ATL Standard

When the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) was tasked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to study line speeds in pork and poultry processing plants, they partnered with the Safety, Health, and Environmental Services (SHES) at Georgia Tech. SHES specializes in occupational safety and health consulting and has a history of working on projects related to food-processing workers.

UCSF required SHES’s expertise to investigate chemical exposure, specifically to a chemical used in pork processing. SHES’s prior collaborations with UCSF on safety training for workers were instrumental in forming this new partnership. Jenny Houlroyd, Ph.D., manager of occupational health services at SHES, noted, "UC San Francisco’s School of Medicine was so impressed with our team's work, they came back to us for this much larger project."

The USDA project aimed to examine whether increased line speeds in poultry and hog plants affected worker safety, with a focus on potential exposure to peracetic acid. Houlroyd explained, "The study’s 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."

SHES conducted field research from July 2024 to January 2025 across six pork processing plants. Though direct monitoring of workers was not permitted, the team used wearable monitors to gather data near the workers. Bob Hendry emphasized the consistency in their method, explaining, "Our on-site sampling included putting on a variety of wearable monitors on ourselves."

Interviews with workers were also conducted, providing valuable insights into ergonomic issues and musculoskeletal disorders. The SHES team made efforts to genuinely engage with workers, as noted by Brandon Philpot: "The process was good for collecting background information on what the employees were going through, day in and day out, to see if there’s anything that we could do to help their situation."

Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su shared that the study revealed faster line speeds increased injury risks, but these could be mitigated with additional workforce and ergonomic measures. The research on peracetic acid exposure found varying results, with Houlroyd stating, "We found one plant where it was true, but it wasn't consistently true at all the plants, so it was determined that there should be more research."

Houlroyd expressed gratitude for SHES's effort and underscored the importance of strengthening ties with the UC system: "I am so grateful for this team for traveling to remote locations in our country and spending 11 weeks in slaughterhouses."