On this page you will find health and safety information, news and links from 2010
HSE recently published its latest HSE Statistics (2009/10) on workplace injuries, work-related ill health and enforcement in GB. During 2009/10, in food and drink manufacture, there were 4185 'over-3-day absence' injuries plus 856 'major' injuries (eg broken bones or requiring hospitalisation). Expressed as injury rates, 'O-3-D absence injuries' reduced from 1197 (2008/09) to 1165 injuries/100,000 workers, a drop of 2.7%. The combined rate for 'O-3-D absence' plus 'major injuries' fell by 1% during 2009/10 which, when added to an earlier 3% drop in 2008/09, makes an overall reduction of 4% during the period 2008/10.
However there was a rise in the 'major injury' rate in 2009/10 from 224 injuries/100,000 workers in 2008/09 to 238 in 2009/10, a rise of 6% following many years of reducing major injuries. The long-term trend is however still downwards with the major injury rate generally reducing steadily since 1996 (when RIDDOR came into force). Long-term trends now show:
A pizza manufacturer has been prosecuted for endangering workers after failing to act on a Improvement Notice served by HSE. A doorway, which stood four metres above the ground, was used to load and unload goods from a forklift truck operating in a yard outside. However the doorway was kept open even when not in use and no barriers or railings were in place to stop workers falling to the concrete yard below. An HSE inspector issued an Improvement Notice but the defect was not remedied and, on a return visit, the inspector saw an employee lean out of the doorway to empty a bowl of water. The company was prosecuted for breaching the Work at Height Regulations in connection with non-compliance and was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs.
A snack food manufacturer and a chemical distributor have been fined a total of £350,000 after a worker was killed by a cloud of chlorine dioxide fumes. The incident occurred when a lorry driver inadvertently mixed up hoses on tanks while transferring sodium chlorite and hydrochloric acid. Green fumes of chlorine dioxide were released which were inhaled by the driver who died later in hospital. The investigating HSE inspector said basic risk assessments and clear procedures could have avoided the driver's death, but as it was there were a catalogue of serious failings.
HSE has recently completed a fatal accident investigation following failure of the ceiling of a frozen food store. Two men fell to the floor of the store when insulation panels separated from the steelwork, which supported the ceiling. One of the men died from his injuries. The store was constructed in the 1970s. The insulation panels consisted of a sandwich of steel sheets bonded to polyurethane foam. These were bolted to a metal support frame, with engineering grade plastic bolts. The manufacturer of the panels and bolts is unknown. The design is believed to have been common and there are likely to be many of these stores still in use.
An employee at a chicken processing firm severed a finger when his hand was crushed by the lifting mechanism of a forklift truck, when he was standing on the forks to access the back of a refrigerated trailer. HSE and manufacturer guidance warns it is unsafe to stand on the forks of a forklift truck but the company had not provided a safe way for workers to access the back of the trailers.
Another serious risk from standing on lift trucks forks to gain access at height is falling to the ground. In food and drink manufacture, almost one-third of falls from vehicles result from people falling from lift truck forks. This can result in fatal injury.
Five months earlier a worker at the same company tore the skin off the back of his own hand while using a carcass 'de-skinning' machine. The employee was using the machine to skin chickens when his glove became caught and his hand was pulled onto the cutting blade. The machine had inadequate guards, there was no emergency stop button and the gloves were not suitably protective.
In Court the company admitted two breaches of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 - one breach in relation to each incident. Magistrates fined the firm £4,000 for each charge (total £8,000) and ordered it to pay £5,500 in costs.
A maintenance engineer at a bakery and a collague were removing 65kg metal pillars from a storage area using an angle grinder. One of pillars fell striking the engineer on the head causing severe brain and spinal injuries requiring hospitalisation for more than six months. The HSE investigation found that the company had not properly planned the task and had not trained workers on how to carry out the work safely. The company was prosecuted under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act, was fined £14 000 and ordered to pay nearly £7 000 towards prosecution costs.
This annual initiative provides UK businesses with an easy and simple way to replace broken, damaged or bent ladders and trade them in for safe new ones. Since its launch, Ladder Exchange has resulted in nearly 7,000 dodgy ladders being removed from use.
This year's programme will run for 3 months from 1 September until 30 November 2010.
McVities manufacturer United Biscuits (UK) Ltd has been fined after a worker had two fingers sliced off in one of its mixing machines at its site in Halifax. Halifax Magistrates Court heard how the employee lost two fingers on her right hand when she attempted to clear a blockage in an industrial sized mixer.
The HSE investigation found the employee had to scale a two metre fixed step ladder to reach the machine and empty the mixture inside. Though the mixer had been switched off, the blades inside were still rotating and when she reached in her fingers were severed. The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £2,889 costs.
Pinguin Foods UK Ltd, a Lincolnshire-based international frozen food supplier, has been fined after a man's finger was amputated as the worker tried to straighten boxes on an automatic palletising machine. Boston Magistrate's Court heard how the employee routinely entered the guarding enclosure while the machine was running. While behind the guard, his fingers were caught between a pallet and the conveyor resulting in partial amputation of his middle finger.
The HSE investigation discovered a number of employees had been given interlock parts which effectively overrode the safety systems in place and allowed access to the enclosure. The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £3,500 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Human factors play an important part in accidents and ill health at work. Human factors are environmental, organisational and job factors as well as human and individual characteristics which influence behaviour at work that can affect health and safety. HSE has taken a topic-based approach to human factors which includes, for example:
Maintenance is a process that affects every area of safety and health. Poor standards and a failure to keep working environments in good condition are major causes of accidents and occupational diseases. Undertaking maintenance activities can potentially expose workers involved (and others) to all sorts of hazards, but there are five issues that merit particular attention because of the severity of the harm that could be involved, and because they are commonly encountered during plant and building maintenance - these are falls from height, isolation and permits-to-work, falls of heavy items, selection of contractors and disturbing asbestos.
During 2010-2011, HSE is helping promote safe and healthy workplaces by encouraging an integrated and structured approach to maintenance.
HSE has recently launched a new microsite dedicated to managing health and safety. This brings together a lot of HSE's existing material on this topic in one place. The microsite forms part of a project to revise HSG65 'Successful health and safety management', due for publication at the end of this year. The material will help businesses - large and small - manage health and safety sensibly and proportionately. During the next six months the site will be developed further, with the addition of case studies and more links to information.
How should employers assess and then address health and safety issues in the workplace? The Safety Climate Tool (SCT) is a good place to start. This 40-question survey challenges both employers and employees to re-examine their attitude towards health and safety, and helps identify particular areas of concern. Using the SCT provides managers with an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to health and safety, and workers to engage in making improvements.
The new Safety Climate Tool is an update of the original successful version first launched in 1997 and which sold over 800 copies. The new version is available on CD-ROM and uses complex data analysis to evaluate answers of the survey questions. This allows managers and workers to develop a strategy to tackle any areas of concern.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published a report of its inquiry into recruitment and employment in the meat and poultry processing sector. The report reveals evidence of mistreatment and exploitation of migrant and agency workers in the sector, and makes recommendations to the key bodies - supermarkets, agencies, processing firms, government, regulators and unions. EHRC anticipates the report will encourage a systemic change of behaviour and will be following up its recommendations next year. HSE inspectors will be looking into the working conditions highlighted in the report during inspection visits.
From April 2010 HSE inspectors visiting food and drink manufacturing sites will be looking particularly at the management of health and safety and, in particular:
Topics which inspectors may enquire about to build up an adequate picture of standards in factories are:
HSE has launched a new tool to assess and reduce risks of upper limb disorders (ULDs) caused by repetitive tasks. ULDs comprise a quarter of all cases of occupational ill health in food and drink manufacture.
The Assessment of Repetitive Tasks (ART) tool was designed by the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) and HSE. It has been designed to 'risk assess' repetitive tasks that could result in musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and to make judgements about the degree of risk tasks involve.
To view the tool visit the Assessment of Repetitive Tasks (ART) tool section where you can find tuition material, good practice examples, and a downloadable leaflet.
This new guidance supports the frozen food industry in the selection of work at height equipment by outlining a hierarchy of the alternatives available. It also includes some examples to consider in developing a safe system of work for the operation of lift truck and non-integrated working platform solutions. The guidance is produced by the British Frozen Food Federation and the Food Storage & Distribution Federation in consultation with HSE.
