The slaughtering, processing, and packaging of meat has long been associated with a high incidence of accidents, injuries and illnesses. When the Occupational Safety and Health
Act (OSHA) of 1970 became law, the meat and meat products industry was designated by the
Department of Labor as one of the five Standard Industrial Classifications (SICs) to receive priority attention as part of OSHA's efforts to target those industries having the highest rates of occupational injuries. In this paper I will explain why I agrees with the conclusions and recommendations of the Human Rights Watch in regards to worker safety concerning immigrant workers and why new laws need to be written that ensure worker safety regardless of their immigration
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“The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) was passed to prevent workers from being killed or seriously harmed at work. The law requires that employers provide their employees with working conditions that are free of known dangers. The Act created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which sets and enforces protective workplace safety and health standards. OSHA also provides information, training and assistance to workers and employers. Workers may file a complaint to have OSHA inspect their workplace if they believe that their employer is not following OSHA standards or there are serious hazards. “OSHA's commitment is to provide information to help employers and employees in the meat-packing industry comply with OSHA standards and increase safety in the workplace. There are currently no specific standards for the meat-packing industry.” (OSHA, N.D). It is indeed shocking that the world’s most industrialized, modern, advanced and powerful country, the United States of America, does not have specific standards when it comes to providing a healthy and safe work environment for workers in the meat and poultry industry. However this should not come as a surprise to anyone as OSHA does indeed have a very sorry history in maintaining, policing
This case is followed by the laws and regulations of OSHA. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) is an organization that has been put into place to ensure the safety of employees while on their jobs. These regulations are put into place to help reduce the number of on the job injuries and deaths.
Have you asked yourself yet, who regulates meat products? The USDA does. This government agency ensures that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome and properly labeled and packaged to consumer and buyers. The Department of Health and Human Services and The Environmental Protection agency are two reputable government agencies that coordinate with the USDA to ensure food and medical safety is regulated lawfully. Every four years, there is an important “food code” that is revised by U.S. Food and Drug Administration that affects all levels of government agencies. The food code is used as a model to develop and update food safety rules that require consistency with national food regulatory policies. Businesses and industries controlled and regulated by the food code are retail, food service, and medical institutions such as
Instead of these managers looking out for their workers, they try to hide the injuries, and will give injured employees easier jobs until they are healed, if they agree to not visit the doctor. They feel the need to hide minor injuries because "a supervisor must meet production goals, keep the number of recorded injuries low, and most importantly, keep the meat flowing down the line without interruption" (Schlosser 175). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is responsible for inspecting meatpacking plants and making sure they are operating and functioning properly. The old OSHA policy was that, there were 1,300 inspectors and over 5 million workplaces to be looked at. The employers would expect an inspection about every 80 years (Schlosser 179). Now, for an inspection to even be done, the factories injury rate must be higher than the national average. There is a slim chance of that happening because the records are kept by the companies' officials, since the have direct control on the number of injury reports. Schlosser brings up an interesting statement about OSHA's policy when he says they "did indeed reduce the number of recorded injuries in meatpacking plants. It did not, however, reduce the number of people getting hurt. It merely encouraged companies, in the words of a subsequent congressional investigation, "to understate
Specific health problems associated with the workplace have contributed to the development of Particular health issues connected with the work environment have added to the advancement of the cutting edge safety and health development. These issues incorporate lung infections in diggers, mercury harming, and lung tumor attached to asbestos. Occupational and Environmental Health Professionals have an above normal extent of all day employments. For Occupational and Environmental Health Professionals working all day, normal week by week hours are 42.3 and profit are high - in the ninth decile. Unemployment for Health Professionals is underneath normal. H&S Professionals have an expansive extent of specialists amongst individuals in the 25-34 age section, making it an energetic and dynamic workplace. The unavoidable consequence of the expanded consideration given to safety and health is that bigger organizations are utilizing safety and health professionals and all organizations big or small are relegating these obligations to existing representatives.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) was developed and approved because of the escalating costs of accidents and illnesses in the workplace. According to Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, and Cardy (2010), OSHA is a national law that requires organizations to offer a safe and healthy workplace, to conform with particular occupational and health standards, and to document job-related injuries and diseases.
The employer also has to comply with all standards, rules, and regulations that are set forth by OSHA and the OSH Act. Employers are required to inspect the workplace to insure they are up to OSHA standards. Insure that employees are only using safe tools and equipment that are in their proper condition. It should be easy for the employees to be aware of potential hazards by the employer posting signs, using color codes, labels, or signs to convey warning. Employees must be trained in a language that they understand. Operating procedures must be in place and properly communicated to the employees to assure the employees follow safety and health standards. Employers that house or use hazardous chemicals will be required to have hazardous communication program and for that all the employees to be trained on exposure and precautions. Employers are to fund medical exams if required by OSHA standards. The OSHA poster must placed in a prominent location at the workplace. Records need to be kept of work-related injuries and illnesses. The log of these injuries and illnesses need to made available on February 1st for three months. Assure employees have access to medical and exposure records. Provide a workplace free of discrimination. OSHA citations must be posted at or near the work area where the infraction occurred. The citation must be in place for three working days or until the
Ever since immigrants started replacing workers in slaughterhouses, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) was formed. This organization is to enforce the health and safety laws by visiting the slaughterhouses once every eight years. I think that outrageous considering accidents happen every day. “The death of a worker on the job was punished with a fine of just a few hundred dollars…” (179). Workers with fatal injuries were told to come the next day to work and do easy jobs, in order to cover up the injuries so that nobody was missing that day. This organization never achieved its purpose, however it made people think that they would be more safe.
Data from the Bureau of Labor statistics states that over 4.1 million people were injured on the job in 2006 and 5,488 were killed in 2007 (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010). All levels of government have passed laws to regulate and maintain safety in the workplace. There are two basic levels of workplace safety laws that affect most workers. On a state level it is workers' compensation laws. On a federal level it is the Occupation Safety and Health Act of 1970 (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010). When it comes to the various objectives, policies, and operations of these two levels of law, one will notice how
Osha is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration an agency of the United States Department of Labor. Osha requires employers to provide their employees with safety from all known dangers. Osha was created December 29, 1970, and it was signed by president Richard M. Nixon.
Due to the governments inattentiveness to OSHA, many working people suffered with their physical well-being eventually costing their lives (Shichor et al., 2002). For instance, A work place becomes accident prone when standard safety procedures are ignored. OSHA officials are legally entrusted to be the “bodyguards of the workplace” (Shichor et al., 2002, p.296) but it was later discovered that much effort has not been put into preventing life threatening circumstances, the safety of the work place and the integrity of OSHA officials were
There are many different OSHA requirements in place for veterinary professionals. There are some I am not very familiar with despite having to talk annual courses on this subject; however Personal protective equipment (PPE) is probably the most important OSHA regulation that I deal with on a daily basis. Whether it is something as simple as gloves when cleaning poop out of kennels, a facemask and goggles and gloves when doing a dental cleaning, or a lead apron and gloves when taking x-rays, it is important that every technician knows and understands the PPE requirements that are in place. There are many different health hazards that we deal with everyday and the PPE requirements are there to protect us. I admit I used to be really bad about
Yes, the OSHA policies and rules are aimed at addressing problems that existed in BP texas. The problems continued for so many years because of the culture of BP. They were not serious about the safety of
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), often referred to as the "OSH Act," was enacted in 1970 by President Richard M. Nixon. Its purpose is to assure safe and healthful working conditions for men and women (EPA, 2006). The Act is administered and enforced at the national level by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a division of the US Department of Labor. The application of the OSH Act in the current employment climate will be discussed as it applies to a variety of industries; considerations that are most applicable to the specific type of industry will be discussed initially, and those that are equally important regardless of the type of business will complete the section. Finally, this paper will discuss how the
The trade between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) is estimated at a value of $750 billion annually (Tehrani, 2008). As both countries have their own specific food safety regulations, there is always going to be a difference of opinion on whose regulation is correct. In 1997, a major difference in opinion became apparent between the US and the EU, where the EU felt that procedures used by the US to decontaminate poultry where not safe (Škoba, 2013). The use of “hyper-chlorinated water” (Site, 2013) and pathogen reduction treatments (PRTs) whilst processing US poultry lead to the prohibition of all “poultry meat and poultry meat products” (CongressDaily, 2009) coming in to the EU (CongressDaily, 2009).
“People get hurt, they just cut them up and patch them up and put them back on the line like they do horses,” said by Harry O. Simms, a union shop steward, about poultry workers and their working conditions (Hall et al.). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s duty is to enforce standards for healthy working conditions, so treatment is in the workers’ best interest. However, OSHA has no specific rules for poultry factory workers; rather the general regulations covered the workers (Poultry Processing). If a ratio of 10 food factories to one inspector in each state is hired and OSHA applies tailored rules for poultry factories, then poultry processing factory workers will suffer less