Landmark Worker Safety Agreement Between AMI, OSHA Signed for Two-Year Extension

In an ongoing effort to advance workplace safety and health within the meat industry, the American Meat Institute (AMI) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) signed another two-year renewal of a ground-breaking Alliance agreement. The signing of the agreement in 2002 formalized a long-standing relationship between the meat and poultry industry and OSHA. Under the Alliance agreement there occurred an even greater level of cooperation, communication and coordination between industry and the government in the joint goal of improving workplace safety. Since the signing of the original agreement, five years ago, total recordable cases and lost work days due to injury have seen significant continued declines.

“Our government-industry partnership has yielded real and meaningful safety enhancements in our plants. We are gratified to continue this cooperative spirit and hope we can make even greater progress working together in the future,” said AMI President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle.

This is the third two year extension of the agreement which has facilitated important advances in worker safety and ergonomics. The agreement was announced by OSHA Administrator Edwin Foulke.

AMI’s implementation team has worked directly with OSHA to maintain and update the Meatpacking Safety and Health Topics at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/meatpacking/index.html
Six experts within the meat industry now review the page on a regular basis. OSHA and AMI also held workshops for OSHA Regional staff, including state plan states and consultation projects in the Atlanta, Kansas City and Denver regions. These workshops discussed general meat industry factors, hazards in the meat processing workplace, and various safety and health programs that meat industry employers have implemented.

To view the AMI’s Fact Sheet on Worker Safety, Click here: WorkerSafety.pdf.