OSHA Cites Poultry Processing Company For Muscuskeletal Hazards

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued 11 citations to the Oakwood, Georgia-based poultry processing company Wayne Farms for violations related to muscoskeletal hazards. The total dollar amount of these citations is $102,600.

Local news agencies report that Southern Poverty Law Center was responsible for blowing the whistle on the poultry processing company's safety violations. Once the issues were brought to OSHA, officials launched an investigation to determine whether or not fines should be issued. OSHA investigators discovered nearly a dozen violations, including failure to report previous work-related muscuskeletal injuries, failure to properly treat injuries employees, failure to inform injured employees of which doctor/hospital to use, and even discouraging injured employees from seeking medical treatment.

Wayne Farms allegedly tried to conceal work-related injuries by not reporting them. OSHA has strict standards in place, however, regarding such reporting. In fact, the administration's standard on injury reporting is expected to change starting January 1st, 2015, increasing the requirements for employers.

One citation handed down to Wayne Farms was $38,500 for failure to protect workers from injury while the poultry processing machine was being serviced. Normally, lockout/tagouts are used to prevent workers from running a machine when it's being serviced and/or maintained. The complaint states that Wayne Farms did not follow this protocol; thus, placing workers at risk for serious injury.

Of course, failure to use proper lockout-tagout was just one of the many citations issued to Wayne Farms. A $49,000 citation was issued for exposing workers to machines without safety guards, slippery floors, and other slip-and-fall hazards. We've discussed this before on our blog, but slip-and-fall accidents continue to top the list as being one of the most common causes of work-related injuries. Employes can protect workers from such injuries, however, by maintaining clean floors that are free of liquid and debris.

"Our investigation revealed that employees suffered musculoskeletal injuries, and Wayne Farms failed to record those injuries and properly manage the medical treatment of injured employees at the facility," said Joseph Roesler, OSHA’s area director in Mobile. "By failing to report injuries, failing to refer employees to physicians and discouraging employees from seeking medical treatment, Wayne Farms effectively concealed the extent to which these poultry-plant workers were suffering work-related injuries and illnesses. And as a result, it reported an artificially lower injury and illness rate."

Do you believe OSHA was justified in issuing this citation? Let us know in the comments section below!