Developing a Response to Emerging Issues in the Poultry Handling and Transportation Sector
July 10, 2012
CanAdvance
With $13,416 in funding, the Poultry Service Association (PSA) developed this project to explore health and safety guidelines, examine practices to assist poultry catching companies to comply with the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), and to ensure the safety of their workers. A Farm Safety Standards Working Group was formed through the PSA, comprised of individuals representing Chicken Farmers of Ontario, poultry processors, live haulers, hatcheries, and chicken catchers. The group worked diligently over several months to develop the Broiler Chicken Industry Safe Work Practices document. This document provides protocols for the safe delivery, catching and loading of broilers on farm. It was published in September 2010 and distributed to broiler producers, processors, hatcheries, catching companies and broiler transportation companies. The document has been translated into Spanish and Thai. The PSA also developed a catching report for members to document on-farm safety, flock health and condition, and adherence to humane catching and loading procedures. Human resource policies have also been written and provided to PSA members for use in their companies.
Initially the membership in the PSA was comprised of three poultry catching companies. It has now grown to represent approximately 75 per cent of the Ontario broiler catching and 85 per cent of the live haul poultry businesses by volume.
Investment in this project was provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Adaptation Programming and administered by the Agricultural Adaptation Council.
Connect with us
Twitter E-Mail RSS