HSE targets textile industry with new safety checks

HSE Press Release E182:02 - 30 September 2002

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has today launched a new internet-based audit package to help textiles companies manage their health and safety risks.

The Textiles Health and Safety Audit covers a huge range of health and safety topics but has been designed to help small employers in particular to direct their limited resources to the things that cause the most accidents and ill health in the textiles industry.

The package is made up of a series of audit-style questions with accompanying information and reference material. There is a quick-start route to help users, steering them to the priority topics which HSE inspectors will concentrate on at their visits.

Steve Kay of HSE's Textiles Sector, says:

"The most important part of this package is that it sets out the control standards that inspectors will be using to measure a company's performance for these priority topics, together with the scale they will use for scoring the company's performance. Employers and employees representatives will have the opportunity to score themselves before the inspector does!"

The safety audit has already been welcomed by the industry as a significant step forward in textile health and safety. Roger Johnson of the Confederation of British Wool Textiles, says: "This free web-based audit package will be a valuable aid, particularly to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in managing health and safety in the industry. It has the added benefit of being a flexible resource which can be used by safety committees, safety representatives and managers alike."

Notes to editors

1. The Textiles Health and Safety Audit package has been developed by HSE's Textile Sector Group in consultation with its industry partners on the Textiles Industry Advisory Committee (TEXIAC). TEXIAC is made up of representatives of the HSE, Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Trades Union Congress (TUC).

2. The Textiles Health and Safety Audit package is available on HSE's website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/textiles/audit/

3. The priority topics are those issues which HSE is focusing attention on as part of their "Revitalising Health and Safety" strategy. This initiative aims to reduce accidents and ill health by 2010.

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