September 22, 2020

Bloomberg: Senators Blast ‘Feckless’ OSHA Response to Meat Plants’ Virus Outbreaks

A speedier and more forceful response by U.S. officials could have prevented the large outbreaks of Covid-19 at meat plants that sickened thousands and killed dozens of workers, according to Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker.

The senators decried the “feckless” response by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which earlier this month fined Smithfield Foods Inc. $13,494 and JBS Foods $15,615 for failing to protect workers, respectively, at a South Dakota pork plant and a Colorado beef plant.

The fines were too small and too late to force the companies to implement social distancing and slower production that could have reduced transmission of the virus, the senators wrote in a letter seen by Bloomberg seeking information from OSHA on its meat-plant inspections.

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Read the full article on the Bloomberg website, here. 


By:  Michael Hirtzer
Source: Bloomberg