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What is it like working at a slaughterhouse?
Just like a hospital has a distinctive smell, slaughterhouses smell like warm blood. There’s iron in the air all the time—even over the bleach, you can still smell it. These are rough jobs, so while they’re all good, honest guys who work in slaughterhouses, they kill things for a living.
What were some of the dangers that the workers in the meat packing plants experienced?
Men who hauled 100-pound hunks of meat crippled their backs. Workers with tuberculosis coughed constantly and spit blood on the floor. Right next to where the meat was processed, workers used primitive toilets with no soap and water to clean their hands.
How has the meat packing industry changed?
U.S. meatpacking has been transformed in the last two decades. Far fewer meatpackers now slaughter livestock, but their plants are much larger. Consolidation toward larger plants led to sharply increased concentration in cattle slaughter and persistent concerns over the future of competition in that industry.
How bad is working in a slaughterhouse?
The workers suffer chronic pains in their hands, wrists, arms, shoulders and back. Repetitive stress injuries are unavoidable under the frantic pace that most facilities choose to operate. Working an 8-hour shift in this type of environment is physically and mentally exhausting.
What do you call someone who works in a slaughterhouse?
You can also call a person whose job is slaughtering farm animals a butcher. Because this is a fairly bloody, gory occupation, the word is also used to mean a cruel, ruthless murderer.
Do slaughterhouse workers get PTSD?
Slaughterhouse workers, in essence, were “desensitized,” and their behavior outside of work reflected it. Here’s how the Yale Global Health Review explains the kind of PTSD that slaughterhouse workers suffer from: A type of post-traumatic stress disorder called perpetration-induced traumatic stress (PITS).
What impact did working in the meat packing plant have on workers?
The industry operated with low wages, long hours, brutal treatment, and sometimes deadly exploitation of mostly immigrant workers. Meatpacking companies had equal contempt for public health. Upton Sinclair’s classic 1906 novel The Jungle exposed real-life conditions in meatpacking plants to a horrified public.
Do butchers get PTSD?
Here’s how the Yale Global Health Review explains the kind of PTSD that slaughterhouse workers suffer from: A type of post-traumatic stress disorder called perpetration-induced traumatic stress (PITS).