On January 13, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su reacted to a newly released U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) study of worker health and safety in poultry plants, saying, “The findings in USDA’s report on worker safety in poultry and swine plants show that injuries, including chronic pain and musculoskeletal disorders are too common. These kinds of injuries often go unreported.”

The study, funded by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), looked at acute and chronic work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and antimicrobial-related respiratory exposure among workers at 11 New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS) establishments. The facilities operated at evisceration line speeds between 140 and 175 birds per minute (BPM).

Key findings of the Poultry Processing Line Speed Evaluation Study (PULSE) included the following:

• Eighty-one percent of workers were at increased risk of MSDs across all establishments.
• MSD risk was greater among workers working at a higher piece rate, a job-level measure of work pace.
• MSD risk scores were similar among workers at establishments operating over a range of evisceration line speeds. Establishments operating at higher evisceration line speeds were observed to have piece rates similar to establishments operating at lower evisceration line speeds.
• Forty percent of workers across all establishments reported experiencing moderate to severe work-related pain during the past 12 months, and work-related pain wasn’t reported more frequently at establishments with higher evisceration line speeds.
• The researchers’ models suggest that reducing piece rate by increasing job-specific staffing or decreasing job-specific line speed could reduce workers’ MSD risk.

“The study found that the increased risk of injuries created by increasing line speeds could be mitigated with other controls, specifically having more workers on the line and having effective ergonomic plans,” Su continued. “I hope that meat and poultry companies do what is needed to make worker safety a first principle.”

OSHA issues anti-money laundering whistleblower procedures

On January 14, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an interim final rule detailing procedures for whistleblower investigations under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) of 2020 (90 Fed. Reg. 3021).

OSHA’s whistleblower protection authority was first established by the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970; now, the agency is responsible for investigating whistleblower complaints under more than 20 federal statutes.

The interim rule sets up procedures and time frames for AMLA retaliation complaints to OSHA, OSHA’s investigations, appeals of the agency’s determinations to an administrative law judge (ALJ) for a hearing de novo, hearings by ALJs, review of ALJ decisions by the Administrative Review Board (ARB), and judicial review of the labor secretary’s final decision.

OSHA raises 2025 penalty amounts

Along with other Department of Labor (DOL) agencies, on January 10, OSHA raised inflation-adjusted penalties for 2025 (90 Fed. Reg. 1854).

The agency raised its maximum penalty for both willful and repeat violations to $165,514 from $161,323. The new maximum penalty for serious and other-than-serious violations, as well as violations of posting requirements, is $16,550. The penalty for failure to abate hazards is $16,550 per day.