The poultry industry announced Sept. 4 that it has formed an alliance with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) to share information, guidance and access to training resources that will help further improve the significant gains made in poultry worker safety over the past 25 years. The shared goals for the alliance include raising awareness of health and safety practices and programs through outreach and communication, in addition to training and education.

Loren Sweatt, OSHA deputy assistant secretary of labor; Mike Brown, president of the National Chicken Council; Joel Brandenberger, president of the National Turkey Federation, and Matt Spencer, director of human resources and safety programs for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Assn., signed an alliance agreement in Washington, D.C., formalizing a relationship to work collaboratively to improve safety practices in the poultry industry.

Specifically, the organizations will share available injury, illness and hazard exposure data to help identify areas of emphasis for training, outreach and communication activities.

The group of poultry industry representatives discussed the industry’s recent history of safety and health initiatives, including the ergonomics, medical and training approach to reducing repetitive injuries, advancements in processing equipment technology, current ongoing research and employee outreach activities. The combined activities have resulted in an 83% reduction in recordable injuries in poultry processing plants since 1994.

With the newly formed alliance, the goal of the industry is to continue to drive down these rates and help promote the overall health and safety of employees and team members.