The poultry industry’s concern stems from a memorandum issued on Oct. 28, 2015 in which OSHA said any accident, complaint or referral would serve as probable cause for conducting a wall-to-wall inspection of a processing facility. The reason for the expanded inspections, according to ‘outreach letters’ contained in OSHA regional notices, is that “Despite the efforts of the poultry processing industry in past years to address workplace hazards, the poultry processing industry continues to yield occupational injury and illness rates which exceed the national injury and illness indicators for general industry.”
Trade groups representing the poultry industry say attempts by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to expand its authority to conduct wall-to-wall inspections of the poultry processing plants goes beyond the scope of legal limits.