Alcoholic and soft drinks

Main causes of injury

• Manual handling and lifting - especially barrels, casks and crates
• Slips and trips - half the injuries are from slips (90% on wet floors) and half from trips
• Being struck by falling objects, eg barrels, boxes, equipment
• Falls from height - off ladders, work platforms, stairs and from vehicles
• Machinery - mainly conveyors but also bottling machines, packaging machines, palletisers etc
• Exposure to harmful substances - cleaning chemicals, hot liquids
• Transport - especially lift trucks

Main occupational ill health risks

• Musculoskeletal injury from heavy manual handling, eg of casks, kegs, crates, sacks and items of plant
• Work-related upper limb disorders (WRULDs) from repetitive handling, eg in bottling halls
• Noise induced hearing loss from noisy plant, eg casking/kegging, decrating/washing, bottling, canning and packaging machinery
• Occupational lung disease from exposure to grain and malt dust
• Occupational lung disease and nasal cancer from exposure to hardwood dust in coopperages

Industry specific guidance

• Grain dust - Guidance Note (EH66)
• Moving food and drink: Manual handling solutions for the food and drink industries (HSG196)
• A wide range of whisky manufacture health and safety publications, videos and interactive training packages are available from:
  The Scotch Whisky Association
  20 Atholl Crescent
  Edinburgh EH3 8HF