One of the most dangerous jobs a person can have in America is to work at a slaughterhouse or meatpacking facility. The working environments in these types of facilities are incredibly hazardous and result in numerous injuries among workers each year. Things like high-speed production lines, lack of training, and repetition of the same motion over long periods of time frequently cause injuries among workers. However, these injuries could be prevented if slaughterhouses and meatpacking facilities took more safety precautions for their workers. The countless injuries and deaths occurring in slaughterhouses would decrease if companies would create a safer working environment for their employees. One of the main reasons for the injuries caused in slaughterhouses and meatpacking facility is the speed of the production lines. Slaughterhouses make production lines run at fast speeds to increase the amount of …show more content…
Slaughterhouse and meatpacking companies hire workers to do a specific task for a long duration of time. This means that the workers at slaughterhouses repeat the same motion continuously for an incredibly long period of time. Production lines force workers to repeat the same motion even more often because of the incredibly high speeds they run on (“Slaughterhouse Workers”). These motions can get repetitive and cause injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, trigger finger syndrome, back problems, shoulder problems, broken bones, and even amputated fingers (“Food Processing & Slaughterhouses”). They also result in many lacerations among workers who accidentally cut themselves or the person around them as they’re working. If companies had a better system employed or reduced the speed of the production line, employees would not be forced to repeat the same motion over and over again and the number of injuries would reduce
An article by PBS stated, “Today, America 's meat industry is the nation 's largest agricultural sector and sales of meat and poultry exceed $100 billion a year in the U.S.” This astounding statistics is one of many reasons why we should be more careful. A different article by UFCW identified that a whopping 20% of work injuries in the United States of America resulted within the meatpacking industry. As a country, we must strive to make this a safe environment to work in by reporting injures and hazards.
Sinclair exposed the problem of mutilated limbs and other horrors common to the workers. Sinclair also explained how even minor injuries could become fatal and how the labor intense work done at the factories caused workers to experience swollen joints (doc 1). Unfortunately, no laws were passed to protect workers from the awful conditions they faced. Although Sinclair’s attempt at reforming working conditions was fruitless, the public’s reaction to the truth about the meat they were purchasing sparked a nationwide attempt to enact consumer protection laws. The meat packing factories were doctoring their products with chemicals so they could profit from rotten meat.
In 1911, one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history occurred when the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City burned, killing 145 workers. It is one of the most remembered incidents since the deaths were largely preventable. Most victims died as a result of neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building. While the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire did result in a new legislation for safety in the work place, it was not the most important result. The most important result was the institution of the process to enforce pre-existing legislation regarding worker safety and protection in the workplace along with the laws that followed.
Although it may seem that the meat packing industry is still in turmoil because of their unwillingness to make known what foods have Genetically Modified organisms present, the meat packing industry was much worse during the 1900’s because of the unsafe working conditions, and uncleanliness of the food. Body 1: The meat packing industry’s working conditions were much worse in the 1900’s than they are today. In the novel The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, working conditions were horrible for immigrants who were employed in these factories. People in these factories were worked very hard and used up till they could not work anymore. In the novel Jurgis broke his ankle because of the unsafe
In the process of labor created wealth for the society, people are always exposed to machinery, equipment, tools and environment ... This is some active process rich, diverse and very complex, so always incurred the dangers and risks ... make workers can have an accident or occupational disease, so the question is how to limit the accident workers to the lowest level. One of the most positive measures is educational awareness of labor protection for everyone and make people understand the purpose and significance of the work of labor protection. In the Jungle, winter is the riskiest season in Packingtown and even Jurgis, he had compelled to work in an unheated slaughterhouse in which it is hard to see, hazards his life consistently by basically going to
This is very wrong. The meat gets mixed in huge vats, if a worker falls in, guess what. There body gets mixed with the food and gets shipped off to stores. If meat falls on the floor, they don 't through it away. Oh no, that would be wasting and they would be losing money.
Now in bathroom at restaurants, grocery stores, malls, and more all have signs saying, “Employees MU ST wash hands,” due to labor laws. In time, the law became one of the most effective measures protecting the health of Americans. The act includes, “Guaranteeing safety of almost all food and cosmetics; and ensuring the safety, quality, and effectiveness of 13,000 prescription and non-prescription drugs and vaccines, all medical devices, and all tissues transplant” (Kubic 3). Over the pass fifty years, the act has been recognized to benefit people’s health. Production of any type of food has increasingly went up with labor laws too.
The meat-packing industries carelessness towards their workers are physically endangering them daily. “Men who used knives on the sped-up assembly lines frequently lost fingers. Men who hauled 100-pound hunks of meat crippled their backs” (Constitutional Rights Foundation). The repetitive endangerment of these businesses’ workers highlight the industry’s unnatural greed and lack of empathy. The damages that are inflicted on their workers can be critical, life-changing or even lethal.
At the slaughterhouse, a horse is killed in a way that is easiest and quickest for the slaughterhouse worker, but most agonizing for the horse. Investigations from Mexican and Canadian slaughter plants report that horses are stabbed multiple times in the neck with a puntilla knife to sever their spinal cords, leaving them paralyzed and unable to breathe. The horse is then hoisted, bled out, cut apart, often while still conscious and able to feel everything. Slaughter simply cannot be made
This led to many injuries, because when the man/woman would stick their hand in the machine sometimes it
But alas, most workers were in dangerous jobs, and a lot were hurt or killed. Working conditions were so bad, that labor organizations were formed, and strikes and protests began to have the government to step in and help the average american. Paragraph 2: With urbanization, corporations and companies looked for ways to cut corners, or increase their profit margin. This lead to some safety issues.
They have also helped the UK become one the countries with the lowest accident rates in the world. However it hasn’t completely stopped the amount of workplace accidents. “Over 200 people are killed each year at work in the UK and over 150,000 are injured. Two million people suffer from illnesses that have been caused, or made worse, by their work” (Aldworth, 2010)
The meat packing industry disregards animal’s emotions and their rights all together by the malicious treatment of animals. The way animals are being treated is highly unfair. Being slaughtered for their body parts and suffering just to be used for protein or an asset to humans is unbearable. An animal’s life is at equal values to a human and deserve the same rights as
Not only are the long hours of sitting hard on truck drivers’ backs, but so are all their other tasks. It is easy to overlook the heavy toll that securing loads, stacking hand trucks, or handling freight can have on the body. In fact, truck driving is always at or near the top of OSHA’s list of professions for lost work due to injury. In this case study we have gone through the various types of possible risk and injuries as well as ways to prevent injuries from occurring. The ergonomics of truck drivers has been applied and we know how truck drivers can work
Safety at the workplace will also help to lower down costs by curtailing off insurance costs, lost costs and legal fees. These costs could be incurred if the safety of the