Main causes of injury in food and drink manufacture

Each year over 5000 injuries in food and drink manufacturing industries are reported to HSE, this represents about a quarter of all manufacturing injuries reported. Around 90% of these injuries occur in food manufacture, the remainder in the drinks sector.

About 16% of the injuries are 'major injuries' resulting in broken bones, hospitalisation etc. mostly due to slips, falls from height or machinery. The remainder are 'over-3-day absence injuries' mostly caused by lifting and handling, slips and trips and being struck by objects such as hand-knives or falling objects. The graph below combines both 'major' and 'over-3-day absence' injuries.

• Manual handling
• Slips on wet or food contaminated floors
• Falls from height
• Workplace transport (including FLTs)
• Struck by something (eg sharp knives or falling objects)
• Food processing machinery
• Packaging machinery

Causes of injury in food and drink manufacture 2008/9

Analysis of 5221 major and over-3-day absence injuries