TUCKER, GA. — The Joint Poultry Industry Safety & Health Council — made up of members from the US Poultry & Egg Association, National Chicken Council and National Turkey Federation — recognized a total of 272 chicken and turkey facilities for outstanding safety performance during the 2026 National Safety Conference for the Poultry Industry, held in Destin, Fla.

This year’s total of awarded facilities reached a new record, demonstrating the industry’s dedication to employee safety and health.

“Safety is not simply a metric, a program or something we measure at the end of the year,” said Rick Hellinga, senior director of safety, health and loss prevention at Simmons Foods and chair of the Joint Poultry Industry Safety & Health Council. “It is a responsibility we share every day, and it is reflected in how we work and how we care for the people who do that work. Recognizing a record 272 facilities this year is an outstanding achievement. More importantly, it reflects the poultry and egg industry’s continued commitment to putting people first and creating workplaces where working safely is simply how we work.”

The council bases its recognition on injury statistics from a three-year period (2023–2025) and a review of written applications evaluated by academic and industry safety experts.

This year, 81 facilities earned the highest level of recognition, the Award of Distinction, which honors facilities that demonstrate excellence in safety and health training, education and employee involvement and that maintain injury and illness rates at least 75% lower than the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) averages.

Meanwhile, 113 facilities received the Award of Honor, recognizing the same core safety principles with incident rates between 75% and 50% lower than BLS results. An additional 78 facilities received the Award of Merit, which recognizes facilities with rates between 50% lower and equal to BLS results.

Rachael Oatman is the digital media associate editor for MEAT+POULTRY. She has been at Sosland Publishing Company since 2022, covering the industry and managing the digital media channels of the publication. She also writes and edits web stories, images, about the meat industry. Oatman is a graduate of John Brown University.

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