On this page you will find health and safety information, news and links from 2007
3 December 2007
HSE has launched a new edition of the popular guidance to help managers, supervisors and those with other health and safety interests in warehouses and storage facilities. It will also be useful to employees and safety representatives.
The storage and warehousing industry reports approximately 5000 work-related injuries annually to HSE and local authorities. More than 600 of these are classified as major injuries such as fractures and amputations. The guide provides advice on preventing the main causes of injuries and occupational ill health and gives guidance on storage systems, mechanical handling and electrical safety.
15 October 2007
Occupational rehabilitation - sometimes referred to as managing sickness absence and return to work (or managing attendance) - has become an essential part of running an efficient business. Long-term sickness absence (often defined as 4 weeks or more):
But this need not be the case. Considerable benefits can be delivered from working in partnership with employees and trade union representatives when managing sickness absence and return to work. In particular, organisations that have implemented effective management programmes have:
17 September 2007
HSE published the third edition of the successful booklet 'A recipe for safety: Occupational health and safety in food and drink manufacture' exactly three years ago. Anyone with health and safety responsibilities who does not yet have a copy of this core guidance will find it extremely useful. The booklet sets out the priority health and safety risks, provides benchmarks against which to measure performance, includes a management action plan and provides easy-to-read statistics on causes of occupational health and injuries.
The booklet is an integral part of the joint HSE/food industry Recipe for Safety initiative. Contributors and reviewers of this booklet include members of the Food and drink manufacture health and safety forum.
'A recipe for safety: Occupational health and safety in food and drink manufacture' HSG252 (£9.95 for single copies) is available from HSE Books.
20 August 2007
HSE has published new guidance on the prevention of dust explosions. Such explosions can have devastating effects and can be caused by dust from flour, sugar, grain, milk powder, instant coffee etc.. The guidance sets out precautions to protect against dust explosions and covers various processes and plant.
Additionally, guidance is given on the selection of suitable vacuum cleaners for use with such foods, for example for cleaning floors in bakeries.
6 June 2007
Previous work carried out by the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) for HSE investigated the slip resistance of certain brands/styles of occupational footwear. Further research has now been completed by HSL which assesses a wider range of brands and styles in order to help companies provide appropriate footwear for their workers. However laboratory tests alone are not sufficient to enable selection of the best footwear for a particular environment and the test results from the latest HSL report (link below) should be supported by user field trials.
[back to top](16 March 2007)
HSE has produced new technical guidance on assessing the slip resistance of flooring. The guidance considers a number of test methods for assessing floor slip resistance and is intended for manufacturers and testing bodies which need to perform accurate measurements to help determine slip risk. The new guidance replaces Food Information Sheet 22.
(1 March 2007)
The HSE Slips Assessment Tool (SAT) is a freely downloadable computer software package that allows an operator to assess the slip potential of pedestrian walkway surfaces. The SAT is used in conjunction with a small, portable surface micro-roughness meter, which users must obtain separately.
The package is easy to use and prompts the operator to gather relevant information concerning floor surface properties, contamination, cleaning regimes, footwear etc. When all of the information has been entered into the package, a slip risk rating is produced. This will assist the user in determining whether site conditions are likely to give rise to a high or low risk of slipping. The assessment may then be repeated using alternative data such as a different cleaning regime or footwear type etc. to produce a different (theoretical) slip risk rating. This is a powerful way of demonstrating the importance of various slip risk control measures.
The data can either be entered into a laptop computer (preloaded with the SAT software) on site for an immediate assessment of slip risk, or can be recorded on site using a proforma and entered into a PC later.
(20 February 2007)
HSE has published guidance on BSE for those whose job could expose them to potentially BSE-infected material. The guidance re-emphasises the importance of using precautionary protective measures to control the risk from BSE infection.
The guidance will be helpful in developing workplace codes of practice for the safe conduct of work. Based on the most up-to-date knowledge, if followed it is considered that workers will have a negligible risk of being exposed to BSE infection.
(10 February 2007)
Compared to accidents and injuries in the workplace, health conditions are often more difficult to diagnose and therefore measure. Health conditions tend to develop over time and may also be influenced by non-work factors. This applies particularly to conditions such as back-pain and mental health disorders such as depression.
Occupational Physicians in the food industry have measured the incidence of medical conditions caused by work at their company sites. From these studies it is possible to conclude that, in a food manufacturing site employing 1000 people, the following conditions caused by work are likely to be seen:
There is also evidence from two surveys covering the periods 1997-2001 and 2002-2006 that the number of cases of ULDs, occupational dermatitis, occupational asthma, back pain and mental health disorders are falling from the rates above. For example, there is the suggestion that cases of ULDs and occupational dermatitis may have halved between the two survey periods.
(The above data was collected from larger companies with in-house Occupational Health Departments and may not represent all sectors of the industry.)
