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

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

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