U.S. Fines Meatpacker $2.59 Million
The Labor Department today announced a record $2.59-million fine against IBP Inc., the nation’s largest meatpacker, for deliberately under-reporting worker injuries at its flagship plant in Nebraska.
“This case is the worst example of under-reporting injuries and illnesses to workers ever encountered by (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) in its 16-year history,” Assistant Labor Secretary John Pendergrass said.
The penalty is the largest ever imposed on an employer by OSHA.
IBP, formerly called Iowa Beef Processors, is America’s largest processor of fresh beef and pork, employing 10,000 workers at 14 plants in eight states.
OSHA listed 1,038 instances in which job-related injuries and illnesses at IBP’s plant in Dakota City, Neb., were not reported.
Injury Records Altered
Pendergrass said IBP altered its injury records for 1985 and 1986 after it initially denied OSHA inspectors access to them. IBP assembled a 50-person task force to revise the records in the days before federal inspectors presented a subpoena so they could look at the documents.
Once in the plant, OSHA inspectors discovered 832 of the 1,038 injuries had been added to the logs.
In numerous cases, the Labor Department said, IBP failed to record serious injuries that resulted in lost or restricted workdays.
“There’s no excuse for failing to record an injury that forced your employee to take time off to recover,” Pendergrass said.
The United Food and Commercial Workers, who are on strike at the 2,800-worker Dakota City plant, early this year accused IBP of under-reporting injuries so it could avoid full-scale OSHA inspections.
Expanded to Emporia
In June, after the union alleged widespread efforts by IBP to alter its records, OSHA expanded its investigation to IBP’s plant in Emporia, Kan.
In addition, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), chairman of the House Government Operations employment subcommittee, announced today that there will be new hearings on IBP because its chairman, Robert L. Peterson, acknowledged that there were errors in congressional testimony.
A key point at the May 6 hearing was whether IBP kept two sets of books on injuries at the Dakota City plant, one to be shown to OSHA and another that listed every visit to the dispensary.
Armand Hammer’s Occidental Petroleum may sell off part of IBP. Part IV, Page 1.
