Code 2081 and Code 2089 “Packing House – All Operations” shall not be assigned to the same risk unless the operations described by these classifications are conducted as separate and distinct businesses.

Code 2081 applies to employers engaged in butchering or slaughtering livestock.  The livestock is received from customers and held in pens prior to being sent to the slaughtering room.  The livestock are then slaughtered in the slaughtering rooms.  After slaughtering, the carcasses are skinned, cut into halves or quarters.  Meat may also be boned and ground.  Some employers may also shape ground meat into patties.  This classification includes the handling of livestock, preparation of dressed meat, rendering and washing of casings, salting of hides and cooking of offal.  Employers subject to this classification do not engage in the treatment of viscera or by-products after removal from the carcasses. 

The following clarifies the distinctions between Code 2081 and Code 2089 “Packing House – All Operations” for classification purposes.  Although both classifications contemplate butchering or slaughtering and the handling of livestock, the packing house classification, Code 2089, is applied to those employers whose operations involve meat processing beyond the point of cutting, boning and dressing for distribution to customers such as wholesalers, retailers, restaurants and hotels.  In order to qualify for Code 2089, the risk’s principal operations must be that of processing meat.  Processing meat includes but is not limited to processes such as smoking or curing hams, bacon manufacturing, pickling or otherwise preserving beef or pork cuts and, in many cases, the packaging of meat products in the form that they will be subsequently sold to the consumer.  Employers that do not process meat as described above but only engage in sausage manufacturing and butchering operations that involve cutting of steaks, chops, roasts and incidental grinding of meat are assigned to this classification.