Recommendation: To strengthen DOL's efforts to ensure employers protect the safety and health of workers at meat and poultry plants, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, working together with the Commissioner of Labor Statistics as appropriate, to develop and implement a cost-effective method for gathering more complete data on musculoskeletal disorders.

Agency: Department of Labor
Status: Open

Comments: DOL generally agreed with this recommendation and stated that its implementation would make a difference in working conditions in the meat and poultry industry. The agency also noted that resource constraints may make it difficult to implement. DOL reported in 2018 that it is reviewing its options for moving forward and is exploring accurate coding and recordkeeping of MSDs and drivers for underreporting in poultry processing and elsewhere. As of March 2020, OSHA stated that it continues to examine ways to work with BLS to address the recommendation. We will monitor the agency's actions to address this recommendation.

Recommendation: To develop a better understanding of meat and poultry sanitation workers' injuries and illnesses, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health and the Commissioner of Labor Statistics to study how they could regularly gather data on injury and illness rates among sanitation workers in the meat and poultry industry.

Agency: Department of Labor
Status: Open

Comments: DOL generally agreed with this recommendation and stated that its implementation would make a difference in working conditions in the meat and poultry industry. The agency noted that resource constraints may make it difficult to implement, particularly due to privacy concerns related to using form 301 (injury and illness incident report) and form 300 (log of work-related illnesses and injuries. DOL also noted that form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) does not have the specificity necessary to develop an understanding of worker injuries and illnesses in specific occupations. Our report explained that plants may use various job titles in their OSHA logs for sanitation workers they employ directly. However, those workers who are employed by contracted sanitation companies may be included in the sanitation companies' OSHA logs, and there may be nothing to indicate that their workplace is a meat or poultry plant. Thus, the problem is not the data source, but rather how to identify these particular workers by occupation and by industry in order to collect information about the full extent of injuries and illnesses in meat and poultry plants. We reiterate our recommendation that OSHA should work together with BLS to study how to regularly gather data on injury and illness rates among sanitation workers in the meat and poultry industry.

Recommendation: To develop a better understanding of meat and poultry sanitation workers' injuries and illnesses, the Secretary of Health and Human Services should direct the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to have the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conduct a study of the injuries and illnesses these workers experience, including their causes and how they are reported. Given the challenges to gaining access to this population, NIOSH may want to coordinate with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop ways to initiate this study.

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Status: Open

Comments: HHS concurred with this recommendation and noted the previous difficulties NIOSH has had gaining access to these workplaces and the potential resource commitment involved in conducting such a study. We acknowledge this access challenge and noted in our report that OSHA has negotiated access for NIOSH in other industries, hence the rationale for recommending that NIOSH may want to coordinate with OSHA. In February 2020, NIOSH reported it met with industry associations to discuss areas of mutual interest for research on worker safety in poultry plants. However, according to NIOSH, the advent of COVID-19 and its challenges have limited plans for field studies for FY20. During the COVID-19 epidemic NIOSH informed us its representatives have: (1) created COVID-19 safety guidelines with OSHA and (2) performed more than 30 meat and poultry worksite evaluations focusing on the prevention of COVID-19. NIOSH notes that it continues to have an interest in learning more about and providing assistance to minimize various types of illnesses and injuries that may affect meat and poultry sanitation workers, and at some point in the future they hope to "re-initiate" their interactions with stakeholders such as the National Chicken Council and US Egg & Poultry Association on the study of peracetic acid exposure in the poultry processing industry. Our recommendation was aimed at increasing the understanding of the various types of illnesses and injuries that are common among meat and poultry sanitation workers, including their causes and how they are reported. We look forward to hearing about future studies that address this topic.