A coalition of poultry industry trade associations has announced that the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has agreed to an alliance to share information, guidance and access to training resources that will help further improve the significant gains made in poultry worker safety over the past 25 years. The shared goals for the alliance include raising awareness of health and safety practices and programs through outreach and communication in addition to training and education.

Loren Sweatt, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Mike Brown, president of the National Chicken Council, Joel Brandenberger, president of the National Turkey Federation, and Matt Spencer, director of HR & safety programs for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, signed an alliance in Washington, D.C., formalizing a relationship to work collaboratively to improve safety practices in the poultry industry. Specifically, the organizations will share available injury, illness and hazard exposure data to help identify areas of emphasis for training, outreach and communication activities.

The group of poultry industry representatives discussed the industry’s recent history of safety and health initiatives, including the industry’s ergonomics, medical and training approach to reducing repetitive injuries, advancements in processing equipment technology, current on-going research and employee outreach activities. These combined activities have resulted in an 83 percent reduction in recordable injuries in poultry processing plants since 1994. With this newly formed alliance, it is the goal of the industry to continue to drive these rates down and help promote the overall health and safety of employees and team members.

Source: NCC, NTF