This page covers the main risks across food and drink manufacturing, depending on the part of the industry you work in.
There is specific guidance on the risks described in this page in:
- occupational health risks in food and drink manufacturing
- food and drink manufacturing safety hazards
Meat, poultry and fish
The main causes of injury and ill health in working with meat, poultry and fish are:
- being struck by hand tools including knives, especially during boning out etc
- manual handling and lifting – especially lifting heavy and awkward loads
- slips – mostly due to wet or greasy floors
- machinery – such as conveyors, bandsaws, derinders, skinning machines, pie and tart machines, packaging machinery
- transport – including fork lift trucks and vehicles at loading bays
- falls from height – off ladders, stairs, work platforms, plant and vehicles
- exposure to harmful substances and hot objects, such as splashes or vapour from cleaning chemicals
- musculoskeletal injury from manual handling, for example lifting boxes of product
- work-related upper limb disorders from repetitive work, for example from cutting, boning, jointing, trussing and evisceration
- noise-induced hearing loss from noisy areas, such as powered saws, blast-freezers/chillers, bowl choppers, packing machinery
- infections from micro-organisms, for example Campylobactor in poultry processing
- occupational asthma from aerosol proteins in fish processing
- carcinogenic risk from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from smoking fish and meat products
- ill health from long-term working at reduced temperatures
The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA)
BMPA oversees an industry health and safety committee which meets several times a year. It includes:
- major meat producers
- Agricultural Horticultural Development Board
- Food Standards Agency
- Meat Training Council
- National Federation of Meat and Food Traders
- International Meat Trades Association
- Health and Safety Executive
- trade unions
The committee considers newly arising issues, writes guidance on meat or slaughtering and communicates information to the industries.
There is guidance on the British Meat Processors Association website.
Find out more
Grain, flour milling and animal feeds
The main causes of injury and ill health in working with grain, flour milling and animal feeds are:
- falls from height off ladders, stairs and vehicles
- slips and trips – more prominent than usual due to obstructions and uneven floors
- exposure to harmful substances, such as chlorine, hydrochloric acid, sulphur dioxide
- machinery such as screw conveyors, rotary valves, roller mills, mixers (mostly during maintenance, cleaning, refilling etc)
- entry into silos – risk from engulfment, lack of respirable atmosphere, mechanical hazards (such as sweep augers)
- injuries in transport – including lift trucks and trailers when tipping
- musculoskeletal injury from manual handling of sacks, bags and equipment etc
- work-related upper limb disorders, for example from repetitive packing operations
- occupational asthma from exposure to grain and flour dust
- noise-induced hearing loss from noisy areas, such as mill areas, grinders, seed graders, hammer mills, bagging lines
Find out more
Bakery products
The main causes of injury and ill health in working with bakery products are:
- manual handling and lifting – especially lifting heavy and awkward loads and pushing wheeled racks
- work-related upper limb disorders (WRULDs) from repetitive work, for example in loading, lidding, cake decorating, packing operations
- slips and trips – mostly due to wet or contaminated floors
- falls from height – off ladders, stairs, work platforms, plant and vehicles
- being struck by an object (such as a hand knife) or striking against an object (for example machinery)
- machinery – conveyors, wrapping machinery, pie and tart machines, dough brakes, moulders, mixers, roll plant, pinning rolls/belts
- transport – including fork lift trucks and vehicles at loading bays
- exposure to harmful substances and hot objects, for example splashes/vapour from cleaning chemicals, contact with hot equipment
- entry into silos – risk from engulfment, lack of respirable atmosphere, mechanical hazards (such as sweep augers)
- noise-induced hearing loss from noisy areas, for example depanning, bread slicing, dough mixing
- occupational asthma and respiratory irritation from exposure to flour dust
Find out more
Dairy products
The main causes of injury and ill health in working with dairy products are:
- manual handling and lifting – especially heavy loads or sharp edges
- slips – mostly due to wet floors
- being struck by objects – mostly falling objects, sometimes hand tools
- exposure to harmful substances – cleaning-in-place, fume, splashes, CIP failures, steam, hot water
- falls from height – off ladders, stairs, tanks and from vehicles/tankers
- transport – including tanker movements and lift trucks
- machinery – lifting machines, conveyors, packaging machines
- musculoskeletal injury from manual handling wheeled racks, containers etc
- work-related upper limb disorders, for example from repetitive packing work
- noise-induced hearing loss from noisy plant, for example homogenisers, bottling lines, blast chillers, pneumatics
- respiratory irritation from breathing fumes such as chlorine, hypochlorite and ammonia from cleaning operations and refrigeration plant
Find out more
Fruit and vegetables
The main causes of injury and ill health in working with fruit and vegetables are:
- manual handling and lifting – especially heavy or awkward loads or sharp edges
- slips and trips – mostly slips on wet floors also tripping over obstructions
- being struck by objects – mostly from falling packages etc and use of hand tools
- falls from height – off stairs, ladders, work platforms and vehicles
- striking against fixed and moveable objects, for example machinery, stationary vehicles
- machinery – mostly conveyors also packaging machines (bagging, form fill seal and palletisers)
- exposure to harmful substances – cleaning fluids (fume and splashes), ammonia refrigerant leaks
- transport – mostly involving fork lift trucks
- musculoskeletal injury from manual handling boxes, sacks, wheeled trolleys etc
- work-related upper limb disorders, for example from repetitive sorting/packing work
- noise-induced hearing loss from noisy machines, such as cleaning plant, packaging machinery
- respiratory irritation from breathing fumes such as chlorine, hypochlorite, ammonia and sulphur dioxide
- occupational dermatitis from handling fruits, vegetables and from chemical cleaners
Preventing manual handling/musculoskeletal injuries
Many manual handling injuries and the greatest proportion of musculoskeletal injuries (such as injured backs and work-related upper limb disorders) result from lifting, carrying or moving boxes, containers or sacks of fruit and vegetables. To reduce the risk of injuries, mechanise where possible to avoid manual handling or, where this is not possible:
- ensure unit weights are as low as practicable (not more than 25kg)
- ensure heavy or awkward lifting movements (for example twisting) are avoided
- avoid lifting at low level (for example consider self-raising pallet systems) or at high level above shoulder height (consider raised walkways)
- ensure a manual handling risk assessment has been carried out for each work station and appropriate precautions adopted
Find out more
Alcoholic and soft drinks
The main causes of injury and ill health in working with alcoholic and soft drinks are:
- manual handling and lifting – especially barrels, casks and crates
- work-related upper limb disorders from repetitive handling, for example in bottling halls
- slips and trips – half the injuries are from slips mostly on wet floors) and half from trips
- being struck by falling objects, such as 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
- noise-induced hearing loss from noisy plant, for example 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
Find out more
Chilled or frozen products
Food businesses need to ensure the requirements of food hygiene law are achieved while maintaining a 'reasonable temperature' in the workroom.
You can find guidance on chilled and frozen products – workroom temperatures.
Supply chain health and safety issues
Actions taken in one part of the food supply chain can adversely (or beneficially) affect another part, for example:
- raw materials suppliers selling product in heavy sack weights can cause an increase in manual handling injuries at their customer food manufacturers or retailers
- food retail customers specifying product presentation or food hygiene requirements can inadvertently cause injuries or occupational health problems at food manufacturers
Precautions that need to be adopted
To reduce injuries in other parts of the supply chain, the following precautions should be considered.
Suppliers
The main problems usually relate to manual handling, so consider if:
- ideally the product can be supplied in bulk (for example in bulk bags) rather than in sacks or in drums etc
- products in sacks, boxes, crates etc are supplied at reasonable unit weights (not over 25kg). If weights are greater than this ensure the customer has the necessary equipment to avoid manual handling
- boxes, crates etc are provided with suitable hand-holds
Food retail customers
Problems can occur when customers place requirements on suppliers around buildings/equipment or process/production. For example, you should ask whether:
- processing/presentation requirements are causing unnecessary musculoskeletal injuries
- hygiene requirements are affecting safety issues (for example if floor surface specification or cleaning regimes are having an adverse effect on slips risks)
- changes in product at short notice allow adequate time for revising risk assessments
- reduced workroom temperatures are set for product purposes acceptable under health and safety legislation
- procedures are in place to ensure safe reversing of delivery vehicles at larger retail premises
Legal responsibilities
Responsibilities for suppliers and customers include:
- Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, section 3(1) – the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that those not in their employment but who may be affected by their work, are not exposed to risks to their health and safety
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 11 – co-operation between employers, so far as necessary, to enable them to comply with legal requirements
Working together
The key to reducing injuries to workers throughout the supply chain is close co-operation between suppliers, manufacturers and retailers.
Issues that affect different people in the supply chain should be discussed freely and action taken to minimise any adverse effect on others.
This will ensure injuries to workers are reduced along with associated industry costs.
Case studies
You can find food and drink industry case studies, including some that were produced with the Food and Drink Manufacturing Forum.
There are also rehabilitation case studies for the food industry in the National Archives. They cover workplace injuries, with insights into causes, impact, and safety improvements.