Man hurt at Foster Farms calls for change
Sunday, February 12, 2006 12:44 AM PST
By Barbara LaBoe
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe Foster Farms worker yanked into a conveyor belt last February says he's on the road to recovery, but he thinks the company should revamp its safety training at the Kelso plant.
Gary Garza, 44, was injured Feb. 25 when the machine he was cleaning turned on without warning. He remembers the tug on his clothes, but the rest -- including arm, head and chest injuries and a life-flight to a Portland hospital -- is lost in a haze of pain, unconsciousness and medication.
Doctors feared they might have to amputate Garza's left arm after it was twisted in the machine. By the time co-workers freed him, his humerus was broken and muscles torn almost completely through.
The scars look like his flesh was torn apart by the machine's gears, Garza said recently in a telephone interview from California. "It really is a horrendous thing."
Today, though, doctors are optimistic that he'll get at least partial nerve regeneration in the limb (all medical bills have been paid through the workers compensation program since he was injured on the job). He's maxed out on his physical and occupational therapy sessions, but his doctor is working to see if more are possible.
His arm used to hang limp, but Garza now has some sensation and is able to use it from time to time -- though even small movements are painful.
And, after relocating to Encinitas, Calif., to be closer to family, Garza is thrilled to be working again as a checker at a gas station convenience store.
"(Working again) has really kind of lifted my mood," he said. "Things are going good."
That said, Garza thinks changes are needed at Foster Farms.
"It's hard for me to think about saying anything to hurt those people there, but it wouldn't be (right) to not say anything, to just sweep anything under the rug," he said. "So, yeah, there are some safety concerns."
He said there are times he wonders if he himself did something wrong, but Garza said, "I was doing exactly what I was trained to do."
Garza said he'd like to see supervisors training employees on the processing floor in addition to the classroom, making sure workers really do understand the lock out, tag out skills that ensure the machines are thoroughly disengaged. In addition, he said some of his co-workers don't speak English well or at all (Garza, born in Nevada, has spoken English his whole life). And workers also worry about the strict processing schedule in the plant, he said, making them more likely to take safety shortcuts.
All three areas were cited by the state Department of Labor and Industries when it fined Foster Farms $4,800 in September. The fines were for violations observed during an inspection, not Garza's accident or another involving a chicken-skinning machine, but Garza's accident is what prompted those inspections.
Foster Farms disputes the inspectors' findings, saying the injuries were a direct result of employees not following the company's safety regulations. The company has appealed the state's fines, saying the violations were unfounded and the inspectors biased. The appeal is pending.
Tim Walsh, the company's vice president of human relations in Livingston, Calif., said last week that the company thoroughly reviewed the Kelso's plants safety procedures within 24 hours of Garza's accident and everyone was re-trained in how to properly shut down and lock machines for cleaning and maintenance.
New policies weren't added, Walsh said, because officials determined the current standards were sufficient. If new safety procedures are recommended during the L&I appeal, "we'll certainly follow them," Walsh said.
Garza still gets angry about his situation, and said he's still reviewing files from the state and Foster Farms about what happened to him. He's talked to lawyers, but said he has no current plans to sue Foster Farms.
His main goal, Garza said, is to convince Foster Farms officials that changes must be made to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
"I want to see if there have been remedies to help ensure there aren't things still in place to precipitate this again," he said. "I really am concerned about that."
But, Garza said, he's not bitter.
He can now lift a load of laundry or a small bag of groceries and recently was able to open a door again -- a "miraculous" event he said he never fully appreciated before the accident. Since he's right-handed, the injury also wasn't as debilitating as it could have been.
Safety concerns aside, Garza said he'd consider working for Foster Farms again, providing his arm improved enough for a trucking job. He was recently offered a job at the Kelso plant sorting chicken feet, but he wants to remain in California.
And he was overwhelmed by the support and well wishes he's received from the Lower Columbia area, saying he can't thank people enough. He agreed to the interview, he said, because he wanted to let people know he's making progress.
"It was like an extended family, the community reaching out the way you guys did," he said. "I never really felt that anywhere else."
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