
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 18, 1993                   TAG: 9309180066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

2 YEARS AFTER POULTRY PLANT FIRE, USDA DOESN'T REPORT HAZARDS

After 25 people died in a fire at a Hamlet, N.C., chicken-processing plant in September 1991, plans were made for federal food inspectors to be trained to spot safety hazards at meat and poultry plants.

Two years after the deadly blaze, there's no such training program.

The Agriculture Department still hasn't reached agreement with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for OSHA to train the agriculture inspectors to recognize workplace safety hazards.

Under the arrangement, USDA inspectors, who often visit the plants on a daily basis, would inform OSHA if they found any violations.

Congressional sources and labor leaders familiar with the negotiations in Washington say midlevel Agriculture Department officials have been dragging their feet because they don't want their inspectors to take on new duties, The Charlotte Observer reported Friday.

"Training . . . inspectors to recognize and refer hazards to OSHA is a practical approach to protecting the lives of workers. USDA seems to have forgotten its commitment," said United Food and Commercial Workers Union Vice President Phil Immesote.

"We believe OSHA has made every effort," union spokesman Greg Denier said Friday. "USDA simply has not responded in what we believe is an appropriate manner, particularly because of the commitment they made following the fire."

In an interview, a USDA spokeswoman said an agreement was still a possibility.

It "is being considered at this time, but there's no new . . . direction or announcement I can make today," said Mary Dixon, deputy press secretary to Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy.

A USDA inspector visited the Imperial Food Products Inc., plant every day to ensure chicken was properly cooked and packaged. But the inspector never reported any safety problems and, two months before the fire, approved locking an exit door to keep out insects from a nearby trash bin.

The fire killed 25 and injured 56. The plant's owners later were fined more than $800,000 for many safety violations, including locked exits and no sprinklers.

Before the fire, the 11-year-old plant never had been inspected by state OSHA inspectors, nor by state agricultural inspectors, who routinely check for workplace hazards. The federal Agriculture Department generally inspects larger plants involved in interstate commerce.

After the fire, federal agriculture officials said workplace inspections weren't their responsibility, but about a month later, they announced their inspectors would make workplace-safety checks. "Following safety procedures is a serious business," the agency said in a statement then.

by CNB