Dairy products
Injury rate comparisons
Injury incidence rates (ie injuries per 100,000 workers per year) averaged for the three years 2005/06-2007/08 are as follows:
- Dairy processing/cheese manufacture: 2241
- All food and drink industry average: 1470
- All manufacturing industry average: 913
There are around 30 different food and drink manufacturing industries. View a comparison graph of all injuries.
Main causes of injury
- Manual handling and lifting - especially heavy loads or sharp edges
- Slips - mostly due to wet floors
- Being struck by objects - mostly falling objects, sometimes hand tools
- Exposure to harmful substances - cleaning fluids, fume, splashes, CIP failures, steam, hot water
- Falls from height - off ladders, stairs, tanks and from vehicles/tankers
- Transport - including tanker movements and lift trucks
- Machinery - lifting machines, conveyors, packaging machines
Main occupational ill health risks
- Musculoskeletal injury from manual handling wheeled racks, containers etc
- Work-related upper limb disorders (WRULDs), eg from repetitive packing work
- Noise induced hearing loss from noisy plant, eg homogenisers, bottling lines, blast chillers, pneumatics
- Respiratory irritation from breathing fumes such as chlorine, hypochlorite and ammonia from cleaning operations and refrigeration plant.
