HEALTH DISPARITIES in the MEATPACKING INDUSTRY Daniel Lichtenstein-Boris, Aurora Lutty, Jackie Nowell

HEALTH DISPARITIES IN THE MEATPACKING INDUSTRY Daniel Lichtenstein-Boris, Aurora Lutty, Jackie Nowell

Abstract Injury Rates Are High Injury Name Injuries Are Severe Employers Pay A Fraction of Revenue in Injury Costs Conclusion

Meatpacking employees work in hazardous conditions where injuries are frequent, severe and Workers Compensation Costs as a employers may have little incentive to invest in prevention due to low workers compensation Average Annual Injury and Illness Incidence Rates 1. Injury rates are higher than the Bureau of Labor 40,542 Meatpacking Injuries Categorized By Type Percent of Payroll costs. This research project uses injury records to assist a labor union in characterizing work 20.00% Statistics official incidence rates for the animal injuries in meatpackers, estimated the costs of these injuries to employers, and prioritize Injury Rates in Sample hazards for remediation. BLS Injury Rates for Meatpacking 18.00% 5% slaughtering and processing industry. BLS Injury Rates for Manufacturing Chem. / Skin / To calculate annual incidence rates, we manually tallied OSHA 300 Logs requested by local union 16.00% 2. Recorded injury rates vary considerably by company BLS Injury Rates for U.S Private Sector Inhalation officials from unionized meatpacking establishments. We assigned the types of injuries found 14.00% 1% Uncategorized and establishment. into one of 12 categories, based on interpretation of injury descriptions found on the OSHA logs. 17% To estimate the costs to employers, injury counts in each category were multiplied by average 12.00% Eye 3. Injuries are severe; Almost 70% of injured workers costs for each injury type, based on workers compensation spending for both indemnity and Burn Injured annually Injured 2% medical only claims. We also used workers compensation insurance premium experience rated 10.00% 1% Payroll as a Percent of Revenue had to take time off (10%) or were placed on estimates for the industry from state workers compensation insurance ratings bureaus. Upper Extremity restricted duty (59%). 8.00% Fracture / Tear MSD / Repetititve 95% In 32 union-represented meatpacking plants from 2004-2009, meatpacking companies reported 2% Motion 4. Employers pay a fraction of revenue in injury costs. 40,542 instances of injuries requiring more than first aid among 285,000 worker-years, an annual 6.00% Contusion 37% injury rate of 14% and an official Bureau of Labor Statistics incidence of almost 12%. 37% of 7% 5. Upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders are 37% 3% these were due to upper extremity repetitive motion injuries. Workers compensation cost 4.00% meatpacking employers $861 million dollars in 2009, 5.32% of payroll or $1,716.46 dollars per workers of Percent Hearing Loss of injuries. worker employed and 0.5% of industry revenue. 2.00% 5% 0.00% Recommendations Analysis of the meatpacking industry’s workers compensation experience ratings in workers compensation shows that employers face few financial incentives to prevent occupational 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 injuries due to low workers compensation costs as a percent of revenue. Although severity level Lacerations 1. Make injury records electronically available for was not available for each injury, 65% to 70% of cases on average required days away from work 12% Strains / or restricted duty, which is an accepted proxy for severity. Employers placed a majority of Average Annual Injury Rate for 32 Establishments Sprains ease of data analysis and manipulation. 40.00% workers on restricted duty rather than paying out indemnity insurance claims, possibly to keep Average Annual Injury Rate Back Trauma 8% 93% workers compensation premium costs low. Injury rates higher than the Bureau of Labor Statistics per Establishment 7% 5% 2. Reform workers compensation to reflect the reporting may point to underreporting in non-union plants. With an average of 37% of injuries 35.00% due to upper-extremity repetitive motion disorders, and 14% of workers injured every year, there WC Costs Per Worker Using human cost of injuries and to improve is a clear public health imperative to identify, reduce, and eliminate occupational hazards in the 30.00% Industry Specific Premium Rates collaboration between OSHA and workers meatpacking industry. Injury Type Definitions 4,000.00 25.00% compensation insurers and rating agencies. 3,500.00 WC Costs per Worker, Materials and Methods Laceration: Cuts, scrapes, avulsions, amputations, and punctures. worker 1,716.46 3. Implement ergonomic standards to address the 20.00% Strains and Sprains: Categorized if strain or sprain in the description, is not an upper 3,000.00 extremity MSD/ repetitive motion or a back injury. 2,500.00 largest category of injuries that workers Under OSHA’s revised 2002 Injury and Illness Recordkeeping Rules [29 CFR 1904.35], employees 15.00% Hearing Loss: If injury meets criteria for OSHA recordable loss of hearing (Standard Threshold 2,000.00 and their labor representatives have the right to copies of employer records of workplace Shift). experience. injuries, including OSHA 300A and OSHA 300 Logs. in per Dollars 1,500.00 10.00% Musculoskeletal Disorders/Repetitive Motion: When “pain” is used to describe a hand, wrist, shoulder, or neck; ganglion cysts, trigger fingers, tennis elbow, tendonitis, carpal tunnel 1,000.00 Since 2004, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Safety and Health Office has syndrome, bursitis, etc… References requested OSHA 300A and 300 logs in retail food, food processing, and animal slaughtering and 5.00% 500.00 Fracture/Tear: Fracture of fingers, legs, toes, and limbs or torn ligaments. processing, including beef, pork and poultry. In beef and pork, the UFCW maintains a database of 0.00 1. OSHA Logs requested by the Occupational Health and Safety Department of the United Food Average Annual Injury Rate per Establishment per Rate Injury Annual Average Back: All back injuries including muscle and spine. injury records for ten companies and 32 establishments from 2004 - 2009, covering over 40,000 0.00% and Commercial Workers Union. injuries among almost 285,000 worker-years. Contusion: When contusion or bruise is used in the description. 2. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Industry Injury and Illness Data, Summary Tables - detailed CO IA IA IA IL IL KS MN MN NE NE NE SD TX WI WI Eye: Corneal abrasions, chemical in the eye, animal blood in the eye, conjunctivitis, etc... industry data presenting incidence rates and numbers of injuries and illnesses combined and For each establishment, annual OSHA 300 A logs are tallied and entered in a excel spreadsheet to Meatpacking Establishments by State Burn: Water burns from sterilizers, steam burns, etc… injuries only for 31 – 33 for Manufacturing, the U.S. Private Sector, and 311611 for Animal record summary information regarding total number of employees, hours worked, OSHA eligible Slaughtering and Processing (minus Poultry) for the years 2004 through 2009.

injury numbers, days away from work due to injury, and days on job transfer or restriction. In Chem./Skin/Inhale: Ammonia leaks, workers that had allergic reactions or fainted due to Workers Compensation Compensation Costs Workers the more detailed OSHA 300 logs, other information about each case exists. Names appear in Injury Rates By Firm chemical smells, chemical burns, skin rashes, dermatitis and other conditions caused by contact 3. We used 2007 U.S. Economic Census data for NAICS 311611 Animal Slaughtering and Column B, job titles in Column C, and a short description of the type of injury is listed in Column with animal products or chemicals, etc... Processing (minus Poultry) to look up total revenue, total number of workers and total payroll F of the logs. Each of several Occupational Health and Safety Office team members counted 35.00% Tyson Trauma: When a person falls on grating, in the parking lot, slips on fat, is struck by animal, for use in estimating the costs of injuries. cart or has door fall on top of them, etc... 4. We gathered industry specific premium rates by state from the National Council on injuries in OSHA 300 logs and tallied the type of injury category in 12 separate groups. Staff Smithfield developed a rubric of category definitions used to sort injury types. Based on this data source of Uncategorized: All other non-categorized occupational injuries and illnesses. An Estimate of Injury Costs for 32 Establishments Compensation Insurance (NCCI), and individual state workers compensation insurance rating the type of injuries occurring in major meatpacking facilities and the number of workers at each 30.00% JBS 2000 bureaus that do not participate with NCCI. All rates are from the year 2009. facility, we calculated the frequency of repetitive motion injuries, back injuries, fractures, Severity of Injuries Cases with days 5. We gathered injury specific average insurance payouts from OSHA’s “Safety Pays” website, lacerations, and other categories of injuries. Hormel 1800 Ohio, California and Washington State workers compensation insurance agencies. We applied away from work 25.00% Other recordable these costs to our own counts of injuries by type to estimate costs on an establishment Cargill 10% 1600 events specific basis. 1400 20.00% 31% 1200 Contacts 1000 15.00% WC Cost Per Worker, Daniel Lichtenstein-Boris, MPH $750.17 800 Health Policy Analyst 10.00% 600 773-577-3387 [email protected] 400 Cases with Job Average Annual Recordable Injury Rate Injury Recordable Annual Average 5.00% 200 Transfers or Jackie Nowell, MPH

Restrictions Compensation in worker per Dollars Cost Workers 0 Director, Occupational Health and Safety Department, 0.00% 59% United Food and Commercial Workers International Union 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 202-223-3111 [email protected]