Motor vehicle repair businesses now just one click away from health and safety advice

HSE press release: E003:04 - 12 January 2004

About 40,000 businesses involved in the repair or recovery of motor vehicles are being encouraged by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to bookmark its Motor Vehicle Repair (MVR) website as one of their Favourites so that they are only one click away from advice and guidance on health and safety.

The MVR website http://www.hse.gov.uk/mvr has had nearly 20,000 'hits' since it was launched at the end of July 2003. It contains advice on health and safety for activities such as motor vehicle maintenance and repair (including tyre, exhaust and windscreen replacement), body repair, refinishing and MOT testing, and has recently been updated to include safety during roadside recovery and repair. To promote the new initiative, the website now includes a simple way to bookmark the site for future access.

The initiative has the backing of industry advisory group, the MVR Health and Safety Forum. John Powell Head of Engineering in HSE Manufacturing Sector and Chair of the Forum said: "The industry employs over 170,000 people and has fatal and all injury accident rates higher than the average for the whole of manufacturing. The spraying of 2-pack isocyanate paints is one of the biggest causes of occupational asthma in the UK and the roadside recovery and repair of motor vehicles are both high-risk activities.

"Over the last five years there have been over 30 fatal accidents to MVR workers and on average about 2,000 injuries per year are reported to HSE and local authorities. The HSE
and MVR Forum have been working together to publish best practices within the industry and the site will be a prime source of easy to understand and up-to-date information."

Visitors to the website can view information on the main causes of injury and ill health in MVR and the precautions to prevent them, read case studies, and get guidance on current issues as well as valuable links to many other useful websites, including free publications about safe practices in MVR.

Notes to editors

1. In 2001, it was estimated that the MVR industry in the UK employed over 170,000 people in about 44,000 businesses. The industry is dominated by small and medium-sized companies with over half the workforce employed in either zero-employee enterprises eg sole traders or partnerships, or businesses employing less than 10 people. Companies with less than 50 employees accounted for about 80% of the workforce.

2. The HSE's main contact with the industry is through the MVR Health and Safety Forum which was set up in June 1999 to co-ordinate the interests and activities of all those involved with health and safety in the industry. Membership includes representatives from a wide range of organisations associated with MVR, including trade and professional associations, equipment and services suppliers, insurance companies, educational bodies and the trade unions. Local authorities, who enforce health and safety laws in commercial premises, including some MVR businesses, are also represented.

3. The Government and Health and Safety Commission (HSC) launched the 'Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy Document' on 7 June 2000. The ten-point strategy, supported by a 44-point action plan, announced tough targets for reducing work-related deaths, ill-health and injury in Britain over the next 10 years.

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