If you eat chicken-or even if you don’t–attention must be paid to the plight of poultry workers in our economy.
OSHA head Dr. David Michaels took to the Internet today to plead the case of poultry industry workers and to remind employers of these workers’ rights.
The beginning of his essay is bleak enough: “For some workers, a simple trip to the bathroom could result in the loss of a job,” he writes.
According to Michaels, some poultry industry workers are disciplined for taking bathroom breaks and have taken to wearing diapers or limiting their liquid intake so they don’t have to leave the production line and take those breaks.
“No one should have to work under these conditions. All workers have a right to a safe workplace, and that includes access to readily available sanitary restroom facilities on the job,” writes Michaels.
This treatment violates federal safety standards, which “require[s] employers to provide , all workers with sanitary restrooms and prompt access to the facilities when needed,” he says.
OSHA has found workers exposed to serious hazards in poultry processing plants, including exposure to dangerous chemicals and biological hazards, high noise levels,unsafe equipment, and slippery floors.
Poultry workers are twice as likely to suffer serious injuries on the job as other private industry workers and almost seven times more likely to contract a work-related illness. They are also at particularly high risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders from the repetitive motions they perform on the job, with workers twice as likely to have a severe wrist injury and seven times as likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome than the average U.S. worker.
I hope that Michaels’ pleas on behalf of these workers, who put so much of our food on our plate, will not go unheard by their employers and the public.
Read his entire blog post here.
My blog post on this was featured in the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog weekly roundup on July 29.
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