Alberta ‘failed’ beef plant workers amid COVID-19 outbreak in ‘preventable tragedy’: report

A report released Monday says a number of factors converged to produce a “preventable tragedy” in which two workers and four close contacts died after a massive COVID-19 outbreak at Cargill’s beef processing plant in High River, Alta., in 2020.

The report from the Parkland Institute, which is a research institute at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, states “systemic regulatory failure,” along with inaction, overconfidence and other factors on the part of the province’s then-Ministry of Labour and Alberta Health Services contributed to the outbreak.

“The evidence shows that there was nothing inevitable about the scale of the outbreak,” reads the report titled Essential and Expendable: How Alberta’s COVID-19 Response Failed Cargill Workers.

An outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 saw at least 950 staff at the facility — nearly half of its workforce — test positive for the virus. Two workers, 67-year-old Bui Thi Hiep and 51-year-old Benito Quesada, died of COVID-19. 

In 2020, more than a dozen employees told CBC News about their fears tied to physical distancing measures established at the plant and expressed their concerns about how they felt pressured to return to work amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sean Tucker, lead author of the report and a professor of occupational health and safety at the University of Regina, told CBC News the report’s main conclusion is that there’s a need for accountability.

“Our first recommendation is for the Government of Alberta to apologize to Cargill workers for serious problems with their responses,” Tucker said. 

“And secondly, to those responsible for public health in the province, and OHS, and other parts of government to be prepared for the next pandemic. If they aren’t ready, Cargill will likely repeat itself in another facility.”

The Alberta government said it was reviewing the full report and will take its findings into consideration.

A spokesperson for Cargill said the organization is reviewing the report, which “revisits an extraordinarily difficult period for our employees and the High River community.”

“Throughout COVID-19, protecting the health and safety of our people was — and remains — our highest priority,” Hli Yang wrote in an email. 

“We implemented extensive safety measures as information and public health guidance evolved, including screening and temperature checks, physical barriers and distancing, changes to shift and break schedules, and enhanced cleaning and sanitizing. 

“The breadth of actions we took, which are not fully reflected in the report, were guided by our values of putting people first and doing the right thing, and our responsibility to protect our people during an unprecedented time.”

The report from the Parkland Institute states that it is based on thousands of pages of documents obtained through freedom of information requests, as well as an analysis of publicly available documents and select interviews.

It states that it is the first independent investigation into the crisis. It released its findings on Monday, at a news conference held at the UFCW Local 401 headquarters in Calgary. 

A spokesperson for the Parkland Institute said the union has been a financial supporter of Parkland for many years.

“But they … do not determine our research, methodology, or in any way influence our analysis,” wrote Rita Espeschit in an email.

Starting in early April 2020, Alberta Health Services (AHS) was made aware of positive cases at the company’s plant in High River. After more spread, the president of the union called for the plant to be immediately closed.

As Cargill struggled to meet staffing challenges, the company announced a one-time $500 attendance bonus, as well as a $2 hourly wage increase.

“Some, given their circumstances, would go to work when they were ill,” Tucker said.

Most workers had families to support in Canada and their home country, the report states, and also lacked alternative sources of income.

“Like all essential workers, those working at meat-processing plants were ineligible to receive the federal pandemic income supplement known as the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit,” the report reads.

The report states that the features of meat-processing facilities, including low temperatures, crowding, humidity and insufficient ventilation, contributed to the spread of the COVID-19 virus in plants across the world.

Amid growing fear amongst workers, a joint telephone town hall was held with workers, senior Cargill managers and provincial government officials on April 18. 

As a part of that call, the report said, senior medical officers of health, as well as Dr. Deena Hinshaw, then Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, told workers that carpooling and crowded living conditions were contributors to the spread of the virus.

The minister of agriculture and forestry at the time, Devin Dreeshen, was also on the call and assured workers he was confident the plant was safe.

However, the report states that just hours after the meeting, Hinshaw asked senior public health officials “to determine the proportion of the Cargill cases that were due to workplace, carpool, household, and community transmission.”

“It was an admission that AHS’ public statements and messages to workers were not based on a rigorous analysis of the outbreak data,” the report reads.

The next day, Bui Thi Hiep was the first Cargill worker to die of COVID-19.

On April 20, Cargill announced it would shut down the facility temporarily.

The report argues that Alberta’s workplace safety and public health agencies failed to protect Cargill workers due to superficial inspections and poor co-ordination, as well as a lack of enforcement. 

“We can say that political pressure, deference to public health, negligence, and incompetence all contributed to the tragedy,” the report states.

Health and safety inspection of Alberta meat plant linked to 515 COVID-19 cases was done by video call

In 2024, arbitrator James Casey ruled that Cargill wouldn’t have to pay damages of about $20 million for how it handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was recognized amid the worldwide pandemic that protecting the food supply chain was critical, Casey wrote, and as a result, food processing plants would be declared essential services and would not be required to close.

“In the context of a worldwide pandemic disrupting our society and causing catastrophic levels of death and misery, there was no pre-existing playbook for managing COVID,” Casey wrote. 

“Employers, unions, governments and public health authorities had to make it up as they went along.”

The conclusion to not award damages, Casey wrote, was based on scientific knowledge as it existed at the time, adding, “it is not appropriate to second-guess Cargill’s decision based on current scientific knowledge about COVID-19 and current regulatory advice.”

Tucker said he disagreed with the arbitrator’s decision, arguing that workers should have been more directly involved in identifying and controlling workplace hazards.

“The question remains … when there is regulatory failure, which my co-author and I believe occurred in this case … does that absolve the employer from their responsibilities?” Tucker said. “And I would argue that it does not.”