Despite improvements cited by company officials, injury rates among workers at a Perdue chicken processing plant in Lewiston have barely improved in almost 20 years, according to a report released Tuesday by researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

The study by Hester Lipscomb, an associate professor of occupational and environmental medicine at Duke, estimates that workers suffer neck, hand and back injuries at roughly twice the rate of other low-paying jobs in the rural Bertie County community about 100 miles northeast of Raleigh.

Lipscomb said depression rates also run significantly higher among the Perdue workers, most of whom are black women.

The findings, which were reported in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, bring additional attention to the issue of worker safety in North Carolina's meat products industry.

A study by the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 2005 cited high injury rates among immigrants working in poultry plants in the western part of the state. And employees at a Smithfield Packing plant in Bladen County, the world's largest pork slaughterhouse, have complained for years about working conditions.

"It's very disheartening," Lipscomb said. "The plant was cited by North Carolina for pretty egregious conditions almost 20 years ago, and while things have certainly changed at the plant, we don't see significant improvement in the health of the women in that plant."

Perdue made a series of workplace changes after it was fined $39,000 by the state in 1989 following a state ergonomics investigation.

Perdue spokesman Julie De-Young said those changes included an on-site medical clinic that employees can visit during their shifts without losing pay. The company also provides advice on avoiding injuries and reassigns workers if a job assignment aggravates physical problems, she said.

"The study's findings are completely at odds with our own first-hand knowledge and experience in treating associates every day in our on-site clinics," DeYoung said. "We've made great progress in treating our ergonomic issues."

DeYoung said the number of incidents reported to the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is 44 percent better than the industry average and workers have logged 6 million hours without losing time to accidents.

But Lipscomb said many workers told researchers they won't report injuries because they are afraid they will lose their jobs.

About 2,500 workers process more than 400,000 chickens a day at the Lewiston plant, Lipscomb said.

"These women need their jobs, and they are not in a position to complain," Lipscomb said. "They are doing very hard work so you and I can eat convenient cuts of chicken. It's a sad situation."

Spotlight on Lewiston

Duke set up the study, which focused only on the Lewiston plant, at the request of local residents in 2000.

Researchers interviewed 291 women every six months for three years in addition to conducting physicals to monitor repetitive-motion injuries and health issues such as obesity and depression.

Another 300 black women in other low-paying jobs such as day care and unskilled nursing jobs were also surveyed as part of a comparison group.

DeYoung said the company has no way of assessing the accuracy of the study because Perdue was not asked to participate.

She questioned whether the research involved a full cross-section of employees because it recruited workers for the study by paying them $40 for each physical exam and interview.

Lipscomb said she would like to talk with officials from Perdue but has not heard from them since sending the company the results of her research.

DeYoung said she is unaware of any plans by the company to discuss the study.

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