TUCKER, Ga. – Poultry industry facilities with outstanding safety programs are invited to apply for recognition under the Joint Poultry Industry Safety Award Program. The program recognizes facilities that have achieved injury and illness rates below the industry average for three consecutive years through the implementation of innovative and effective programs. The program is open to National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association members with poultry or egg processing plants, hatcheries, feed mills or rendering facilities that have injury and illness rates below the industry average for three consecutive years.
The poultry processing total recordable illness and injury rate for 2010 was 5.9 cases per 100 full-time workers (per year). Poultry processing’s 2010 rate of 5.9 represents a 74 percent decrease from 1994 (the oldest data available on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website).
Doug Britton, manager of the Georgia Tech Research Institute’s Agricultural Technology Research Program and one of the award program judges states, “The dramatic reduction in recordable injuries and illnesses is not surprising when you consider the industry’s considerable emphasis on complying with safety regulations and its proactive tackling of safety challenges over a long period of time. The industry’s efforts have changed the way safety is handled in processing plants today.”
Award program application forms are available by clicking on the following link – application. Application forms can also be obtained on the www.uspoultry.org website. The application deadline for the 2012 awards is March 1. The annual awards will be presented during the National Safety Conference for the Poultry Industry, June 6-8, 2012, at the Sawgrass Marriott, Ponte Vedra, FL.
The Joint Industry Safety and Health Council are made up of members from the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, National Chicken Council and National Turkey Federation. Collectively, the three organizations represent 95 percent of the nation’s poultry products and employ hundreds of thousands of workers.
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