KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports1989 changes to Tyson plant still benefit workers today
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DAKOTA CITY, Neb. (KTIV) - Worker safety changes made at the Tyson Fresh Meats plant, in Dakota City, Nebraska, nearly two decades ago, are now the standard for plants across the company.
The ergonomics program got underway in early 1989 to solve the labor dispute between then-owner IBP, and the labor union.
Ergonomics is the science of designing workplace stations to fit the worker.
The tangible benefits for Tyson-- and specifically the Dakota City plant-- have been a decrease in the injury and illness rate by 67%. Prior to the change, the meatpacking industry in the 1970s and early 80s focused on volume. Tyson Foods COO Jim Lochner says, "workplace safety and health did not have the attention and focus. It was more of a productivity game without consideration for the health and well-being of the line worker. And what we had to do was really change that whole philosophy."
Lochner says they have also decreased the amount of worker turnover, which was typically high in the meat packing industry in the 70s.
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