Newsmakers July 11-24: JBS fine highlights meatpacking dangers

JBS USA agreed to pay $100,000 in fines to settle safety and health violations handed down by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration in May, according to federal documents.

The federal agency had accused JBS USA in Greeley of 20 health and safety violations at the company’s beef processing plant. JBS, which did not admit to the allegations, also must take steps to make its workplace safer as part of the settlement.

The settlement followed an inspection by OSHA in December 2012 that revealed potential for conditions that could lead to amputations and fall hazards in elevated work areas, among others. The company employs more than 4,200 people in Greeley, where its beef plant’s daily processing capacity totals 5,400 cattle.

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Despite the settlement and the improved safety measures, JBS employee Ralph E. Horner, 54, of Wellington died in June after becoming trapped in a conveyor. Horner was pronounced dead at the scene after he was found by employees. The Weld County Coroner’s Office ruled his death an accident.

The safety violations and Horner’s subsequent death underscore the dangers of meatpacking, an industry that involves work with machinery that processes heavy cattle carcasses. The last employee death at the JBS plant in Greeley occurred in 2008 when a worker was hit by a truck outside the plant.

Another worker employed by Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Nasdaq: PPC), in which JBS USA owns a controlling interest, died when he was struck by a chunk of ice while working at a Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant in Mount Pleasant, Texas, in October. Authorities ruled the death of Pablo Lopez Romero, 55, an accident.

UPDATE

Pilgrim’s Pride also faces $170,000 in fines for alleged safety violations at its De Queen, Ark., plant. The company was accused in July 2013 of exposing workers to hazardous chemicals, among other allegations. Pilgrim’s Pride has disputed the allegations.

Media reports indicate that two other workers have died this year at facilities operated by JBS and Pilgrim’s Pride in North America.

The meatpacking industry remains more dangerous than the average across all industries.

In 2012, nonfatal injuries in meatpacking totaled 5.8 cases per 100 workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In poultry processing, workers had 4.9 injuries per 100 workers.

The average across private industry, however, totaled 3.4 cases per 100 workers.