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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990                   TAG: 9003212247
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A/7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

MORRELL, OSHA REACH SETTLEMENT

John Morrell & Co., one of the nation's largest meatpacking companies, has reached a settlement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that is expected to serve as an industry model for treating repetitive motion injuries, sources said Tuesday.

Under the agreement, which is scheduled to be announced today, Morrell will pay a fine of $990,000 and will make a $250,000 grant to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Administration. A year ago the company was fined $4.3 million for safety conditions at its South Dakota plant,

The Labor Department has targeted the nation's red meat industry in an effort to deal with the often crippling repetitive motion injuries which range from bursitis to carpal tunnel syndrome.

At the time it cited Morrell in October 1988, OSHA said its inspections showed the company had repetitive motion injuries nine times higher than average for the meatpacking industry.

The agreement with Morrell covers the operations of its slaughtering and processing operations at Sioux Falls and is similar to an agreement signed in late 1988 with IBP Inc., the nation's largest meatpacker. The Morrell agreement calls for the appointment of 15 "ergonomic monitors" to be picked by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents company employees, and a study of all jobs in the plant by an outside expert in ergonomics.

Ergonomics is the science of making the work place conform to the physical needs of the worker.

by CNB