Live issues
PABIACs Occupational Health Strategic Health Objective
Occupational health is a key issue that needs to be properly managed to ensure a healthy and present workforce. PABIAC has agreed a strategic occupational health objective for 2008-2011.
Unite the Union and the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) launch their "Make it Safe" campaign
Unite and the CPI jointly launched their "make it safe" campaign at the CPI conference on 3 November 2009. The campaign encourages the industry to "Say No" to unsafe tasks. Saying "No" means not taking risks, not doing dangerous work, not cutting corners and not putting production before safety. It also encourages industry to "Say Yes" to making the industry safer. Saying "Yes" means acting on health and safety complaints and queries, working together on risk assessments and safe systems of work, reporting near misses, conducting joint accident and incident investigations, undergoing joint health and safety training, and recognising that good health and safety is good for business.
More information and access to the support materials for this campaign
Machinery Safety
In the paper industries machinery safety, including safety during interventions at dangerous machines, is a live issue. Serious injuries continue to occur in the paper and recycling industries while clearing blockages and carrying out adjustments and running repairs at machinery
HSE's Safe Interventions Enforcement Initiative aims to achieve a major reduction in the risk of serious injuries. Inspectors are visiting employers to check that:
- risks associated with these activities have been properly assessed
- effective control measures, including robust energy isolation and lock off procedures, are in place
- safe systems of work are properly managed
Hand-fed platen presses can kill
Some employers in the corrugated packaging industry use hand-fed platen presses. These are powerful machines that are capable of inflicting serious injuries. Recently there have been two fatal accidents involving large hand fed platen presses in the printing industry where operators have been crushed between the platens as they made an intervention during normal production operations. The hand-fed platen presses used in the printing industry are the same as those in the corrugated packaging sector. HSE has now issued new guidance to users of hand fed platens machines.
Waste Baling and Compacting Machines
Waste baling and compacting machines are used widely in paper conversion and recovered paper industries. They have caused a number of injuries to people using and working with them. They are powerful machines with a number of mechanical moving parts that have the potential to cause serious or even fatal injuries. The safeguarding of these machines is often poor.
HSE is currently working with stakeholders, including machine manufacturers and users to prepare national guidance on the safeguarding of waste baling and compacting machines, including machines for baling and compacting recovered paper. The national guidance is due out shortly. Once the guidance is completed it will be linked to these pages. In addition work has started in Europe to prepare EN standards specifying the safety requirements for new machines.
Security of loads on road vehicles
In the past heavy loads, including reels of paper, waste paper bales and palletised loads of paper products have shifted during transit because they have not been properly loaded and restrained on the trailer. They have then fallen from the trailer during the road journey or at the point of delivery when the trailer curtain has been opened. Recent research into this topic: Load security on curtain sided lorries found plenty of examples of poor practice pointing to a need for consignors, hauliers, employers who receive goods, drivers and employees involved in loading and securing loads to take action.
PABIAC has issued a strategic objective requiring all employers involved in the despatch, haulage or receipt of loads of paper and paper products by road to be able to demonstrate that they have in place appropriate management systems for ensuring that such loads are:
- placed and secured on road vehicles in accordance with the provisions of the Department for Transport Code of Practice
- restrained effectively so that they do not move in any direction relative to the bed of the vehicle under reasonably foreseeable transport conditions.
Paper reels, bales and palletised products should be loaded and secured in accordance with the Department for Transport Code of Practice: Safety of load on lorries, this and other authorative guidance are available on the haulage industry page of the HSE website: HSE - Road haulage and distribution: Load security