WASHINGTON, DC – The Meat Institute today recognized nearly 200 meat and poultry plants at the 2024 Environmental, Labor and Safety+ Conference in New Orleans for improving and achieving high levels of worker safety performance.

“The Meat Institute is honoring these establishments and their leadership for continuing to prioritize the health and safety of the hard workers who help feed America,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “These awards recognize the commitments made by companies to continuously improve their workplace safety practices and reduce workplace injuries.”

The Worker Safety Recognition Awards honor plants that have achieved a high level of safety performance as part of the continuing effort to reduce occupational injury and illness. The Worker Safety Award Winners can be found here.

The various levels of awards – including the Award of Honor, Award of Merit, Award of Commendation, and the Certificate of Recognition – are based on a National Safety Council (NSC) evaluation of each eligible plant's actual safety performance as well as its implementation of various key components of an effective safety and health program. The NSC staff examined Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Total Recordable Cases rate and the rate for Cases With Days Away From Work, Job Transfer, or Restriction (DART) data for each facility.

Companies that earned these awards also reported data in 2023 for The Protein PACT, which is uniting the largest-ever industry effort to strengthen animal protein’s contributions to healthy people, healthy animals, healthy communities, and a healthy environment.

About the Meat Institute:

The Meat Institute is the United States’ oldest and largest trade association representing packers and processors of beef, pork, lamb, veal, turkey, and processed meat products. Meat Institute members include over 350 meat packing and processing companies, the majority of which have fewer than 100 employees, and account for over 95 percent of the United States’ output of meat and 70 percent of turkey production.