OSHA: Pork plant failed workers on virus
Triumph Foods failed to protect its workers in the critical months leading up to a COVID-19 outbreak at its giant pork plant in St. Joseph, Missouri, last year, safety inspectors found.
At least 600 workers tested positive for the coronavirus and four have died. But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which conducted the inspection, did not fine the company.
The inspectors’ conclusions are in an inspection summary obtained by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and USA TODAY through a Freedom of Information Act request. The document confirms much of what the news outlets reported in November: In March and April 2020, the company failed to take necessary steps to protect workers.
That included sending employees back to the processing line after they were tested for coronavirus but before they knew whether they’d been infected. One worker, according to OSHA’S summary, got tested and worked two more days, potentially infecting others before he learned he was positive.
He died July 9 of the virus.
“During the initial onset of the virus across the country in late March to early April the company had done very little in preparation for their facility,” the OSHA inspector wrote. “The employer should have taken a more protective approach to establish procedures and practices” to keep its employees safe from COVID-19.
U.S. Department of Labor spokesman Allen Scott said he could not comment on why the plant was not fined.
“Each case is determined on its own merits,” he said in a statement. “It is the agency’s policy not to discuss determinations beyond what is included in the case file.”
According to the summary, the company:
● Did not require masks until late April, about the time positive cases were confirmed in the plant, and it didn’t train workers on how to properly use masks until May 21, about a month later.
● Ordered the wrong kind of thermometers, delaying when it could start screening workers for symptoms.
● Did not stagger break and lunch times, like other plants did, to allow workers to space out. A tent it set up outside so workers could social distance was primarily used by smokers, a company executive told OSHA.
In a statement, Triumph spokesman Cole Mcmillian said the company has prioritized the “health and safety of our team members, their families and our community through the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Mcmillian took issue with USA TODAY and the Midwest Center’s previous reporting, which, like the OSHA inspection, found that Triumph Foods was slow to act to protect its employees from COVID-19.
Although he cited no factual error in the story, Mcmillian claimed reporters asked questions “based on factually inaccurate suppositions, and we provided a factual timeline of what actually happened. Triumph Foods stands by our prior statements and our actions, including our compliance with OSHA and CDC guidelines.”
OSHA opened its inspection into Triumph Foods on May 1 and shared its findings with the company in August. During the time, three workers died – including two within a week of each other in July. A fourth worker, who fell ill in May, died in October.
Although the inspector did not visit the plant in person, the remote inspection found several “hazard(s) and concerns.”