Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Footwear and Leather Industries
Musculosketal disorders (MSDs) are the largest cause of injury in both the leather and footwear industries.
TEXIAC are preparing a set of case studies with practical solutions. These case studies will be put on these web pages as examples of best practice. Work will be done with the industry to raise awareness of the main causes of MSD.
If you have a problem it will be costing money from sickness absence, high staff turnover, retraining, loss of production etc. Compensation cases are increasing, and problems may affect your insurance premiums.
Upper Limb Disorders in the Workplace HSG60
The Footwear Industry Health and Safety Committee publish a series of Guidance Notes which are available from The Secretary, FIHSC, BFA/NFMA, 3, Burystead Place, Wellingborough, Northants. NN8 1AH. Tel. 01933 229005 - email: elaine@britfoot.com
A weight off your Mind (manual handling)
Mechanical Handling Equipment
Work Related Upper Limb Disorders
Exposure to noise at work can cause irreversible hearing damage. It is one of the commonest health problems and can be difficult to detect as the effects build up gradually over time.
Throughout all industry, industrial hearing loss remains the occupational disease with the highest number of civil claims accounting for about 75% of all occupational disease claims.
The Textiles Sector Group has launched an audio clip showing the effect of exposure to noise over a working life. It is available in English, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Hindi and Bengali. It is intended to incorporate the audio recording in a new training package aimed at the Textiles industry.
The Textiles Industry Advisory Committee has set up a working group to look at reducing noise at source on machines that are currently below the second action level in the Noise at Work Regulations but which will be above it when the Physical Agents (Noise) Directive is implemented in 2006. Information will be released when this work is complete.
We will work to secure the commitment of employers and employees to improve the wearing of hearing protection amongst employees exposed to levels of noise above the second action level. Previous work has showed that where the Noise at Work Regulations applied, around 80% of the sites visited were not achieving compliance or near compliance with legal requirements
It is evident that a large part of the industry is not complying with current requirements, and unless there is a significant improvement, will be failing to comply to an even greater extent when the Physical Agents (Noise) Directive is implemented in 2006. The new legislation will effectively halve the permitted exposure.