Accidents cut in paper industry

HSE Press Release E147:02 - 24 July 2002

An industry safety initiative conducted between April 1998 and March 2001 cut deaths and serious injuries by over a quarter and led to a marked improvement in health and safety in the UK's paper mills, according to new research published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Greenstreet Berman Ltd, who carried out the research on behalf of HSE, confirmed that there had been a 27% reduction in the rate of fatal and major accidents within paper mills in the UK. They also concluded that there had been significant improvements in a range of other health and safety performance indicators within the industry which, if sustained, were likely to lead to further reductions in accidents.

The initiative, known as the PABIAC initiative, was co-ordinated by the Health and Safety Commission's Paper and Board Industry Advisory Committee (PABIAC). Major partners in the initiative were the Paper Federation of Great Britain; the Graphical, Paper and Media Union; and the HSE.

Although the reduction achieved over the three years of the initiative fell well short of the 50% which the industry set itself as a target, the researchers point out that it was achieved against a background of a difficult economic climate and a 30% increase in production. They also suggest that three years is too short a timescale for such an ambitious target.

Andrew Porter, Chairman of PABIAC, said:

"Employers and employees in the paper industry can be justifiably proud of what they have achieved. The reduction in accidents means that 174 fewer people were killed or seriously injured during the initiative, a significant figure in anybody's terms.

"We also know that the trend has continued downwards since April last year. We were all wary about setting such a tough target in the first place, but we can now see that setting clear targets for accident reduction can work, even for a traditional industry like paper making, and we can learn lessons from this work that can be applied elsewhere."

Mr Porter continued:

"The commitment shown by leaders in the paper industry throughout the initiative and the willingness to be open and honest about health and safety were critical factors in achieving the improvements. The paper industry still has a long way to go in improving its health and safety performance, but the research demonstrates that if an industry, employers, trade unions and the authorities, can work together, then a real sea change in safety culture can be achieved."

This report and the work it describes were funded by the HSE. Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.

Notes to editors

1. The Paper and Board Industry Advisory Committee (PABIAC) is one of the Health and Safety Commission's committees, set up in 1979 and charged with advising the Commission on matters relating to health and safety in the paper and board-making industry.

'The effectiveness and impact of the PABIAC initiative in reducing accidents in the paper industry' (CRR 452/2002) is available on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/noframes/crr/index.htm.

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