US meatpacking plants deploy AI to monitor workers

American meat giants JBS and Tyson Foods have invested in an AI-powered smartwatch app that monitors workers’ movements. Investigate Midwest reports.

The tool’s developer, Mentore, says that the system uses observational data and AI technologies to improve workforce productivity and reduce workplace injuries.

After pairing with compatible smartwatches, the app uses sensors to collect information about force, rotation, speed, and the direction of the wearer’s hand movement during repetitive tasks. Analyzing the data, the system assesses the safety of these actions and warns the worker if they move too quickly or apply too much force.

Apoorva Kiran, co-founder of the startup, said the tool can also detect dehydration.

Then, in real time, the app converts raw data into metrics visible to supervisors on the information dashboard.

The tool is meant to address uncertainty and transparency concerns about the instrument by giving staff access to their current and past “risk of injury” metrics. However, it remains unclear whether employees can take any action to challenge these figures directly on the smartwatches.

The app can also distinguish between intense and moderate active movements. According to Mentore’s site, collecting such data will enable “real-time improvements in productivity and safety.”

Because of the constant fast and repetitive work, meat-processing plants are among the most dangerous workplaces in the United States. Workers frequently suffer injuries of varying severity from routine strain and overexertion, including limb amputations.

Magali Likolli, executive director of the nonprofit organization Venceremos, says that many of its clients, who worked for Tyson Foods, are well acquainted with the dangers associated with performance demands at the plant.

“All that is being deployed at the meatpacking plant benefits the enterprise itself, not the staff. Now companies are using technologies to monitor workers to see how much more they can bear,” she said.

According to the publication, the app is already installed on about 10,000 devices across five sectors in Canada, the United States, Chile and Japan.

“Besides surveillance and invasion of privacy, there is a real safety and health problem,” said Mark Lauritsen, International Vice President of the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW).

He said that requiring employees to wear watches or other adornments is a violation of occupational health and safety rules and can lead to injuries at work and product spoilage.

Lauritsen also added that if staff are compelled to use devices with the Mentore app at plants under UFCW jurisdiction, they will push back.

“We will not allow management’s desire for more money and greater productivity to endanger people’s lives and health,” he said.

In October, the gaming giant Caesars Entertainment and the REIT SL Green Realty proposed to deploy surveillance drones and install AI cameras on Times Square.

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