Pain and poultry

Meat processing takes a toll on workers, and it's finally up to government to make and enforce adequate safety rules

Poultry giant House of Raeford Farms, with processing plants in North and South Carolina, has been cited for 130 serious workplace safety violations since 2000, among the most of any poultry company in the nation.

That seems to suggest that the government is watching out for the company's employees. Safety violations aren't the same as workplace injuries caused by, say, the slip of a knife, or chronic injuries from repetitive work along a conveyor belt, but those also seem to be taken seriously at House of Raeford plants. Several workers interviewed by The Charlotte Observer said the company has paid for their treatment for musculoskeletal injuries, and for surgeries to correct them.

That is duly noted, as is House of Raeford's insistence that it has policies requiring supervisors to take injury complaints seriously and that it looks on its workers as family. Yet it's troubling that again and again, the Observer found workers and supervisors who said the company has pushed workers to stay on processing lines despite terrible pain, and has discouraged them from reporting injuries.

As related in an ongoing series of articles, the newspaper uncovered clear evidence that injuries serious enough to be reported under state Occupational Health and Safety Administration rules were not reported as required. (McClatchy Newspapers owns The Observer and The News & Observer, which is also running the Charlotte articles.)

In one sense a reluctance to report should be no surprise. Reporting is voluntary. And companies with few injuries are rewarded with few safety inspections. Indeed, no House of Raeford plant has been randomly inspected since 2004. That, however, amounts to a shocking failure, given the well-documented risk of injuries.

Processing meat on an industrial scale -- big business in North Carolina, whether it involves chickens, turkeys or hogs -- is grueling, repetitive work with knives flying. Temperatures are near freezing to discourage bacteria growth. Floors are slippery from water and animal wastes.

Workers make the same motions -- pick up the bird, make a cut or cuts, return the part and the bird to the processing line -- again and again, often with few breaks. That routine can cause disabling disorders of the muscles and nerves of the neck, back, arms and wrists, including carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis.

The sunny reports from House of Raeford would seem to defy that pattern. The Observer examined logs from two South Carolina plants and two in Raeford; most serious injuries and illnesses are supposed to be reported in the logs. One plant recorded no musculoskeletal disorders for four years, a near impossibility, experts told the newspaper. Another boasted of five years without time lost due to accidents. When the Observer sampled workers in neighborhoods near the plants, it found 31 injuries serious enough to be recorded. Yet 12 of them didn't show up on company logs.

Poultry consumption is at record levels in the United States. In the Carolinas, poor people, many of them African-American and Hispanic, make up the bulk of processing work forces. They are less likely to complain about conditions, for fear of being deported or fired. They are easily replaced, too, especially in rural communities where jobs are scarce.

This nation should no longer be content to enjoy holiday feasts and turkey sandwiches and fried chicken dinners while poultry plant workers endure crippled hands and ruined limbs. Conscientious employers of course will do their best to configure work duties and work stations to reduce the rate of injuries. State and federal agencies should be aiding that effort. But they also should be enforcing the laws meant to protect workers and looking to strengthen those laws.

Safety and health in the workplace must not be compromised simply because the men and women who process our food are too powerless to resist being exploited.