the cruelest cuts day 1 - kerrysinge.com › pdfs › the_cruelest_cuts_day_1.pdf · cluding carpal tunnel syndrome, are the most common work-related injuries af-flicting poultry

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2008 Price varies by county| $ 1.50C D E F •+ w w w . c h a r l o t t e . c o m

© 2008 The CharlotteObserver Vol. 139, No. 41

By Kerry Hall, Ames Alexanderand Franco Ordoñez

Staff Writers

In an industry rife with danger, House ofRaeford Farms depicts itself as a safe placeto work. Company records suggest rela-tively few workers are injured each year asthey kill, cut and package millions of chick-ens and turkeys.

But an Observer investigation shows theN.C. poultry giant has masked the extentof injuries behind its plant walls.

The company has compiled misleadinginjury reports and has defied regulators asit satisfies a growing appetite for America’smost popular meat. And employees say thecompany has ignored, intimidated or firedworkers who were hurt on the job.

House of Raeford officials say they fol-

low the law and strive to protect workers. But company and government records

and interviews with more than 120 currentand former employees show: • House of Raeford’s 800-worker plant inWest Columbia, S.C., reported no muscu-loskeletal disorders over four years. Ex-perts say that’s inconceivable. MSDs, in-cluding carpal tunnel syndrome, are themost common work-related injuries af-flicting poultry workers.• Its Greenville, S.C., plant has boasted ofa five-year safety streak with no lost-timeaccidents. But the plant kept that streakalive by bringing injured employees backto the factory hours after surgery.• The company has broken the law by fail-ing to record injuries on government safe-

OBSERVER SPECIAL REPORT: First of Six Parts

THE CRUELEST CUTS

PHOTOS BY JOHN D. SIMMONS – [email protected]

Chickens move down the line at House of Raeford’s West Columbia, S.C., plant, where about 90 percent of workers are Latino. Thousands of cutting motions per shift can leave workers’ hands in pain.

INSIDE TODAY2A| Editor RickThames: The mostvulnerable workers.

11A| Carolinas aremajor poultry producers.

12A| Experts: Federalsafety data misleading.

13A| Record-keepingchief: OSHA failingworkers.

15A| How carpaltunnel syndromehappens and hurts.

The human cost of bringing poultry to your table

ONLINE VIDEOScenes from inside a poultry plant; hear workers talk about their pain.www.charlotte.com/poultrySEE POULTRY|11A

House of Raeford Farms masksinjuries inside Carolinas plants

POULTRY’S MARK: RUINED HANDS A quarter-century ago,

poultry processingchanged forever with theintroduction of a revolu-tionary product: theChicken McNugget.

The bite-sized pieces ig-nited demand for new poul-try offerings. Now, dozens ofspecialty cuts – and hundredsof chicken and turkey products – are available to con-sumers. The revolution has come with consequences.

In America’s poultry plants, which rely increasingly onvulnerable Latino immigrants, workers’ hands are morethreatened than ever.

Karina Zorita knew little of this when she considered apoultry job four years ago. IN THE BIG PICTURE, 15A

Karina Zorita

INSIDE Nation | 3A

Writers strikecould end todayKey leaders of the Writers Guildof America endorse deal to end14-week-old walkout.

SunnyLow: 37. High: 57.Clear and windytoday. Cold

tonight with lows in the 20s.Sunny and cool Monday.Forecast, 10B. Arts & Living .1E

Books ...........5ECelebrations .1HClassified.......1FEditorial ......22AHoroscope ....6E

Local & State.1BMoneywise...1DMovies..........6EObituaries.....8BSports...........1CTravel .............1I

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By Elizabeth [email protected]

Let me tell you a story about stories.Angie Forde asked Dawoud Assad to de-

scribe the saddest day of his life. He told herabout the time he visited his mother in anursing home and she didn’t recognize him.

Though Forde had never heard Assad’sstory before, she knew his story. It was herstory, too. Her father, who had Alzheimer’s,often mistook her for someone else.

Telling stories is how we connect – asfamily, as friends, as a city of 695,995 peopleand, on a global level, as a civilization. Howcould we make sense of our lives today, ifsomebody hadn’t passed along stories ofwhat went before?

That is why a silver Airstream trailer isparked at the library at North Tryon andSixth streets. Inside, people like DawoudAssad are telling stories. They are part ofNPR’s national StoryCorps project, whichwill record 10,000 stories to be archived atthe Library of Congress.

STORYCORPS IN CHARLOTTE

In sound booth, lives become legacies

GARY O’BRIEN – [email protected]

Leslie Williams, 50, and her father, George Linker, 78, interview each other Friday, theStoryCorps MobileBooth’s first full day in action outside the Main Library in Charlotte.

Online ExtrasGo inside the StoryCorps MobileBooth and see how Charlotte participants’ life stories arecaptured at WWW.CHARLOTTE.COM/newsSEE STORYCORPS|5A

Politics | 4A

Obama wins in 3 statesBarack Obama swept theLouisiana primary andcaucuses in Nebraska andWashington state Saturday.

Arts & Living | 1E

A dancer’s dreamMeet a 23-year-old Charlotteanwho made the leap to therenowned Ailey dance theater.

DALE JR. RACES OFF WITH SHOOTOUT VICTORY. IN SPORTS

2A SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2008 • THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER | www.charlotte.com

GOT A STORY ORPHOTO IDEA?Call metro editor Cindy Montgomery at704-358-5040 or [email protected]

WANT TO PLACE ANAD? Call 704-377-5555 or 800-532-5348

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The List‘A’ Aspiring country crooners:

This is your chance for yourbig break.

“Nashville Star” is castingfor its next season, and theshow’s producers are lookingfor untapped talent in theCharlotte area.

Haven’t heard of the show?Well, that’s because it’s beenhidden on cable television forthe first five seasons. Now, getready for primetime – theshow is coming to NBC.

A new network comes withnew (relaxed) rules. Anyone16 and older may audition,and for the first time, thesearch will be open to soloacts, duets and singing trios.

Country bar Coyote Joe’s isthe appropriate spot for theopen call Wednesday from 7to 11 p.m.

The winner of “NashvilleStar” will receive a coveted re-cording contract with a majorlabel.

The ‘A’ List is edited by Sarah Aarthun.Reach her [email protected].

Dishing It OutSARAHAARTHUN

BirthdaysActor Robert Wagner, 78. Singer Roberta Flack, 71. Olympic gold-medal swimmer

Mark Spitz, 58. Country singer Lionel Cart-

wright, 48. ABC News correspondent

George Stephanopoulos, 47. Actress Laura Dern, 41. Actress Emma Roberts, 17.

In History1968: U.S. figure skater Peggy

Fleming won America’s onlygold medal of the WinterOlympic Games in Greno-ble, France.

— ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dern Roberts

Today: Feb. 10

LOS ANGELES — John Legend, LilMama, Corinne Bailey Rae and gos-pel singer Shirley Caesar paidtheir “Respect” to Aretha Franklinin a musical tribute to the Queenof Soul.

They and other stars helpedlaunch Grammy weekend Fri-day by honoring the 65-year-oldR&B diva as MusiCares Personof the Year.

Franklin is up for her 18thGrammy tonight, nominated fora duet with Mary J. Blige.— ASSOCIATED PRESS

!

More Grammys coverage on4E.

Renfro OD’d onheroin, morphine

LOS ANGELES — The death lastmonth of 25-year-old actor BradRenfro was caused by a heroinand morphine overdose, accord-ing to the coroner’s report.

The Los Angeles County Cor-oner’s Office ruled the deathwas accidental. His body wasfound on Jan. 15 in his home.— ASSOCIATED PRESS

Talks halt betweenBurton, his ex

LOS ANGELES — Mediationtalks collapsed between Tim Bur-ton and his ex-girlfriend, whoclaims she was cheated out ofher rights to assets that the di-rector promised her during theirnearly decade-long relationship,attorneys said. The legal fight isscheduled to play out before LosAngeles Superior Court JudgeHarold Cherness on Aug. 12.

Lisa Marie, a former CalvinKlein model, met Burton at aclub in 1991 and went on to starin several of his movies whilethe couple lived together. Bur-ton broke up with her nearly 10years later. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

Musicianspay tribute,‘respect’ toFranklin

DAN STEINBERG – ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

SO GLAMOROUS: Singer Fergie (left) and Interscope Geffen A&MRecords Chairman Jimmy Iovine pose at a party honoringTimbaland in Los Angeles on Friday.

HERMANN J. KNIPPERTZ – ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

CHECK OUT HIS INK: Actor Tom Arnold shows off a tattoo during aphoto call for his movie “Garden of the Night” at the 58thInternational Film Festival Berlinale in Berlin on Saturday. Thefestival runs through next Sunday.

DAN STEINBERG – ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

TEEN ‘IDOL’:Former “AmericanIdol” winner JordinSparks poses at aparty honoringTimbaland in LosAngeles on Friday.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA

@charlotte.comLook and Listen

• The Cruelest Cuts: Watch video scenes from inside the poultryplant as the Observer investigates the House of Raeford Farms:www.charlotte.com/poultry • NASCAR Season Begins: For more coverage from Daytona International Speedway, including race results, blogs,notebooks and slideshows, log in to: www.thatsracin.com• Black Tie: Who’s on the scene at parties, benefits and galas? Olivia Fortson captures the scene: www.charlotte.com/living• Your Story: Go inside the StoryCorps mobile, which is in Charlotte through February, and see how facilitators capture people telling their life stories: www.charlotte.com/news • Hoops: Check out a slideshow with shots from Saturday’s actionaround the Carolinas and the ACC: www.charlotte.com/hoops• Travel: Readers send photos holding copies of the Observer fromdistant locations: www.charlotte.com/travel• NFL: What do you think of the Panthers reaching a deal withdefensive tackle Damione Lewis? Express your thoughts on our Inside the Panthers blog at: www.charlotte.com/panthers• Blotter: Find latest crimes in MecklenburgCounty: www.charlotte.com/news• Golf: See a slideshow of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: www.charlotte.com/golf

Connect with the Observer

• Inside the NBA: New Jersey beat Charlotte onFriday, and reporter Rick Bonnell says Bobcats“management should be perplexed by this one.”Read more at: www.charlotte.com/bobcats

What Everyone’s Reading Online

The top 3 viewed stories on Charlotte.com at 6:15 p.m. Saturday:1. WBTV anchor says her firing was swift2. MSNBC’s Chelsea comment angers Clinton3. Bride dies during marriage’s first dance

News You Can Use

• Meals: Seven-day menu planner: www.charlotte.com/living

Bonnell

Lottery Drawings–––––––

Here are the winning numbersselected Saturday.

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PICK 4 Midday: 8-2-5-5 Evening:4-9-8-7

P O W E R B A L L

4-23-24-30-43Powerball: 28 Power Play: 5

Corrections andClarificationsThe Observer strives to beaccurate and fair. Thosevalues are crucial to ourrelationship with readers.We are committed tocorrecting our mistakespromptly. Corrections fromall main Observer sectionsare published here. Errorson Opinion and Viewpointare corrected on thosepages. Errors from ourregional publications arecorrected on page 2 of thosesections.

A photo in Saturday’sObserver of a woman out-side the Cabarrus CountyCourthouse was actuallyan unidentified woman,not the mother of LisaGreene. The photo captionwas incorrect.

If you see a mistake, please callus at 704-358-5040 or e-mail usat [email protected].

Top romantic retreatsCoastal Living magazine names top island destinations just in time for Valentine’s Day.

1. Bermuda2. Manhattan (New York City)3. Big Island of Hawaii4. Whidbey Island, Wash.5. Lovers Key, Fla.

— COASTAL LIVING MAGAZINE

IF YOU SPY A CELEBRITYIN CHARLOTTE, LET US

KNOW!Send photos or words about it

to saarthun@charlotteobser-

ver.com. Be sure to tell us yourname and a daytime phone

number.

By Min LeeAssociated Press

PERTH, Australia — Heath Led-ger’s family and friends and Aus-tralia’s entertainment elite badehim farewell at a private memo-rial service Saturday in hishometown. The 28-year-old ac-tor died Jan. 22 in his Manhattanapartment from a prescriptiondrug overdose.

Michelle Williams, who became

romantically involved with Led-ger while filming“BrokebackMountain,” ar-rived at the serv-ice with Ledger’sparents in a six-car motorcade.

The 75-minuteservice kicked offwith the perfor-mance of a didgeridoo, a tradi-

tional Aboriginal wind instru-ment, performer Levi Islam said.Rock songs were also played –Bob Dylan’s “The Times TheyAre A-Changin,” the Beatles’“Here Comes the Sun,” “WishYou Were Here” by Pink Floydand Neil Young’s “Old Man.”

Organizers also showed foot-age from Ledger’s films and of2-year-old Matilda, his daughterwith Williams.

MUSIC, F ILM CLIPS AT SERVICE IN PERTH

Ledger gets an Aussie farewell

Ledger

For Valentine’s Day on Thurs-day, a fill-in-the-blank sonnetby reporter Dan Zak:

Your (1-syllable body part, plu-ral) are ruddy in winter’sharsh light

As heaven lets tumble its frozentears.

On Valentine’s the world seems(1-syllable adjective) andright

As we sigh and (3-syllable verb)through the years.

But (1-syllable exclamation)!Think not of seeking affec-tions

Elsewhere. Remember you aremine tonight.

Love’s not composed of endlessdirections

But of something freer – a(1-syllable animal, singular)in flight.

Shall I compare thee to my lastlover?

Thou art more (2-syllable ad-jective), my sweet valentine.

Your breath smells of(2-syllable food item), yourlids hover

O’er eyes whose fairness rivalsspring’s sunshine.

Love’s a (1-syllable noun), theysay, so gird your loins now;

I’ll take you to (a desirableplace, 1 syllable), if you showme how. — WASHINGTON POST

Poem starter for your sweetie

Today we ask you to join usfor a six-day series on the plightof Carolinas workers who putAmerica’s most popular meaton the table.

These workers – about28,000 of them in the Carolinas– process chicken and turkey inall its forms. Whole birds, fillets,nuggets, slices, cubes, sausageand even hot dogs.

It may surprise you to learnthat most of the workers speakSpanish. Many of them enteredthe country illegally.

Should that matter as youconsider the working condi-tions you will read about?

I say yes, but maybe not forthe most obvious reason.

It should matter because theneglect of these workers ex-poses an ugly dimension to anew subclass in our society. Adisturbing subclass of compli-ant workers with few, if any,rights.

I say disturbing becauseNorth and South Carolina sharesome regrettable history ofbuilding economies on thebacks of such workers.

Before the Civil War, slavesand poor sharecroppers pow-ered the region’s tobacco andcotton plantations. Early in the20th century, children as youngas 8 were put to work in Caroli-nas textile mills to help feedtheir poor families.

Consider the parallel to ille-gal immigrants. Same as slavesand sharecroppers, same as thecotton mill workers derisivelytermed “lintheads,” this sub-class is now a scorned bunch.

And yet they help power oureconomy. We live in housesthey built. We drive on high-ways they paved. We eat thechicken and turkey they pre-pared.

Illegal immigrants often takethe least desirable jobs, earninglow wages, because those jobslift them and their families fromthe poverty they left behind intheir homelands.

As a group, they are com-pulsively compliant, ever-con-scious that one complaint couldlead to their firing or arrest ordeportation.

“Some speak out, but most ofthese workers just wanted to re-main in the shadows,” saidFranco Ordoñez, a reporterwho spent months speaking toworkers in the Latino commu-nities surrounding the poultryplants. “It’s just not worth it,considering how much they’vealready risked, to draw more at-tention to themselves – even ifthey’re hurt. They’re like theperfect victims.”

And, as you will read today,businesses take advantage of

their silence and vulnerability.Will we allow such condi-

tions to go unchecked again?That is the broader question

raised by an Observer investiga-tion.

It’s also all the more reasonyou should be concerned aboutthe treatment of these workers.

Our team of reporters and ed-itors spent 22 months inter-viewing more than 200 poultryworkers throughout the South-east and analyzing industrydocuments. Their investigationsoon led them to focus on one ofthe largest Carolinas-basedpoultry producers, House ofRaeford. Its eight plants havebeen cited for more serioussafety violations than all buttwo other poultry companies inrecent years – and more thansome companies several timestheir size.

Our journalists found evi-dence that House of Raefordhas failed to report serious in-juries, including broken bonesand carpal tunnel syndrome.They discovered that plant offi-cials often dismissed workers’requests for medical care thatwould cost the company mon-ey.

They also found that Houseof Raeford has undergone awork force transformation. Inthe early 1990s, its workers werelargely African Americans. To-day, between 80 percent and 90percent of workers at some ofits plants are Latinos. Most haveno legal standing in this coun-try; most are poor.

They are our newest sub-class.

If you look beneath Ameri-ca’s entanglements with slaveryand child labor, you will findgovernments that failed fa-mously to balance a free marketagainst the inherent promise ofbasic human rights.

And today? No question,failed government policies pro-duced our present crisis over il-legal immigration. Yet Washing-ton’s official approaches to thisissue continue to range fromhalf-hearted to demagogic.

We should demand that ourleaders repair those policieswith realistic solutions. But ascitizens and consumers, weshould also insist on humanetreatment for this new subclassof Latino immigrants who nowwork to the benefit of many inthis country.

We’ve learned from our his-tory. We are better than that.

[email protected] or704-358-5001.

JOHN D. SIMMONS – [email protected]

A worker trims wings as chickens move past. Many poultryworkers have no standing in this country and are reluctant tocomplain about poor working conditions.

Poultry seriesexposes a new,silent subclass

–––––––Neglect of workershas ugly precedentin Carolinas history

–––––––

EDITOR

Rick Thames

77

77

85

85

85

85

95

95

95

20

20

95

85

4040

26

26

26

40

40

Asheville

Florence

Charleston

Columbia

Greenville

Hickory

Raeford

Rose Hill

Wilmington

Charlotte

Raleigh

S . C .

N . C .

Hemingway

Poultry plant locations

House of RaefordFarms

A poultry leader

SOURCES: North Carolina Poultry Federation, South CarolinaPoultry Federation, Manufacturers' News, Observer research TED MELLNIK–[email protected] WM PITZER–[email protected]

More than 80 percent of the nation's poultry is processed in the South. North Carolina ranks second in turkey processing, behind Minnesota, and fourth in chicken processing. About 50 processing plants are spread across the Carolinas, including seven House of Raeford plants.

The amount of poultry processed in North Carolina each year – nearly 3 million tons – is equal to the weight of about 20 Queen Mary 2 ocean liners.

North Carolina’s poultry industry employs more than 20,000 workers. Its plants process more than 700 million chickens each year.

South Carolina’s poultry industry employs about 8,000 workers. Its plants process more than 200 million chickens annually.

ty logs, a top OSHA official says. • At four of the company’s largest Car-olinas plants, company first-aid atten-dants and supervisors have dismissedsome workers’ requests to see a doctor– even when they complained of debil-itating pain.

Companies have a financial incentiveto hide injuries. Ignoring them lowerscosts associated with compensating in-jured workers for medical care and lostwages.

Also, the government rewards com-panies that report low injury rates byinspecting them less often. And reg-ulators rarely check whether compa-nies are reporting accurately.

Government statistics show a de-cade-long decline in injuries amongpoultry workers. Critics say the num-bers are misleading. They point to onegovernment measure showing that em-ployees in toy stores are more likelythan poultry workers to develop mus-culoskeletal disorders.

Experts say that’s implausible; poul-try workers routinely make more than20,000 cutting motions a shift, and thework often leaves them with nerve andmuscle damage.

House of Raeford and other poultrycompanies depend heavily on workers’hands to turn thousands of birds eachday into convenient cuts for restau-rants, stores and cafeterias. Companiesincreasingly rely on Latino immigrants,who are often reluctant to complain forfear of being fired or deported.

House of Raeford says it looks out forthe safety of workers and treats themwith respect.

“We come to work with five fingersand toes,” said company safety directorBill Lewis. “And we go home with thesame thing we came in with.”

The newspaper asked one of the fed-eral government’s top record-keepingexperts to review House of Raeford’ssafety logs and what injured workerstold the Observer. Bob Whitmore, whohas directed the national injury and ill-ness record-keeping system for the U.S.Labor Department since 1988, said hebelieves his agency has failed to protectpoultry workers.

Whitmore was not authorized tocomment for the government but saidhe felt compelled to speak on behalf ofworkers.

After reviewing the Observer’s find-ings, he said, “This is violating the lawsof human decency.”

Growth comes with cost

House of Raeford isn’t a householdname.

It has climbed from a backyard birdoperation to one of the nation’s top 10poultry processors, helping makeNorth Carolina the second-largest tur-key producer. The company expandedturkey consumption beyond holidaydinner tables by creating new products,including deli-style breast meat andturkey “dinosaur” wings. It has grownby acquiring competitors and sellingchicken parts overseas.

Its rise has come with a human cost.Workers have been maimed by ma-

chines and poisoned by toxic chem-icals. Two were killed in accidents man-agers might have prevented. Even moresuffer from grueling, repetitive workthat can leave their hands wracked withpain or missing fingers.

The company, based in Raeford inEastern North Carolina, has been citedfor 130 serious workplace safety vio-

lations since 2000 – among the most ofany U.S. poultry company.

In communities surrounding Houseof Raeford plants, the pain of poultrywork can be found in aging trailer parksand clusters of weathered rental houseswhere sheets cover windows for pri-vacy. Knee-high rubber boots spatteredwith chicken fat rest on stoops.

In Raeford, about 100 miles east ofCharlotte, former line worker Clau-dette Outerbridge lay awake nights be-cause of pain pulsating in her righthand. The ache, she said, stemmedfrom her work, which included cuttingthousands of turkey gizzards each day.

During her more than five years atthe plant, Outerbridge held a variety ofjobs, including pulling out turkey gutsand trimming parts. She said shemoved from New York, where sheworked as a police department clerk,

and took a job at the plant in 1998.She began visiting the first-aid sta-

tion almost daily around 2002 to copewith the pain, she said. A first-aid atten-dant, she said, gave her a cream but per-formed no tests and refused her requestto see a doctor.

She recalled times on the productionline when her hand hurt so badly shedropped her scissors and cried.

“They’d say, ‘Oh, you’re not hurt-ing,’ ” Outerbridge said. “They mademe feel that I was bothering them to goto the nurse, that I was supposed to takethe pain.”

When she told a plant manager sheneeded medical help, “He sat me downand he said, ‘I’m sorry, there’s nothing Ican do about it,’ ” recalled Outerbridge,now 48. “That day, I got a lawyer.”

In 2003, she went on her own to adoctor, who diagnosed her with severe

carpal tunnel syndrome and later per-formed surgery, she said. She settled aworkers’ compensation case with thecompany the following year for an un-disclosed sum.

“I just wanted justice,” she said. “Ijust wanted someone to take care of myhand.”

House of Raeford said it can’t discussOuterbridge’s case because the settle-ment is confidential.

Human resources director GeneShelnutt said the privately held com-pany considers its workers family. Thecompany, he said, “would never allowanyone to mistreat anyone in the family.… I believe we have provided the care

for our employees thatis expected.”

Current and formerhuman resources em-ployees at two Houseof Raeford plants saidthe company finds rea-sons to fire injuredworkers.

Belem Villegas, aformer employment supervisor at theGreenville plant, said her boss didn’tlike “repeat complainers.”

For five years until spring 2005, Ville-gas hired workers and translated forSpanish-speaking employees. She

–––––––Poultry from 1A

JOHN D. SIMMONS – [email protected]

The House of Raeford plant in West Columbia, S.C., processes 750,000 chickens a week. Chickens are de-feathered, gutted and conveyed to processing lines. The company says it has “programs in place toprovide a safe and respectful work environment for all business associates. These programs adhere to government regulations and guidelines …”

JOHN D. SIMMONS – [email protected]

Claudette

Outerbridge says

her hands were

injured at a House of

Raeford plant in

Raeford, where her

job included cutting

turkey gizzards. “I

would go to work

sick or I would go to

work in pain, and

they didn’t care,”

she says.

Villegas

SEE POULTRY|NEXT PAGE

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER | www.charlotte.com • • • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2008 11ATHE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER | www.charlotte.com • • • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2008 11A

I just wanted justice. I just wanted someone to take care of my hand.”

Pain of poultrywork is foundnear plants

House of RaefordHeadquarters: The privately heldcompany is based in Raeford inEastern North Carolina.

Processing plants: Four in NorthCarolina, three in South Carolinaand one in Louisiana.

Employees: About 6,000.

Annual sales: Nearly $900 million,including some to China, Afghani-stan and other countries.

Ranking: It’s among the nation’stop 10 chicken and turkey produc-ers.

Production: Slaughters and pro-cesses about 29 million pounds ofchicken and turkey each week.

Customers:• Restaurants including Blimpie,Golden Corral and Ryan’s. • Schools around the U.S., includ-ing Charlotte-MecklenburgSchools. • Stores includingHarris Teeter, FoodLion and LowesFoods. The compa-ny’s deli meat ismarketed under thename “LakewoodPlantation.” • Distribution companies that sup-ply food to restaurants and institu-tional kitchens.

SOURCES: Observer research, House of Raeford,Dun & Bradstreet, Watt Publishing, NationalPoultry and Food Distributors Association

CLAUDETTE OUTERBRIDGE, FORMER HOUSE OF RAEFORD EMPLOYEE

THE CRUELEST CUTS THE HUMAN COST OF BRINGING POULTRY TO YOUR TABLE

“

WM PITZER - [email protected]

Concealing dangerous conditions

SOURCES: OSHA, Observer research

During the past decade, regulators have cited more than 50 poultry plants for failing to properly record workplace injuries. Some examples:

3

1

4

2

1

4

2

3

What should be recorded on OSHA injury and illness logs?Companies should record significant work-related injuries and illnesses, including those that result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfers, and medical treatment beyond first aid.

Which companies does OSHA target for inspection? OSHA targets companies reporting higher-than-average injury rates. However, the agency rarely checks whether companies are reporting honestly - and checks the accuracy of

only a small percentage of injury logs, which are kept at plants.

How often do regulators cite companies for underreporting?Citations for underreporting have dropped sharply since 1990, when state and federal OSHA agencies cited employers for record-keeping violations more than 10,000 times. More than 100 of those citations were for poultry processors.

In 2006, the total number of citations was less than 4,000 and fewer than 10 were for poultry processors. OSHA says the drop is partly due to a policy change in the 1990s that allowed companies to

fix minor paperwork violations to avoid a citation.

How does OSHA monitor whether companies are telling the truth?OSHA conducts occasional audits of injury logs. But Bob Whitmore, an OSHA expert on injury records, said the agency’s once-aggressive focus on enforcing record-keeping regulations “fell off the radar screen in 1990 and never returned.”

One example: An Observer review of nine years of OSHA audits showed most lasted one day. Whitmore said they should take a week or more to catch “significant and fraudulent problems.”

Selectedcitations

*OSHA cited the company for a record-keeping violation but deleted the citation as part of a settlement. The company disagreed with OSHA’s characterizations and said there was no practice or pattern of discouraging employees from reporting injuries.

Gold’n Plump Poultry, Arcadia, Wis.Inspectors in 2004 cited the company for failing to record several cases in which employees suffered hearing loss.

Trinity Valley Foods, Irving, Tex. Firefighters in 2005 had to administer oxygen to at least two employees after a liquid nitrogen leak. Those injuries weren’t recorded on the logs, OSHA found.

Marshall Durbin,Hattiesburg, Miss. * OSHA concluded in 2003 the company had created an environment where employees felt dissuaded from reporting injuries. Most went to their own doctor or to the emergency room at their own cost. The company also failed to record some injuries and keep records of all visits to the safety coordinator.

House of Raeford Farms, Raeford, N.C.N.C. regulators concluded in 1998 that the plant had crossed at least 35 names off injury logs.

O S H A A N D W O R K P L A C E I N J U R I E S

shared an office with the plant medicaldirector and said as many as 20 workersa day came in saying their hands, wristsand arms hurt.

She said she urged plant managers tosend injured employees to a doctor, butthey often refused. “They’d say, ‘Belem,if they keep coming to the office, they’regoing to have to be let go.’ ”

Workers got the message. “You com-plain and you become unemployed,”Villegas said.

House of Raeford didn’t respond toquestions about Villegas’ allegations.The company said it fired her becauseshe was “accepting money to provideemployment favors to potential em-ployees.” Villegas denied the claim andsaid she believes she was fired, in part,because she started speaking up forworkers.

The Observer interviewed morethan 50 workers no longer employed atHouse of Raeford. Ten said they werefired after reporting injuries.

Company officials said workers arerequired to tell supervisors if they arehurt and that they will be sent to plantfirst-aid stations, or outside doctors ifneed be. They also noted that plants arerepresented by the United Food andCommercial Workers union and that itsrepresentatives have “full grievanceprocedures at their disposal.” Localunion officials said membership is lessthan 30 percent at some plants becauseimmigrants are often reluctant to join,making it difficult to enact change.

“Certainly, we work hard to run a safeand healthy workplace, and to complywith all state and federal laws,” BarryCronic, complex manager of the Green-ville plant, said in a written response.“…If any supervisor is discouraging em-ployees from reporting injuries, that su-pervisor is in violation of company pol-icy.”

Carolina Cruz said her pleas for helpwere repeatedly ignored. A youngmother, Cruz took a job at the Green-ville plant in 2003 cutting chickenwings. After her hands started to throb,she said, she went to a company nursewho several times gave her ointmentand sent her back to the line. “Theydon’t help us at all,” she said.

By the summer of 2006, she said, “Mybones hurt …. If I continue like this, myhands are going to get to the pointwhere I won’t be able to do anything.”

Cruz later left the plant. House of Raeford declined to com-

ment on many of the workers’ specificallegations, saying that, without signedreleases, it was unable to discuss detailsof their health or employment. In gen-eral, the company said it found “manyinaccuracies” in the information work-ers provided to the Observer but de-clined to elaborate.

“The allegations made by these for-

mer employees do not fairly or accu-rately represent the policies or manage-ment practices of House of RaefordFarms,” the company wrote.

Injuries not reported

If House of Raeford’s records are ac-curate, the company in recent years hasoperated some of the nation’s safestchicken and turkey plants.

Businesses are required to recordmost serious injuries and illnesses onU.S. Occupational Safety and HealthAdministration logs. But it’s an honorsystem, and companies must give logsto regulators and employees only ifasked. Regulators use the logs to spottroubling workplace safety trends.

The newspaper obtained four yearsof logs for company plants in Green-ville, West Columbia and Raeford.

In a sampling of workers in neigh-borhoods surrounding the plants, theObserver confirmed 31 injuries seriousenough to be recorded for regulators. In12 of those cases, the injuries didn’tshow up on logs.

Seferino Guadalupe was driving amachine moving pallets of turkeybreasts at one of the company’s twoRaeford plants in November 2006when, he said, the brakes failed and hecrashed into a wall. Surgeons insertedscrews to repair his shattered ankle.

Bernestine Wright said her handswent numb after months of cuttingchickens into bite-sized pieces at theGreenville plant. She said a companynurse refused to send her to a doctorwhen she complained about pains.

The pain grew so intense, she said,she visited a doctor and received pain-killers. She was diagnosed with carpaltunnel syndrome in 2005, according tothe law firm that represented her in aworkers’ compensation case.

Lucas Hernandez cut his arm with aknife in summer 2005 while on the pro-duction line at the West Columbiaplant. He missed work the next twodays because of pain, he said.

None of those injuries showed up onHouse of Raeford injury logs.

In addition to the 31 injuries the Ob-server confirmed, 10 more workers de-scribed serious injuries that weren’t re-corded, but the newspaper could notconfirm their medical treatment.

Whitmore, the OSHA record-keep-ing expert, examined House of Raefordlogs and details of the 41 injuries theObserver found. He concluded thecompany violated workplace safety lawby failing to record more than half ofthose injuries.

“These are severe, serious, debilitat-ing cases,” Whitmore said.

Company officials said they followOSHA rules for recording injuries, andare unaware of any work-related in-juries being excluded from the logs.Lewis, the company’s safety director,said he couldn’t explain why Guada-lupe’s accident wasn’t included andcalled it “an isolated case.” He said thecompany has corrected its logs.

Company officials said Wright’s alle-gations are inaccurate but wouldn’telaborate.

At the West Columbia plant, safety

manager Mike Flow-ers said that becauseHernandez stayedhome on his own anddid not call his super-visor, managers didn’tknow the extent of hisinjury. “There’s a lot ofgray area,” Flowerssaid.

Nonsense, said Whitmore.“The supervisor knew there was an

injury. The person missed work and itwas because of pain related to an in-jury,” he said. “It was clearly recordable.Period.”

Record-keeping questioned

Poultry plants are filled with hazards.On one side of the factory, employeesgrab live birds before hanging them up-side down on moving hooks that whiskthem off for slaughter. On the otherside – after the birds are scalded,plucked and chilled – they’re hurriedalong production lines where workersstand shoulder-to-shoulder wieldingblades for hours with few breaks.

Temperatures hover near freezing toprevent the spread of bacteria. Waterdrips off machinery, falling onto floorsslick with chicken fat. The din of clank-ing conveyor belts makes conversationnearly impossible.

The conditions are ripe for musculo-skeletal disorders, which afflict themuscles and nerves in wrists, arms,necks and backs. MSDs also include re-petitive motion injuries, such as carpaltunnel syndrome and tendinitis.

At the West Columbia plant, whichemploys 800, not a single musculoskel-etal disorder was recorded from July2003 to April 2007, according to themost current records obtained by theObserver.

Twelve employees who worked atthe plant during that time said in in-

terviews they sufferedpains commonlybrought on by MSDs.Two said they had sur-gery for carpal tunnelat company expense.Most of the others saidthey complained tocompany officialsabout their injuries but

weren’t sent to doctors or given time offfrom work – steps that likely wouldhave made their injuries recordable.

James Mabe, the complex manager,said he was unsure why his logs showedno musculoskeletal disorders.

JOHN D. SIMMONS – [email protected]

Seferino Francisco Guadalupe holds an X-ray showing the screws that surgeons inserted to repair his shattered ankle. The injury happened in an accident at a House ofRaeford plant in 2006. House of Raeford failed to record Guadalupe’s fracture on its injury logs, as required by law. The company said it was an isolated incident.

SEE POULTRY|13A

…If any supervisor is discouraging employees from reporting injuries, that supervisor is in violation of company policy.” BARRY CRONIC, COMPLEX MANAGER OF THE GREENVILLE, S.C., PLANT

MORE COMPANY RESPONSE ON CHARLOTTE.COM/POULTRY

Flowers

–––––––Poultry from 11A

Company saysit strives for asafe workplace

Federal safety datamisleading, experts sayFederal statistics suggest poultryplants are safer than ever. Butexperts question those numbers.

In October, the U.S. Labor De-partment reported fewer poultryworkers were hurt in 2006 thanin any previous year. The govern-ment cited an injury and illnessrate of 6.6 per 100 workers,compared with 17.8 in 1996.

The National Chicken Councilpraised poultry processors foradopting an “emphasis on safe-ty, new and redesigned equip-ment and processes, early in-tervention, and other mea-sures....”

But Bob Whitmore, a longtimeLabor Department record-keep-ing expert, said the poultry in-dustry’s injury and illness rate islikely two to three times higherbecause of underreporting. He’sparticularly suspicious of OSHArecords showing no injuries atsome poultry plants. He said thegovernment has done little tocrack down on companies thatundercount injuries.

Rich Fairfax, OSHA’s enforce-ment director, said inspectorslook for underreporting butrarely find it.: “When we try totrack it down, it goes nowhere.”

Here are the 2006 rates of injuriesand illnesses per 100 workers:

Safer than a toy store?Workplace safety experts

also question a reported drop inmusculoskeletal disorders. In2006, 20.8 of every 10,000poultry workers missed workbecause of MSDs, down from88.3 in 1996, according to theLabor Department.

That 2006 rate would makepoultry plants safer than toystores. “It’s intuitively implausi-ble,” said Dr. Michael Silver-stein, a former OSHA policychief. “Something is clearlywrong.”

Here are the rates of MSDs resulting in lost time, per 10,000workers:

— AMES ALEXANDER AND KERRY HALL

Poultry processing6.6

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

6.0

4.4

7.7

7.5

4.4

2.4

2.0

All manufacturing

All private industry

Motor vehicle partsmanufacturing

Furnituremanufacturing

Textile mills

Pharmaceutical andmedicine manufacturing

Computer and electronicproduct manufacturing

47.4 Hobby, toy and game stores

38.6 Average for all industries

27.5 New car dealers

25.9 Pharmacies

20.8 Poultry processing

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

12A SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2008 • • • THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER | www.charlotte.comTHE CRUELEST CUTSTHE HUMAN COST OF BRINGING POULTRY TO YOUR TABLE

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Mabe

THE SERIES• Today: Poultry giant has masked the EXTENT

OF INJURIES in its plants. SPECIALTY CUTS put poultry workers’ hands at greater risk.

• Monday: MARVIN JOHNSON, House of Raeford chairman, has taken onregulators.

• Tuesday: ONE BOSS’ STORY: Pressure toproduce came at expense of Latino workers.

• Wednesday: COMPANY MEDICAL WORKERS sometimes make it hard for employees to get proper care.

• Thursday: Greenville, S.C., plant’s SAFETY STREAK is a myth, current and former workers say.

• Friday: LAX ENFORCEMENT of workplace standards allows dangerous conditions in poultry plants to persist.

READ OUR STORIES ONLINE AT WWW.CHARLOTTE.COM/poultry

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER | www.charlotte.com • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2008 13A

work stations and other safety measures con-tribute to low injury and illness rates, theysaid.

Mabe also said the plant recently spent $3.5million for equipment that included a ma-chine to remove guts from chickens, eliminat-ing a highly repetitive job.

He offered another explanation: “Hispan-ics are very good with their hands and work-ing with a knife. We’ve gotten less com-plaints.”

Asked to elaborate, Mabe said, “It’s morelike a natural movement for them.”

Tom Armstrong, a University of Michiganprofessor who has studied the prevalence ofMSDs in poultry processing, questioned howMabe arrived at his conclusion about Hispan-ics. “I know of absolutely no data to supportthat,” he said.

Armstrong said it’s highly unlikely a largepoultry plant could go consecutive yearswithout a case of carpal tunnel or tendinitis.

“I’d be skeptical of the record-keeping in asituation like that,” he said.

Company fights in court

House of Raeford has a history of un-derreporting injuries.

In 1997, union leaders at a plant in Raefordreceived calls from workers complainingabout injuries. Yet the plant was reportingone of the industry’s lowest injury and illnessrates – 3.5 per 100 workers – well below the in-dustry average of 16.6.

The union looked closer and found theplant had crossed 159 names off its 1996 and1997 injury logs.

State regulators investigated and found that35 of those names had been crossed off with“plain indifference to the law.” They could notconfirm others because some of the workershad left the plant and could not be found.

Regulators designated the violation as“willful” – the toughest category underOSHA rules – and recommended a $9,000fine. House of Raeford fought back. The statethrew out the willful designation and reducedthe fine to $800. House of Raeford says it hassince established procedures “to prevent anyfurther occurrences of the same nature.”

Because House of Raeford reports some ofthe industry’s lowest injury and illness rates,workplace safety officials rarely conduct ran-dom inspections at its plants.

Several times when inspectors did show upat one of the Raeford plants, managers refusedto let them in.

Acting on a tip that workers were sufferinginjuries, regulators in 1999 began investigating.They spoke with 40 workers, many of whomcomplained of throbbing pain in their hands,arms and shoulders. More than a third hadbeen diagnosed with repetitive motion prob-lems.

One of the inspectors, J. D. Lewis, recallsseeing young workers who could no longeruse their arms or hands properly. One couldn’tlift his arms above his head, he recalled.

Inspectors wanted to talk with more work-ers, but House of Raeford officials repeatedlyblocked them – even when they arrived with awarrant. Company officials said the interviewswould disrupt operations.

The case went to N.C. Superior Court,where Judge Jack Hooks ruled in late 2000 thatthe state had no authority to investigate fur-ther. His reason: Compliance deadlines for anew federal ergonomics standard had not yetkicked in.

Still suffering

A visit to the largely Latino communitiessurrounding the Raeford plants reveals thehidden cost of poultry work.

A year after the accident that shattered hisankle, Guadalupe struggles to walk withcrutches and said he is unable to work be-cause of lingering pain.

Four houses down, Ernesto Ramirez, a Houseof Raeford sanitation worker, said he had blurredvision for three days in 2006 after chlorinesplashed into his eyes from a loose hose at work.

Down the road, Guillermo Santiago hadthe top half of three fingers sheared off lastFebruary when he tried to jimmy loose a hosefrom a grinding machine. Doctors were ableto reattach just one finger.

A native of Vera Cruz, Mexico, Santiagosaid he’s reminded of his accident each timehe looks at his hands.

“I’m never going to be the same.” — STAFF DATABASE EDITOR TED MELLNIK AND STAFFRESEARCHERS MARIA WYGAND, SARA KLEMMER AND MARIONPAYNTER CONTRIBUTED.

By Kerry Hall And Ames AlexanderStaff Writers

Bob Whitmore is doing what few careergovernment employees dare – publicly crit-icizing his own agency.

Whitmore, an expert in record-keeping re-quirements for the U.S. Occupational Safetyand Health Administration, said OSHA is al-lowing employers to vastly underreport thenumber of injuries and illnesses their workerssuffer.

The true rate for some industries – in-cluding poultry processors – is likely two tothree times higher than government numberssuggest, he said.

Whitmore is not authorized to speak for thegovernment and is risking his job simply bytalking to the Observer, he said.

“I want to hold people accountable that areabusing workers,” he said. “It’s as simple asthat.”

OSHA officials say they look for underre-porting but rarely find it.

Whitmore has directed OSHA’s record-keeping system since 1988. Early in his ca-reer, he said, OSHA looked closely at compa-nies’ injury and illness logs and issued bigfines to businesses that underreported suchincidents.

But by the 1990s, he said, industry groupsand pro-business lawmakers were accusingOSHA of focusing on what they perceived as

frivolous paperwork violations. Today, he said,the agency is conducting fewer inspectionsand issuing fewer fines, leaving businesses topolice themselves.

The government, he said, has no clear pic-ture of the hazards that lurk inside some ofAmerica’s most dangerous manufacturers.

A leading manufacturers group contendsthe government figures are accurate. Whileunderreporting occasionally happens, it’s rare,said Hank Cox, a spokesman for the NationalAssociation of Manufacturers.

In July, Whitmore was placed on paid ad-ministrative leave after a confrontation with asupervisor. He said the supervisor spit on him,so he stuck his foot in the man’s door andthreatened, “If you ever do that again, I’ll kickyour a--.”

Whitmore has filed a complaint alleging ahostile workplace. As of this month, he wasstill on administrative leave.

The labor department declined to commenton Whitmore’s status citing “privacy consid-erations.”

He says his agency is at faultRecord-keeping chief says OSHA lets companies underreport injuries

COLBY WARE – SPECIAL TO THE OBSERVER

Bob Whitmore,an OSHArecord-keepingexpert, spent aweekendexamining Houseof Raeford safetyrecords, nationaldata andinformation thatworkers sharedwith the Observer.“This is abuse,” hesaid. “I don’t knowwhat else to call it.”

HOW THE OBSERVER DID THIS INVESTIGATIONObserver reporters interviewed more than

200 poultry workers across the Southeast,along with regulators, workplace safetyexperts, lawyers and company officials. Theyreviewed thousands of pages of OSHAdocuments, academic studies, workers’compensation cases and rarely-examinedcompany injury logs. They analyzedgovernment databases with information aboutall workplace safety enforcement nationwide,as well as injury rates reported by plants.

They also toured three poultry plants in theCarolinas and Virginia and obtained records ofambulance calls to some plants.

Companies are required to keep records ofwork-related injuries and illnesses that result inmedical treatment beyond first aid, days awayfrom work, loss of consciousness and death.

To analyze underreporting, the newspaperinterviewed injured House of Raeford workersand compared their accounts to company injury

records from 2003 to early 2007. TheObserver counted cases as unreported only ifit was able to confirm that the workersreceived medical attention beyond first aid orhad time off work. The newspaper also askeda top OSHA record-keeping expert to assesswhether the cases should have beenrecorded.

The perils of processingAbout 100 U.S. poultry workers have died on the jobduring the past decade, and more than 300,000 havebeen injured. The industry’s death and injury ratesare higher than those for manufacturing as a whole.For many workers – including those who sufferamputations, chemical burns and debilitating handor wrist ailments – on-the-job injuries have left alasting mark. Poultry plants are typically dividedinto two functions. At one end, birds are slaughtered,scalded and plucked. At the other end, tightlyclustered workers cut and package meat.

1. Receiving and killingForklift drivers unload cages of live chickens orturkeys. Workers hang the birds upside down on anoverhead conveyor. Machines kill, scald andde-feather the birds.

HAZARDS: Forklift accidents account for manyserious injuries. Many employees develop hand, arm,shoulder or back injuries from lifting thousands of livebirds each day. Frequent contact with chicken fecesand dust leaves some workers suffering fromrespiratory problems.

2. EviscerationWorkers or machines remove internal organs, whichare placed in bins and graded by inspectors. Someorgans, such as gizzards and livers, may be cleanedand packaged. The carcass is cleaned andvacuumed. The bird is packaged whole afterevisceration or placed on cones for cutting andde-boning.

HAZARDS: Employees may develop repetitivemotion problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome ortendinitis.

3. De-boningWorkers use their knives and hands to separate themeat from the skin and bones. Some employeesmake more than 20,000 cuts each day.

4. CuttingWorkers use scissors, knives and saws to cut wingtips, wings and legs from birds.

HAZARDS: Cuts, nerve damage andrepetitive-motion injuries such as tendinitis andcarpal tunnel syndrome are common. Cuts nottreated promptly often become infected from thebacteria on raw chicken.

5. PackagingEmployees package meat and box it for shipping.

HAZARDS: Repeated reaching and lifting may leaveworkers with injuries to their backs, shoulders, armsand hands. — AMES ALEXANDER

SOURCE: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

PHOTOS BY JOHN D. SIMMONS – [email protected]

–––––––Poultry from 12A

JOHN D. SIMMONS – [email protected]

Guillermo Santiago of Vera Cruz, Mexico, had the tips of three fingers sliced off while washinga grinding machine at a House of Raeford plant in Raeford.

Company hashistory of fightswith regulators

BOB WHITMORE, DIRECTED THE NATIONAL INJURY AND ILLNESS RECORD-KEEPING SYSTEM FOR THE U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT SINCE 1988

I want to hold people accountable that are abusing workers.”

STAFF GRAPHIC BY HOLLY FARRANT AND JASON WHITLEY

THE CRUELEST CUTS THE HUMAN COST OF BRINGING POULTRY TO YOUR TABLE

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How to reach the reporters:Ames Alexander – 704-358-5060; [email protected] Hall – 704-358-5085; [email protected] Ordoñez – 704-358-6180;[email protected] (Ordoñez speaks Spanish.)Peter St. Onge – 704-358-5029;[email protected]

Spanish versionTo read some of the Observer’s poultry storiesin Spanish, pick up Wednesday’s edition of La Noticia.