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UFCW Stewards

Work Safe: Monitor Line Speeds

Oct 08, 2007

In her nearly eight years on the job at the National Beef processing plant in Liberal, Kansas, Theresa Garcia has seen the injuries that workers suffer when line speeds are too fast. “Muscle strains, torn ligaments, carpal tunnel-all kinds of injuries happen when speeds are too fast and meat starts piling up and stacking up,” says Garcia, a UFCW Local 2 member who works as an ergonomics monitor at the plant.
Last year, UFCW members at the Liberal plant asked the union to look at the jobs and line speeds to determine if staffing was sufficient for workers to safely keep up with the work. The time study carried out by UFCW industrial engineers showed that the staffing for one job in-particular chuck-boning was insufficient. As a result, the company agreed to add five additional chuck-boners to the line. The increased staffing, Garcia says, has been “a really big help. Now they have more time to work on the product and do the job properly.”
As Garcia and other UFCW work-site leaders know all too well, injuries in meatpacking happen at a far greater rate than those in other manufacturing sectors. Working with knives in hand, struggling to keep up with unprecedented production demands, meatpacking workers are injured at three times the rate of other manufacturing workers.
A key reason is dangerous line speeds. To ensure workplace safety, industrial engineers who work with UFCW urge plant workers to keep a close watch to see that lines in their plants are moving at safe speeds. Aside from the potential for injury, line speeds that are too fast usually mean that some workers have to work through their breaks or have to work past quitting time to get the job done.

 

If you feel that the line at your plant is moving too fast, a first step is to ask for a copy of the company’s crew chart-a document that outlines the standard for how many staff should be assigned to each job. Often, you might find that the company is not in compliance with its own crewing standards.

 

If necessary, the union can have industrial engineers conduct a time study. Joseph Rezac, UFCW Local 22′s chief shop steward at the Hormel plant in Fremont, Nebraska, recommends gathering as much information as possible before seeking a time study or filing a grievance. “There’s more to this than just getting the numbers. You should look at the safety, the ergonomics, and get the company to explain why the speeds are set the way they are. The company knows we have the right to file a grievance, and they don’t want that to happen.”
It’s important to get all the facts. There are times when time studies show a line is in compliance, but someone may feel it’s too fast because their knives are dull or they’re fatigued or just having a bad day. Rezac, who has worked for Hormel for 23 years, adds that it’s not difficult to detect the signs of unsafe line speeds. “I’ll find out right away if the line speed is up…The meat is not going to be cut properly or not going to be cut at all.”
When you see that happening, he says, it’s time to step up and start asking for changes to ensure that you and your co-workers are working in a safe environment.

UFCW Stewards

Don’t Pass Up the Opportunity for Safety and Health Training

Feb 08, 2007

Have there been a series of injuries at your workplace? Do you need help investigating the root causes of these injuries? If an ammonia leak occurred in your plant, would you know what precautions your employer should take or what the union’s role is?
Stewards have many responsibilities, but none as important as promoting the safety and health of fellow workers. Stewards are encouraged to build on their safety skills and knowledge by taking advantage of trainings available through the UFCW International’s Occupational Safety and Health Office.
Safety and Health Office staff members develop personalized trainings to address the specific needs of stewards and local unions. They are at no cost to members or local unions because they are funded through a grant from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Trainings take place inside plants, at local union halls, or at nearby facilities. The workshops accommodate any size group, and can be facilitated in both English and Spanish. They are open to UFCW stewards, rank-and-file members, safety committee members, and local
union representatives. Depending on the needs and availability of participants, trainings can be held for any length of time from a few hours to a few days.

 

The Occupational Safety and Health Office offers workshop trainings on many topics, including:

  • Identifying safety and health hazards in the workplace
  •  Incident investigations
  •  Workplace violence prevention
  • Building a stronger union through safety and health
  •  Workers’ rights under OSHA
  •  Ergonomics
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  •  Strengthening safety committees

 

Adolph Simms is a UFCW Local 325 member working at the Bay Valley Food Processing plant in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he has been a union safety representative for almost 10 years. Simms has participated in several UFCW safety and health trainings over the years and encourages others to take advantage of them.

 

“There are many opportunities for UFCW stewards and members to participate in safety trainings. If you think about it, the union’s basic mission is to advance the quality of life for workers. If there is a serious injury on the job, that clearly diminishes the quality of life for that worker and even the worker’s family.”

 

Simms says workers best know the hazards of their jobs, and it’s really in their interest to take an active role in safety and health on the job. “As workers, we have the most to lose from an unsafe work environment. Therefore we should have the largest role and the greatest impact in promoting workplace safety.”
Safety and health workshops can also be conducted at stewards’ conferences. In addition, the UFCW International hosts an annual Train-the-Trainer program where participants not only learn about safety issues, but also develop the skills needed to train their co-workers when they return to their worksite.
Simms has also participated in a Train-the-Trainer program and says the knowledge and skills he has learned from this workshop is helpful back on the job for many reasons. “Not only have I learned a lot and taken that knowledge back to the shop floor to help other workers,
but I’m also a part of contract negotiations to make sure our safety and health issues are addressed.”
If stewards don’t think they have time to participate in safety trainings, Simms argues it might make more sense to find a union member interested in making safety and health his or her only agenda. He says that stewards can be overwhelmed with many tasks, and it may work out better to have a union worker solely devoted to safety.

UFCW Stewards

Steward is Essential to Workplace Safety when Investigating Accidents

Feb 08, 2006

In your workplace, you may see safety slogans plastered on walls near machinery that say things like, “think safety,” “safety doesn’t slow the job down but mishaps do,” or “safety—
expect the unexpected.” Though these slogans are management’s way of complying with safety standards, they also insinuate that preventing accidents is the responsibility of the worker. For example, when was the last time you saw slogans that suggest safety is management’s responsibility, such as “design safe equipment” or “safety before profits?” Exactly.

So it should not come as a shock that when accidents happen, it really takes the union’s action to force the company to take responsibility and comply with safety standards.

Being on the front line, the steward plays an essential role in workplace safety by being involved in accident investigations. It is also vital for shop stewards to be on their union’s safety and health committee, so that co-workers know who to turn to in case of an
accident and to make sure the company puts in place safety measures to prevent workplace injuries.
Dolores Sandoval is a chief steward at UFCW Local 1546 and a member of her union’s safety committee. She recently investigated an accident involving a machine guard at her Hormel
Foods plant in Rochelle, Ill. Sandoval’s co-worker, who worked as a machine operator, slipped on a piece of bacon and her hand slid into the cutter. Had themachine guard been working correctly, the machine would have stopped automatically. But it didn’t stop. The outdated
guard did not completely guard the blade, which allowed the worker’s
hand to slide through. The cutter pounded through the worker’s thumb, cutting
it almost completely. The woman suffered nearly 30 minutes with her hand
lodged in the machine until maintenance could get her out.
While the worker was flown to Madison, Wis., to have her thumb operated on, the union immediately took action in response to the accident: The safety committee inspected the machine, Sandoval drove over three and a half hours to interview her co-worker recovering in the hospital, and Sandoval also interviewed workers on the line at the time of the accident and maintenance workers.
“When an accident happens, you must respond immediately by talking to the workers involved,” Sandoval said. “You get first-hand information of the accident, not management’s spin.”
Sandoval says that besides investigating the accident, stewards must make sure to go over the worker’s statement with them to prepare for meeting with management. That includes choosing and using the right words to say when describing the incident to management.
Management may try to twist statements around to blame the worker for getting hurt if the worker is not careful of how to word his or her explanation.
However, Sandoval’s years of experience as a steward and safety committee member paid off with a solid accident investigation. The union’s safety committee determined the company needed to put different guards on the machine. The company shut down the work area, and within three days of the accident, rebuilt the machine guards to meet safety standards.
Sandoval knows that if it weren’t for the union, management would place safety solely on the responsibility of the workers.
“The company still feels it was her fault, but they had to report it as an accident because of the union’s investigation,” Sandoval said. “It’s the union— not the company—that checks to make sure all the guards are now working properly and that the company supplies workers with necessary safety equipment.”

The accident happened in October, but doctors are still not sure the worker’s thumb will heal. The woman, who still has no feeling in her thumb, has been moved to light duty since returning to work.