the feed

Last week during the second of our Covid Communictions webinar series, we asked attendees to share practical procedures and best practices they were carrying out in their facilities to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Not surprisingly, the tips that followed were thoughtful, helpful, and showcased the forward-thinking required of all industry leaders during this unprecedented pandemic crisis:

• Have you ever heard these comments during an incident review?

• “We have walked by that hazard hundreds of time and never saw it!”

• “We can’t see the forest through the trees! We need fresh eyes on our facility to see the hazards we no longer see.”

The National Safety Council's Campbell Award recognizes leading companies in safety that share the NSC’s mission and vision of eliminating all preventable death in our lifetime. We believe safety starts with every individual, every work team, and every organization — and cascades from there into homes, communities, the road, and the workplace.

Creating a strong culture of safety requires continual effort beyond onboarding. Several leading companies still rely on a “one and done” method of training, where the new hire receives a barrage of information during orientation, yet is expected to retain and correctly apply that information on the floor. Unfortunately, this method doesn’t always work. Just as college students are advised not to cram the night before tests, studies show people are more likely to retain information when they’re fed knowledge in short spurts over a longer period of time. Instead of showering new hires with information, training should be delivered in a slow drip. A continuous learning environment consistently leads to the best results.

With significant environmental impacts in the last year made from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and problematic weather ahead, it’s imperative to have an emergency action plan in place. In fact, OSHA requires all workplaces with more than 10 employees to develop a written Emergency Action Plan (EAP) that identifies and coordinates necessary employer and employee actions during an emergency.

Emergencies have been happening for centuries. Here’s a brief look at a few incidents from history, reasons why companies need emergency action plans, and how to train your frontline workforce to take smart action in the face of danger.

Food manufacturing can be a grind… especially in milling. Yet recent wins in the industry make it all worth it. Consumers are snack-happy, so demand for savory treats, sweets, and baked goods is on the rise. Alternative flours are also ubiquitous. Thanks to the gluten-free craze, nut flours and non-traditional flours like sorghum and spelt are working their way into foods worldwide. And we can finally kiss the low-carb craze goodbye. These days, whole grains are considered essential to a healthy diet, including rice and corn, with more emphasis on nutrition rather than elimination. With the new nutritional focus comes the opportunity to add fortifications to flours and grains, which proves successful in differentiation, as well as in marketing.

Workplace injuries are common in manufacturing jobs that depend on manual labor, and they cost the food industry billions of dollars each year. Risk factors of workplace injury include exerting excessive force, performing the same tasks repetitively, and working in awkward postures — all conditions present on the floor in food manufacturing. Damage can range in scope, from minor sprains and strains, to more serious musculo-skeletal disorders (MSDs) like tendinitis or sciatica. 

With foreign markets expanding, unpredictable weather patterns, and rising regulations, finding innovative ways to succeed in agriculture is more important than ever. With science of crop production becoming more sophisticated, farmers have more access to data, where they used to rely more heavily on history and intuition.

The packaging industry faces unique safety and operational challenges. Between the threat of physical injury, safety hazards, sanitation issues, and expanding regulations, your frontline employees have a lot to manage. Addressing these concerns while maintaining high production levels will continue to test package manufacturing companies.

What went wrong? That’s the first question that comes to mind when any incident occurs. If an incident happens in your facility, learning what went wrong is just the first step in preventing future accidents. Using best practices for incident investigation paired with root-cause analysis can provide a solid foundation for fine tuning your serious-injury prevention strategy.

Summer is here, and for some it’s a time of rest and relaxation, but for food workers it can be the most physically taxing time of the year. The thousands of workers who make their living while exposed to the heat—indoors or out—are at an increased risk during the dog days of summer. In the food industry, heat illness is an often overlooked occupational injury, but the good news is that heat-related hazards can be prevented or minimized.

When organizations within the food industry attempt to comply with OSHA standards and regulations, there are three common compliance mistakes that I routinely observe as an auditor. Each could easily trigger an OSHA enforcement action. First, employers often fail to review relevant OSHA interpretation letters, directives, or the OSHA Field Operations Manual for guidance. Second, employers do not document non-recordable cases and reasons why they are not considered recordable. Finally, employers are not specific in the details when documenting a recordable event. To address these mistakes, I’ve outlined more specific information below on each to help you mitigate the risk of non-compliance – or worse, an enforcement action.

The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, National Chicken Council, and National Turkey Federation are concerned about OSHA’s recent attempts to expand the agency's authority - conducting wall-to-wall inspections of poultry processing facilities whenever they receive notice of any accident or employee complaint. 

Like any employer, poultry processors are subject to inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Regardless, the poultry industry remains committed to the safety, health, and wellbeing of the frontline workforce. That commitment is demonstrated by the tremendous progress the poultry industry has made in reducing worker injury and illness rates, which have declined 81% in the last 20 years according to the 2014 Injury and Illness Report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In late April, the industry associations above released their official answer to OSHA's expanded inspections for poultry processors: