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Workers Walk Out After Fourth Death At Smithfield Meat Plant (plantbasednews.org)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/53152091

Following an anonymous complaint in February, OSHA inspected the plant and fined Smithfield Foods $9,931.60 after observing workers’ exposure to “amputation hazards.” This was preceded by serious citations in 2021, 2023, and 2025.

Working in a slaughterhouse is extremely dangerous. In the US, there are approximately two amputations per week, primarily due to the industry’s poor working conditions and excessively fast pace.

[...]

As reported by KWQC, the leaders also acknowledged “community concerns” over a backlog of rendering material – animal waste, internal organs, and decaying meat – being stored outside the plant, causing a strong, unpleasant smell in the city.

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[–] 133 points 1 week ago (20 children)

Oh a 10K fine, that'll show them! The system works as intended. The only way to stop the amputations and death is a union.

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  • [–] 86 points 1 week ago (11 children)

    A union? Don't you know that unions demand union dues? Wouldn't you rather use that money to buy a video game? Buying a video game sounds much better than stopping amputations and deaths at work don't you agree?

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  • [–] 8 points 1 week ago (4 children)

    I've seen that picture before, but I haven't noticed before now that it is by someone called Delta. Which is pretty funny (to me), because there is a union in Norway (for people employed by municipalities) called Delta (website in Norwegian, didn't see any option for English).

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  • [–] 15 points 1 week ago (4 children)

    That is fucking insane. I've seen places get $10k in fines for not putting labels on pipes. Those machine should have been shutdown and not allowed to run if the operators were exposed to amputation hazards. That inspector must have been in someone's pocket

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago* (2 children)

    Those horrific machines are the safest they have and they're still unsafe. It wasn't long ago that the salmon packers would injure out with terrible injuries due to the fact that their job involves a VERY sharp knife and a blinding pace. Slit median nerves mean you can't hold much, so ya spot them by their floppy left hand.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    That's from the government. You can demand (and usually get) a fairly large sum of money for a work related amputation (the amount varies on what is amputated. A toe is less expensive than an arm or an eye. I haven't looked at the tables in a while, but there are generally agreed upon amounts for each body part in actuarial tables).

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