lead told them that they needed to come in to work or else they would be fired.

“I remembered I was really sick during those times,” the worker said, “but I tried my best to work so I wouldn’t get fired.” [94]

Almost one-quarter (24%) of workers surveyed said that they had been fired after missing work due to an injury or illness, even when they provided a doctor’s note.

Unsurprisingly, workers without earned sick leave were more likely to report having gone to work sick, although it is worth noting that even among the small number of workers with earned sick leave, over half responded that they had gone to work while sick (see Table 20).

Working while sick has consequences for workers and consumers: workers’ illnesses are prolonged, other workers are infected, and consumers are presented with the risk of food-borne illness. Workers without paid sick leave were much more likely to experience injury or illness on the job (see Table 21).

Hygiene and cleanliness

Unhygienic facilities contribute to the possibility of meat contamination, in addition to posing risks for workers’ safety. All workers — but especially those who handle raw meat — should have access to a clean toilet and a sink with soap and hot water for hand washing. However, over a third (35%) of the poultry workers surveyed reported not having access to either a sink with soap and hot water or a clean toilet, or both.

Some workers interviewed described the facilities as unsafe and unhygienic, with dim lighting and bird debris all over. One worker offered the following description:

“When you first step in there, it’s gonna be dark. I mean, it’s freaking nasty, I mean disgusting. Sometimes it got me to the point where I don’t even, like, wanna eat chicken or anything. Like, feathers be everywhere, crap be everywhere, I mean, chickens be running around all over the floor. I mean, it’s gross, man. . . . It’s awful. It’s dust everywhere, like when you’re hanging, I have to wear a dust mask every day to keep the dust out of my face or whatever, but somehow it still be getting in my face, my hair, everywhere.” [95]

The worker also said that some of the areas are extremely hot in the summer, and other parts of the factory are kept uncomfortably cold, especially in the winter. The heaters often break, the worker said, but workers are expected to continue working. Another worker who complained of the cold was reportedly not permitted to wear a sweater. [96]

Safety with equipment and environment

Inadequate training about health, safety, and the proper use of equipment is widespread among surveyed poultry workers. Only four out of ten (42%) workers surveyed believed they had been given sufficient health and safety training (such as OSHA training) at their workplace. In response to a related question, around half (55%) of workers surveyed said that their boss had provided them with satisfactory training to use the machinery, knives, cleaning agents, etc., needed to carry out their job.

“There are times when they bring some equipment,” said one worker, “but they never provide any training for us so we could know how to use it.” [97]

Out of workers surveyed, 28% reported that there was training provided but that they did not feel this training was adequate, and around one in ten (12%) said they received no training from their bosses on the proper use of equipment. One worker interviewed said that the one training session they had received was in English, which is not a language the worker speaks. [98] Another worker said they had received training at their initial position, but when the worker was moved to a new section of the plant they did not received any formal training for the news tasks. [99] Several others said that inadequate training for workers on the processing line was a major source of injury and accident. [100]

Most workers reported receiving periodic health and safety or OSHA training, regardless of their opinion of the adequacy of this training. Over two-thirds (68%) reported that they had received OSHA training at various times throughout their employment. However, 18% only reported they received this training at the beginning of their employment, and almost one in ten (9%) said they never received any OSHA training whatsoever. Workers reported most frequently that this training consisted of video (92%), followed by a verbal explanation (59%) or a written manual (33%). According to survey results, these trainings were equally reported to be led by a supervisor as a coworker.

One common safety issue in the workplace was contact with toxic chemicals. One out of five workers (20%) responded that they frequently come into contact with toxic chemical substances or their residues, three out of five (59%) said they did not, and one out of five (21%) did not know whether they did or did not. The most common chemical substance that workers reported coming into contact with was bleach (35%) followed by ammonia (12%). Over one in ten (12%) workers who reported coming into contact with toxic chemicals said that they had direct contact with the chemicals, and nearly three out of ten (28%) said that they were close to or within three feet of these chemicals.

Chemical spills or gas leaks within the poultry processing plant can also be a threat to workers’ safety. One out of ten workers surveyed said that they had been present during chemical spills or gas leaks at their places of employment, and only 10% of these workers said they saw a doctor afterward as a result of the accident.

Line speeds

Workers reported an average processing speed of 46 pieces or 89 pounds per minute. Female workers reported a higher average processing speed than male workers. U.S.-born workers also reported a higher average line speed than foreign- born workers. Black and white workers reported higher processing speeds than API or Latino workers. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that poultry workers process an average of 23–27 birds per minute (2014). Weights of birds vary (e.g., turkeys and chickens), but the average broiler weighs four pounds. [101] This means that line speeds might vary considerably, but pounds per minute should average about 92 pounds per minute. The processing speeds reported by workers were consistent with other reports. [102]

Many of the workers interviewed said that the line speeds were too fast and that they were extremely exhausted by their work. “We are so worn out when the lines are fast,” one worker said. Another reported feeling like they were expected to work like robots. The rapid line speeds were more challenging because workers were not given adequate training, many said. [103]

Line speeds have been a primary worker complaint since the early 1900s. [104] Employers have to balance efficiency, productivity, and profitability with the humane treatment of workers. As a result, line speeds are designed to process poultry meat in the most efficient way that will protect the product from contamination, with little concern for worker safety or health. [105] This results in line speeds that are fast and relentless. [106] While OSHA can make recommendations for line speeds that are designed to promote worker health and safety, they have no legal mandate to regulate processing speeds. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the only federal organization that can regulate processing speeds. The USDA has come under fire for attempting to raise the maximum processing speed for chicken processing plants from 140 to 175 pounds per minute. [107] As a result, there is currently no federal or state line speed regulation designed to protect workers from injury. [108]

Injury from line speed

Workers’ exhaustion, combined with the rapid line speeds and the lack of training, can lead to many accidents on the line. “There are so many problems happen as the lines go so fast,” one worker said. “There might be 20-plus chickens that we cut [in] one minute. The line is going so fast that sometimes we accidentally cut our hands.” Several workers noted that the lines go so fast that they often do not realize until later that they have cut themselves. One worker offered the following description of the experience of working on the line:

“Sometimes I get headache because the line is fast. I would almost pass out sometimes [because] the line is fast. They don’t want to move me from the line because I cut the turkeys fast. I am really familiar with that work. There are so many times I cut my hand. . . . Every six months they bring new scissors so we can use but. . . they don’t teach us to use it.”

According to an SPLC study (2013) and a Human Rights Watch report (2005), fast line speeds are directly related to high rates of injury among workers in poultry processing plants. The SPLC study found that “78% of workers surveyed said that the line speed makes them feel less safe, makes their work more painful and causes more injuries.” [109] Fast line speeds result in repetitive motion injuries and musculoskeletal disorders like carpal tunnel, as well as cuts and other serious wounds. [110] In this study, the third most prevalent injury reported by workers was injury or pain due to a repetitive motion wound.

The occupations represented in this report most impacted by fast line speeds — cutting, deboning, and hanging — are also associated with higher reported rates of injury than the average worker (51%). Almost two-thirds of cutters (62%) and over half of all deboners (53%) and hangers (52%) reported being injured on the job. Workers who reported an injury due to line speed also reported higher mean and median piece/pound processing rates per minute, in some cases almost double the rates reported by workers who did not experience injury do to line speed. This is consistent with the SPLC (2013) finding that rates of injury are higher among workers doing jobs most affected by the speed of the processing line. Latino workers reported the lowest incidence of injury due to line speeds; however, other studies suggest that Latino workers are much less likely to report being injured on the job.[111] Women also reported higher rates of line speed related injury than men.

OSHA has made recommendations to prevent musculoskeletal injuries in poultry processing plants, which involve better regulation of line speeds, with more concern for ergonomics and workers’ safety. [112] But despite OSHA’s role in overseeing worker safety, it has no mandate to regulate processing speeds to protect workers.

Oversight and enforcement

OSHA has clearly recognized the serious need to regulate health and safety in poultry processing facilities, due to concerns about dangerous health and safety conditions. [113] However, oversight and enforcement continues to appear lax; OSHA lacks visibility at poultry processing plants, and there are reported violations occurring within the inspection process itself. When asked how often OSHA inspectors visit plants to inspect health and safety, nearly half (47%) of the workers surveyed did not know. About one out of ten said the inspectors visited one time (13%) or twice (11%). Of the workers that were aware of when OSHA had visited, one-quarter of workers (25%) reported that the employer received notice when inspectors were going to come and nine out of ten (91%) said that they were treated differently when OSHA was visiting. This is also consistent with the SPLC’s findings. [114]

OSHA inspections were designed to provide an accurate assessment of employer performance around health and safety standards. If employers are able to prepare for an OSHA visit and if they behave differently when OSHA inspectors are present, it means that OSHA may not be getting an accurate view of the extent to which health and safety violations are actually occurring in facilities. While it is true that OSHA may currently lack the resources to create additional safeguards for poultry workers, it also means that workers are left with fewer protections against employers that violate health and safety standards.

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