Health and Work Safety: Food Safety and the Food Supply

So we forgot that terrorists were still looming large until the little Nigerian hopped aboard the big jet plane to Detroit just a half hour before it lifted off. Let us use this Christmas Day event as a reminder that we are vulnerable in other venues as well. The food industry, for example. Whether it involves international political extremists or just your everyday disgruntled worker who “has had it” with his boss, a coworker, or the company.

If you work in the food industry – or if you buy food at someone’s workplace – workplace violence could suddenly and unexpectedly take on a whole new meaning for you.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 76 million food-borne illness cases occur “naturally” or “non-intentionally” in the United States every year.

This amounts to one in four Americans becoming ill after eating foods contaminated with pathogens such as E. Coli O157: H7, Salmonella, Hepatitis A, Campylobacter, Shigella, Norovirus and Listeria.

Every year about 325,000 people are hospitalized with a diagnosis of food poisoning, and 5,000 die.

How easy would it be, then, for a disgruntled worker or customer to intentionally contaminate our food supply?

Is it any wonder that our Government and the food industry are concerned that terrorists might also target our food supply?

Are you concerned? Should you be?

Health and Safety at Work: Finding a Safe Job

• “[There are] … four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody would not do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.” (Michaud, PA. (1995). Accident Prevention and OSHA Compliance.  Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, Inc., p.3)

Assuring safe jobs is everybody’s business — including the unemployed who are seeking work. Not that we have a lot of  choices in this terrible job market.

Numerous individuals tell us they are exhausted, working every hour of overtime that they can get during the big holiday sales.  They’re not complaining –they seek the overtime because they know or suspect that they will be unemployed after the big holiday sales are over.  Then comes the job of seeking new employment.

It’s tempting to take any job that is offered, but we hope you can find one for which you would expect a very low level of accidents.   As you plan your job hunt and as you interview for various jobs,  seek information about accidents and safety.  Or, as the workload slows at the beginning of the year, look at the job that you currently have to see whether it could be made safer.

Here are some questions for which you may wish to seek answers:

• Has this organization ever received an OSHA citation? If so, how was it handled?
• What is this organization’s safety philosophy? Its safety program?
• What is the accident record for this organization, and how does that compare to others in the field?
• What is the accident record for this particular job, and how does that compare to similar jobs in other organizations?
• What are the normal working conditions for this job?
• What kinds of unsafe conditions might I encounter in this job?
• What is the role of my potential supervisor in accident prevention?
• What kind of insurance and/or worker’s compensation applies in case I do have an accident on this job?
• Based on what you hear or can observe, is this not a hostile environment that is likely to experience violent incidents in the future?

We sincerely hope that the employment situation improves in the coming year.  Meanwhile, have a blessed holiday, and good luck on finding or keeping a safe job.

Health and Work Safety: The Government and Food Safety

In the summer of 2009, a Food Safety Working Group established by President Obama recommended a food safety approach based on three principles: prioritizing prevention, strengthening surveillance and enforcement, and improving response and recovery.

Other plans supporting a new food safety system that is focused on preventive controls — not just response — and on holding companies responsible for safety problems have been recently introduced or passed by the House of Representatives (H.R. 2749, H.R.1332, H.R.875), supported by both the Health and Human Services and the USDA, and also backed by various consumer groups and farm-to-table industries.

The Consumers Union is also on record as strongly calling for greater government regulation re. food safety.

Where do you stand on this issue?  Do you think the Federal Gov’t. should be doing more to protect our food supply? Or do you think the Gov’t is interfering with the food industry?