Posted: Jan 24, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: January 24
Workers from the Cargill meat processing plant in High River Alberta protest the plant s reopening in May 2020. It was workers and their union the United Food and Commercial Workers of Canada who exposed the COVID-19 outbreak at the company. (Submitted by UFCW Local 401)
COVID-19 deaths go uninvestigated as OSHA takes a hands-off approach to meatpacking plants
OSHA has not inspected 26 out of the 65 meatpacking plants where reporters found at least one worker died of COVID-19.
By Kyle Bagenstose, Sky Chadde and Rachel Axon, USA TODAY
Published
10:54 pm UTC Jan. 26, 2021
Normally, a workplace death in the United States is met with a swift and thorough response.
By law, employers must report a death within eight hours to the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration. An inspector from OSHA typically arrives within a day to interview workers, review the site of the incident and determine whether the death resulted from unsafe conditions.