{"681833":{"#nid":"681833","#data":{"type":"news","title":"SHES Collaborates with University of California San Francisco to Assess Pork and Poultry Worker Safety","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EATLANTA and SAN FRANCISCO \u2014\u003C\/strong\u003E When University of California San Francisco (UCSF) officials were contracted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to conduct research on line speeds at pork and poultry processing facilities, they knew exactly who to ask for additional support: researchers from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oshainfo.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESafety, Health, and Environmental Services\u003C\/a\u003E (SHES) division at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA program housed in Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/innovate.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EEnterprise Innovation Institute\u003C\/a\u003E, SHES offers occupational safety, health, and environmental (OSHA) consulting and training services to manufacturers across the country and has worked extensively examining food-processing workers\u2019 exposure to chemicals.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUCSF needed a partner with specific scientific expertise regarding employee exposure to a chemical used to limit bacterial growth during pork processing. SHES\u2019 prior working relationship with UCSF also proved beneficial. In 2021, SHES industrial hygienist Brandon Philpot was the primary investigator (PI) for a collaborative project with a group from the UC system to develop safety training for workers fabricating engineered stone countertops.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cUC San Francisco\u2019s School of Medicine was so impressed with our team\u0027s work, they came back to us for this much larger project,\u201d said Jenny Houlroyd, Ph.D., manager of occupational health services at SHES. \u201cWe\u0027re trying to build meaningful relationships and leverage expertise across institutions.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStudy Parameters\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study was initiated when the USDA\u2019s Food Safety and Inspection Service division contracted with third-party experts to investigate whether increases in poultry and swine evisceration line speeds affected worker safety.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA secondary aspect of the study looked at the potential for an increase in worker exposure to peracetic acid (a food-safe chemical applied to surfaces in certain food-processing applications) when processing line speeds are increased.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe study\u2019s designers believed that ergonomics was the driving factor in worker safety, but they were unsure if by slaughtering and processing more animals per day, workers were also applying more peracetic acid,\u201d said Houlroyd. \u201cThis is what the SHES team was asked to measure.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to tapping Georgia Tech\u2019s expertise in industrial hygiene, UCSF brought in several other schools in the University of California system, primarily UC Berkeley, to assist with research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EScope of SHES\u2019 Role\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur work with UC started in July 2024 and was completed in January 2025,\u201d said Houlroyd, who served as the project\u2019s PI and UC liaison.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EConducting the field research were SHES industrial hygienists Philpot, Sean Castillo, and Bob Hendry, as well as SHES OSHA Training Institute Education Center manager Hilarie Warren. The group traveled to six pork processing plants across the U.S. over 11 weeks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough the preferred method for industrial hygiene and worker exposure is to chart direct exposure to the workers themselves, the study did not allow employees to wear chemical monitors on the processing line for safety reasons.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur on-site sampling included putting on a variety of wearable monitors on ourselves,\u201d Hendry said. \u201cWe\u2019d then go to the various work areas in the plant where peracetic acid was used, stand next to the workers, and take readings.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEach SHES team member upheld consistent sampling standards, but they were stationed at different sites. As a result, Castillo said, \u201cIt was up to us to use professional judgment to evaluate where the areas of concern were. We had to make sure we were very organized so that if I was at one site one week and Bob came out the next week, we could replicate our data almost one-to-one.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EImportance of Worker Interviews\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe USDA study received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, which is needed if researchers interact with human subjects. Houlroyd noted that because the USDA study was considered formal research, IRB approval was necessary.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough conducting worker interviews was not a requirement of their participation, the SHES team set up a special room where they interviewed employees on ergonomic issues and musculoskeletal disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe were able to take the load off from our collaborators and, in doing so, speed up their process so that they could finish their research earlier,\u201d said Castillo.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPhilpot stressed the importance of worker interviews to the study. \u201cThe process was good for collecting background information on what the employees were going through, day in and day out, to see if there\u2019s anything that we could do to help their situation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy putting workers at ease, he and his teammates were able to gain their trust and listen to their concerns. \u201cThey could actually see that we cared about what\u0027s going on,\u201d Philpot said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Houlroyd, \u201cOne of the reasons the UC group loved Brandon and Sean and Bob so much is that we\u0027ve had so much experience doing interviews, we were quick to jump into that role and help them. Our team knows that there is dignity in all labor, so we approach workers with respect. We meet the workers where they are, and we speak to them not as an academic, but human to human.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStudy Results\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EActing Secretary of Labor Julie Su reported that the USDA study found that faster line speeds did result in an increased risk of injuries, but that this risk \u201ccould be mitigated with other controls, specifically having more workers on the line and having effective ergonomic plans.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe results of the peracetic acid research conducted by SHES, however, were inconclusive. \u201cWas there more exposure at the faster line speed?\u201d asked Houlroyd. \u201cWe found one plant where it was true, but it wasn\u0027t consistently true at all the plants, so it was determined that there should be more research.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERegardless, she welcomed the chance to strengthen collaborative ties with the UC system and celebrated the meticulous and compassionate work conducted by SHES.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI am so grateful for this team for traveling to remote locations in our country and spending 11 weeks in slaughterhouses,\u201d said Houlroyd. \u201cI had no doubt that we could do it, and we did it well.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe project was designed to optimize worker safety.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The group traveled to six pork processing plants over 11 weeks."}],"uid":"36604","created_gmt":"2025-04-16 14:26:07","changed_gmt":"2025-04-16 14:45:08","author":"etolpa3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-04-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-04-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676852":{"id":"676852","type":"image","title":"IMG_5832.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EHilarie Warren is SHES\u0027 OSHA Training Institute Education Center manager.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1744813949","gmt_created":"2025-04-16 14:32:29","changed":"1744813949","gmt_changed":"2025-04-16 14:32:29","alt":"a photo of a woman, Hilarie Warren, in safety testing gear","file":{"fid":"260697","name":"IMG_5832.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/16\/IMG_5832.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/16\/IMG_5832.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":597338,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/16\/IMG_5832.jpg?itok=aKkrR7D4"}}},"media_ids":["676852"],"groups":[{"id":"236531","name":"Enterprise Innovation Institute"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"139","name":"Business"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"194474","name":"Hilarie Warren"},{"id":"188875","name":"Safety Health and Environmental Services"},{"id":"11378","name":"food safety"},{"id":"3671","name":"Enterprise Innovation Institute"},{"id":"815","name":"economic development"},{"id":"194475","name":"UC San Francisco"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193654","name":"Enterprise Innovation Institute"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"106361","name":"Business and Economic Development"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEve Tolpa\u003Cbr\u003Eetolpa3@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["etolpa3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}