Studies have shown that in addition to the immense suffering of the non-human animals (NHAs) there, slaughterhouse workers (SHWs) also suffer mentally and physically.

According to a 2021 systemic review of 14 studies concerning SHWs:

>...SHWs have a higher prevalence rate of mental health issues, in particular depression and anxiety, in addition to violence-supportive attitudes. Furthermore, the workers employ a variety of both adaptive and maladaptive strategies to cope with the workplace environment and associated stressors.

Other issues the review found SHWs to be at increased risk for included: stress, low self-esteem, lack in sense of purpose, lack in sense of personal development, aggression, psychoticism, and somatization.[1] One of the reviewed studies found that SHWs experience depression at a rate four times the national average,[2] while another found that women working in poultry plants experience severe depression at a rate of more than five times that of women in other jobs.[3] One former SHW, while explaining an incident involving the slaughter of a pregnant cow who was in the middle of giving birth, stated:

>I'd come home and be in a bad mood[.] Go right downstairs and go to sleep. Yell at the kids, stuff like that.... I've gotten so mad some days I'd go and pound on the wall.... See, I'm an ex-Marine. The blood and guts don't bother me. It's the inhumane treatment. There's just so much of it.[4]

One South African study saw some of their subjects describe their experiences with substance abuse or outside violent actions as maladaptive behaviour.[5]

SHWs also suffer physical trauma. In the US, SHWs are three times more likely than the average American worker to suffer serious injury, and nearly seven times more likely to suffer repetitive strain injuries.[6] A 2019 report by Human Rights Watch into meatpacking in the USA found that:

>Most workers interviewed...for this report shared experiences of serious injury or illness caused by their work. Many showed the scars, scratches, missing fingers, or distended, swollen joints that reflected these stories. Some broke into tears describing the stress, physical pain, and emotional strain they regularly suffer. Almost all explained that their lives, both in the plant and at home, had grown to revolve around managing chronic pain or sickness.[7]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, SHWs were subjected to unnecessary risk by meat companies. In a damning report by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, they concluded:

>Meatpacking companies knew the risk posed by the coronavirus to their workers and knew it wasn’t a risk that the country needed them to take. They nonetheless lobbied aggressively—successfully enlisting USDA as a close collaborator in their efforts—to keep 33 workers on the job in unsafe conditions, to ensure state and local health authorities were powerless to mandate otherwise, and to be protected against legal liability for the harms that would result. The results of this lobbying campaign were tragic: during the first year of the pandemic, workforces for Smithfield, Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef alone saw at least 59,000 worker infections, at least 269 worker deaths, and countless more cases and deaths among meatpacking-adjacent communities driven by plant outbreaks.[8]

Cases like that weren't unique to the US.[9] Slaughterhouses aren't just awful for the non-human animals who suffer and die there, they're also awful for the humans who work there.

References

[1] Slade, J. & Alleyne, E. "The Psychological Impact of Slaughterhouse Employment: A Systematic Literature Review." Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, vol.0, no.0, 2021.

[2] Leibler, J.H., Janulewicz, P.A. & Perry, M.J. "Prevalence of serious psychological distress among slaughterhouse workers at a United States beef packing plant." Work, vol.57, no.1, 2017, pp.105-109.

[3] Lipscomb,H.J., Dement, J.M. et al. "Depressive symptoms among working women in rural North Carolina: A comparison of women in poultry processing and other low wage jobs." International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, vol.30, no.4-5, 2007, pp.284-298.

[4] Eisnitz, G.A. Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry. Prometheus Books, 2007.

[5] Victor, K. & Barnard, A. "Slaughtering for a living: A hermeneutic phenomenological perspective on the well-being of slaughterhouse employees." International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, vol.11, no.1, 2016.

[6] Wasley, A., Cook, C.D. & Jones, N. "Two amputations a week: the cost of working in a US meat plant." The Guardian, 5 Jul 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/05/amputations-serious-injuries-us-meat-industry-plant. Accessed 30 Dec 2022.

[7] Stauffer, B. “When We’re Dead and Buried, Our Bones Will Keep Hurting”: Workers’ Rights Under Threat in US Meat and Poultry Plants. Human Rights Watch, 2019, p.2.

[8] ‘Now to Get Rid of Those Pesky Health Departments!’: How the Trump Administration Helped the Meatpacking Industry Block Pandemic Worker Protections. Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, 12 May 2022, pp.32-33.

[9] Plant__Eater. "Cargill issues lockout notice to staff at one of Canada's largest beef-processing plants." Reddit, 28 Nov 2021. https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/r49hja/comment/hmgtbnj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3. Accessed 30 Dec 2022.

I can’t answer your question. I can only anecdotally state that after working 3 1/2 years in a Tyson slaughter-to-pack plant, my body was wrecked and I couldn’t eat chicken. Took about 3 more years after leaving before I could.