Sioux City Journal
DAKOTA CITY -- In November 1988, the world's largest meatpacker, the union representing its workers and the federal government negotiated a settlement aimed at reducing on-the-job injuries.
The historic accord freed IBP inc. from more than $5 million in fines the Occupational Health and Safety Administration had leveled against the company for a rash of injuries and disorders, including carpal tunnel syndrome.
As part of the three-year agreement, IBP redesigned its assembly line and other work stations, with a particular emphasis on alleviating the train of repetitive motions on the production lines.
IBP, which was acquired by Tyson Foods in 2001, later expanded the pilot ergonomics program to all of its beef and pork plants.
In a conference call Tuesday, representatives from Tyson and the United Food and Commercial Workers celebrated the 20th anniversary of a program all agree has created a much safer workplace.
"The track record of this program speaks for itself," said Mark Lauristsen, director of the UFCW's meatpacking, manufacturing and food processign division. "If I could, this is a program I would put in every plant in the country," Lauristsen said.
Since 1991, OSHA-recorded injuries and illnesses at the Dakota City plant have dropped 67 percent. The rate of instances requiring the care of a physican are 73 percent below 1991 levels.
Tyson chief operating officer Jim Lochner, a longtime IBP executive, said the company has invested millions of dollars in ergonomically designed equipment, hydraulic lift tables for processing and workers training.
"Our team members are our biggest asset. We cannot convert cattle to beef or pigs to pork without utilizing people," Lochner said in the conference call. "We have to adapt the workplace to the people."
The new multi-million dollar Dakota City plant, which opened in 2006, was designed with worker health and safety in mind, with adjustable work stations and improved product flow.
Some new Tyson equipment has replaced dangerous, physically damanding work previously performed by employees. For example, many of the company's pork plants now are outfitted with automatic trimmers that remove the fat from the loins' surface. Such industrial ergonomic work benches are key to the program's success.
Lochner and union officials agreed a key to the ergonomics program's success has been the workers themselves, who serve as safety and ergonomics monitors and suggest changes to improve worker safety.
A medical management program also focuses on early detection and treatment of injuries and illnesses.
In addition to making the workplace safer, Lochner said the ergonomics program has significantly cut turnover, which had been rapidly rising in the 1980s.
