Jessie Atkins, a federal food inspector, sued Sanderson Farms, Inc. after he allegedly slipped and fell on a piece of viscera at Sanderson’s chicken processing plant. Sanderson Farms appeals the Superior Court of Colquitt County’s denial of its motion for summary judgment. The trial court found that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether Sanderson had equal or superior knowledge of the allegedly hazardous condition of the floor, in light of Sanderson’s employment of “floor people” charged with the responsibility of keeping the plant floors clean. We granted Sanderson’s application for interlocutory appeal, but affirm. Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 c. We review a grant or denial of summary judgment de novo and construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant. Home Builders Assn. of Savannah v. Chatham County, 276 Ga. 243, 245 1 577 SE2d 564 2003.
So viewed, the record shows that Sanderson owns and operates a chicken processing plant in Moultrie. In addition to Sanderson employees, daily on-site, federal food inspectors are required to inspect each bird processed in the plant. See 21 USC § 451 et seq. Atkins began working for the United States Department of Agriculture as a poultry line inspector in 2001, working in several different poultry plants before he was transferred to Sanderson Farms in 2005. His duties required him to stand on an elevated platform a few steps up, perhaps three feet high and inspect hanging chicken carcasses for signs of disease or pathogens as they moved through a motorized processing line. He worked in close proximity with other USDA and Sanderson employees at his workstation. In fact a Sanderson “trim person” worked next to each inspector; that person responds to the inspector’s instructions regarding suspect meat by either marking it, discarding it, condemning it, or taking it to a veterinarian or plant official for inspection. A big trough of water runs along the floor under the processing line, in which “the guts and water run down.”
