OSHA visits to plants tail off

Poultry producers ignore dangers

(Last of a six-part series)

Weak enforcement, minimal fines and dwindling inspections allow poultry processors to ignore hazards that can kill and injure workers, a Charlotte Observer investigation has found.

Among the newspaper's findings:

* Workplace safety inspections at poultry plants have dropped to their lowest point in 15 years. The industry has kept steady employment over that time and has leaned heavily on illegal immigrants to fill jobs.

* Fines for serious violations -- including conditions that could cause deaths and disabling injuries -- are usually cut by more than half to an average of about $1,100.

* It has been a decade since OSHA fined a poultry processor for hazards likely to cause carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis and other musculoskeletal disorders common to the industry.

* The federal government has made it easier for companies to hide those musculoskeletal disorders. In 2002, regulators lifted a record-keeping requirement that required companies to identify injuries associated with repetitive trauma. Workplace safety experts say letting companies lump those injuries with others on safety logs made them easier to hide.

Officials with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration say poultry plants -- like most workplaces -- are safer than ever, pointing to a decade of declining injury rates. They cite enforcement programs and a growing recognition among industry leaders that reducing injuries is good for business.

But the Observer found that the official injury statistics aren't accurate and that the industry is more dangerous than its reports to regulators suggest. Current and former OSHA officials say the agency has made it easier for companies to hide injuries, and has all but abandoned its mission to protect workers.

It's happening as poultry workers are particularly vulnerable. Unlike other manufacturers, which have largely automated their plants, poultry processors still depend heavily on manual labor. Most line workers are immigrants, and many are afraid to complain about injuries for fear of being fired or deported.

"It's really a national tragedy that OSHA is so invisible, so silent these days," said Dr. Michael Silverstein, who served as policy director for OSHA from 1993 to 1995. "I think OSHA is not a factor in many companies' decision-making. Their presence is neither seen nor felt."

Scrutiny declines

OSHA was created in 1971 after congressional hearings that highlighted dangerous working conditions. Congress charged the agency with crafting and enforcing regulations to prevent workplace injuries and protect employees.

Regulators recommended that plants in high-hazard industries, including poultry, be randomly inspected every two years.

That is not happening. Today, many of the nation's more than 500 poultry plants go far longer between OSHA inspections. Some processing plants, including Wayne Farms in Dobson, haven't been inspected since 2000.

In 2006, regulators conducted 94 inspections at poultry plants -- about half the number done in 1999. That works out to about one inspection for every five poultry factories.

And when inspectors do visit poultry plants, they tend to spend less time inside them. From 1999 to 2006, the number of comprehensive inspections -- in which federal or state OSHA officials examined an entire poultry plant -- dropped from 71 to 22.

Regulators say they're visiting fewer poultry processors because most have become safer; the industry's reported injury and illness rates have dropped by more than half since 1999. OSHA now reserves its broadest inspections for the plants with the most reported injuries.