Meatpacker IBP Fined $3.1 Million in Safety Action : Health Problem Disabled More Than 600, OSHA Says
The federal government took aim again Wednesday at meatpacker IBP Inc., proposing a $3.1-million fine for allegedly ignoring a “serious health hazard” that disabled more than 600 workers in its Dakota City, Neb., plant.
It is the second-largest penalty ever proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA said the action marks a stepped-up effort by the agency to combat an occupational illness called cumulative trauma disorder.
The problem, especially common in the meatpacking industry but known in many other occupations, is caused by repeated hand, wrist and arm motion. One major example is carpal tunnel syndrome, cited in Wednesday’s action.
It is the second stiff fine sought by OSHA against IBP in less than a year, and Wednesday’s action came as a consequence of the first. The government accused IBP last July of failing to report more than 1,000 injuries involving its Dakota City workers and fined the firm $2.59 million.
IBP Will Fight Fine
OSHA said that when it reviewed IBP’s corrected injury logs following the agency’s first probe, it discovered “numerous cases of previously unreported cumulative trauma disorder injuries,” prompting the agency to take action again.
IBP, 51%-owned by Occidental Petroleum Co. of Los Angeles, is contesting the original fine and served notice that it will fight the latest penalty as well.
The fine “represents a misguided attempt by OSHA to force the meatpacking industry to blindly accept untested theories about the prevention of repetitive motion disorders,” said IBP spokesman George Spencer. “OSHA’s goal is to intimidate companies by threatening enormous penalties unless they accept Alice-in-Wonderland theories.”
IBP has for a year, he said, urged OSHA “to study what can be done about decreasing injuries caused by repetitive motion. Congress has also urged them to do so. OSHA has instead chosen to act like a playground bully. They use the threat of governmental citation, safe from criticism because most ordinary citizens who read the headlines cannot believe a responsible government agency would so misuse the power given them to enforce the untested theories of ivory tower bureaucrats.”
IBP has long been the focus of worker-safety complaints by organized labor and in Congress. During OSHA’s first investigation, IBP and workers at the Dakota City plant--one of 15 IBP plants--were engaged in a bitter lockout that turned into a strike spurred by allegedly unsafe working conditions. The seven-month strike by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union ended last July.
The House Government Operations Committee on March 31 criticized OSHA for allegedly lax regulation of meatpacking plants and singled out IBP as particularly troublesome.
“This new major OSHA fine comes as no surprise to me, since IBP is clearly one of the most irresponsible and reckless corporations in America in terms of workers’ health and safety,” said Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), whose House subcommittee led the meatpacking investigation.
OSHA said its inspectors examined 45 jobs in the meatpacking plant that had the highest incidence of injury. Some 620 employees worked at the cited positions, which generated 377 cumulative trauma disorder cases in less than 2 1/2 years, the government said.
Nerve Damage Possible
The work tasks include rapid, highly repetitive motions with meat-cutting knives and hooks, sometimes into frozen, hard-to-cut animal carcasses. There is also strenuous pulling, pushing and throwing of heavy sections of beef, the government said. The problems were aggravated by an increase in the line speed in recent years, according to OSHA.
The government described carpal tunnel syndrome as the pinching or compressing of the nerve passing through the wrist to the hand. It can lead to severe nerve damage and the crippling of the hand or wrist, according to OSHA.
The agency said the case “is expected to focus national attention” on such cumulative trauma disorders. However, William Murphy, acting regional administrator for OSHA in San Francisco, said it is not OSHA’s first such enforcement action or fine, only the largest for those disorders.
“This is a major health hazard in one of the most dangerous occupations in the country, and we want the meatpacking industry in general and IBP in particular to eliminate the problem,” said Frank White, OSHA deputy assistant secretary. “IBP has known about the high toll that these disorders have had on its work force but has chosen not to deal with it.”
The government said IBP knew about the problems and had discussed them with consultants, but didn’t try to fix them. Solutions, the government said, could include changes in knife design, reducing line speeds, rotating workers and other measures. Instead, OSHA said, IBP “often aggravated a disorder by placing an employee . . . back in the same job once the symptoms subsided.”
Largest Beef Processor
OSHA’s fine includes $5,000 for each of 620 Dakota City workers exposed to cumulative trauma disorders and $39,900 for miscellaneous other violations. It would be a minor financial burden to the firm, which earned $70 million in 1986, the latest full-year figures available.
IBP, formerly called Iowa Beef Processors, is the nation’s largest beef processor and has been a major part of Occidental’s empire. However, Oxy recently sold 49% of its ownership in the firm to the public in a securities offering. It had no comment on the latest problems.
It is the latest in a string of highly publicized new actions by OSHA since William Brock became labor secretary two years ago. The agency had previously been criticized as moribund. The largest penalty to date is $4.2 million proposed in November against Bath Iron Works for exposing workers at its Bath, Me., shipyards to asbestos, raw sewage and other unsafe conditions.
Times staff writer Jim Schachter contributed to this story.
