Meat & poultry groups: GAO report affirms continuous improvement in workplace safety

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) tackles the issue of workplace safety in the poultry industry. The GAO report, entitled “Workplace Safety and Health: Additional Data Needed to Address Continued Hazards in the Meat and Poultry Industry,” found that “Injury and illness rates in the meat and poultry slaughtering and processing industry declined from 2004 through 2013, similar to rates in all U.S. manufacturing, according to Department of Labor (DOL) data. The rates declined from an estimated 9.8 cases per 100 full-time workers in 2004 to 5.7 in 2013.

However, the report also adds that these rates continued to be higher than rates for manufacturing overall.