Smithfield Agrees to Implement Infectious Disease Preparedness Plan
Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. – the country’s largest pork processor – will assemble a team of company and third-party experts to develop an infectious disease preparedness plan that the company will implement at all of its processing facilities nationwide, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported on Monday.
In a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor, Smithfield is committed to changing its health procedures and training relating to infectious diseases. The action follows a March 2020 Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection that led OSHA to cite the company under the general duty clause for failing to protect workers from coronavirus hazards at its Sioux Falls facility. As part of the agreement, Smithfield will pay the assessed penalty of $13,494, the release said.
In addition, Smithfield will continue to use its current COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan to reduce employees’ exposure to the virus while working with third-party experts to assess plants’ operating procedures and develop the infectious disease preparedness plan, the release said. The company will consider locations in the facility where employees congregate and look for ways to minimize employees’ potential exposure to infectious diseases.
The team of third-party experts and company representatives will also:
-Review Smithfield’s existing programs and procedures.
-Evaluate plant administrative and engineering controls.
-Identify personal protective equipment and respiratory protection needs.
-Address medical management functions through the facility’s onsite clinic, and identify issues associated with continuity of operations.
-Train and implement program requirements in languages and at literacy levels that the workforce understands. Any written materials provided must also be in languages employees understand.
As well, Smithfield agreed to review the plan and revise it when needed to address potential new infectious diseases and guidance from federal, state and local public health authorities, as well as review annual union feedback on the plan and its procedures.
Smithfield’s Vice President of Corporate Affairs Jim Monroe said that the company chose to settle outside of court in order to “continue the good relations it has with the agency, as we have the shared goal of workplace safety.”
"Settling with OSHA and avoiding litigation allows Smithfield to continue the good relations it has with the agency, as we have the shared goal of workplace safety," Monroe said. "We are happy to put this behind us and have focused our resources on efforts to vaccinate our entire workforce."
Monroe also points out that Smithfield continues to maintain their belief that OSHA’s allegations of non-compliance were baseless. The company admits no wrongdoing.
"It is undisputed that in March 2020 the federal government was discouraging the use of face masks outside of healthcare. Regardless, at our Sioux Falls and other facilities, Smithfield moved swiftly in the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic – even before receiving direction from health officials – to implement worker safety measures," Monroe added.
Smithfield collaborated with the CDC and OSHA to identify what the industry could do to mitigate the spread of the virus in its facilities, Monroe explained. When public health officials finally released guidance, he said the company had already implemented almost all of the recommendations.
"Based on our response and the experience we gained from the early days of the pandemic, Smithfield is well positioned to develop a comprehensive plan," Monroe said. "We had planned to do so without prompting from OSHA."
More from Farm Journal's PORK:
Smithfield Foods To Close Sioux Falls Plant Indefinitely Amid COVID-19
Smithfield Shutters Two Additional Meat Processing Facilities
Smithfield CEO: Processing Plants Must Keep Running
Pig Farmers: Are We Going to Produce Food in the U.S. or Not?
Pork Industry Prepares for Ripple Effects of Smithfield Plant Closing
