Worker injured by moving blades of industrial freezer

An international frozen food company has been fined after a worker was injured by the moving blades of an industrial freezer.  There was no safe system of isola.tion, preventing access to dangerous parts of machinery

Go to:

• HSE 

Blaze averted

A Leicester ethnic food manufacturer had a lucky escape this week after a blaze was narrowly averted at its factory.

Go to

• Food Manufacturer

Prosecution following failure to maintain

A dairy firm has been fined £20,000 following a major explosion at its cheese factory in Cumbria.

The incident took place at Aspatria Creamery in Aspatria in 2010. The explosion arose in the boiler house at the site and the force of the blast lifted the roof off the building.

The boiler room was partially destroyed and debris was thrown more than 100 metres across the site.  There were no injuries.

The HSE determined that a blocked vent on the water heating calorifier, had caused the tank to explode.  The boiler could hold 9000 litres of water and was used to produce hot water for washing the dairy.

Maintenance engineers at the site had been manually controlling the calorifier’s steam-supply valve, as the automatic control had broken. The vent pipe on the tank had become blocked due to a build up of calcium carbonate, which prevented the water from escaping when it became too hot.  Pressure inside the tank continued to rise and the water temperature reached approximately 150 degrees centigrade before the tank exploded.

The creamery’s owner, First Milk Cheese Company Ltd, pleaded guilty to breaching reg.15(2) of the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000, for failing to ensure the valve was free of obstructions. In addition to the fine, it was ordered to pay £36,064 in costs.

Go to:

• HSE Press Releases

Conference presentations from 2009, 10 and 11 are now available for download.  Are you going to 2012?

The conference is organised by the IOSH Food and Drink Group, with support from the HSE’s Agriculture and Food Sector and the Food and Drink Manufacture Health and Safety Forum.

Go to: Conference presentations

The IOSH Food and Drink Group is calling for submission of case studies.  The aim is to provide a comparative summary of Multicultural good practice.

The project is driven by a desire to showcase best practice within food and drink industry.

A working group eventually hope to rewrite the much lauded guidance produced by North West Food Alliance.

To learn more and view a template form,  Go to:

• F & D group initiatives
• HSE - Migrant workers
• IOSH Food and Drink Group - Multicultural Best Practice Return
• Julie Littlejohns @ IOSH

Influencing the fire risk assessment

With the safety of individuals being so important, fire safety quite rightly receives special attention by food and drink companies.

New guidance on competency for fire risk assessment

New guidance for fire risk assessors has been published by ASFP.

To learn more go to:

• Association for Specialist Fire Protection
• ASFP Guide to Inspecting Passive Fire protection for Fire Risk Assessors

The IOSH food and drink committe view

Whilst the Food and Drink Group welcomes the new guidance on passive fire protection, it is only one component of fire risk assessment and the daily management of fire hazards.

Fire risk assessment is concerned with good operational management, risk reduction, structural integrity, active fire supression, layout,  detection and warning, emergncy lighting, escape, staff training, and learning lessons from pevious events.  

Fire risk assessment is not a science, but a balanced judgement.  It is a goal setting process and needs to take account of views of number of persons, budgetary and physical constraints.  A law of dimiishing return frequqntly applies to risk control measures.

Go to:

•  Recipe for safety - Fire

Fire risk assessment in practice

Fire safety is dependent on active fire safety management and is not the responsibility of one individual.  Fire risk assessments are shaped by inputs from a number of sources:

• Senior management team who define nature of operations
• Designers of buidlings
• Operational management who set out working practices and safety culture
• Building control fire safety engineers
• Input form insurer fire surveys
• Fire and rescue service
• Fire safety contractors responsible for detection and warning systems
• Fire wardens
• Health and safety practitioners etc. 

It is for this reason that IOSH Food and Drink believe that receiving and implementing communicated expert advice from a number of competent sources is an essential ingredient in defining, developing and keeping fire safety risk assessments up to date.

By encouraging, facilitating and leading communication of good practices IOSH food and drink group aims to support its members in fire safety expertise, and ensure that high standards are achieved, and maintained.

26 September 2011

Ever wondered just how well you are doing against your competitors or what the accident rate is in your industry sector? 
 
This is the purpose of the Food & Drink Industry benchmarking scheme supported by IOSH, the FDF and Dairy UK.  These organisations are inviting food & drink companies to participate in the scheme which will provide amalgamated accident and ill health statistics which you can use to assess your performance and progress.
 
All information submitted will be totally confidential (there is no need to submit company names) and the survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.  No company names or individuals completing information are recorded or kept when the survey is submitted.
 
Prior to completing the survey we would suggest that you gather the following data for your latest 12 month period* to ensure that the process runs smoothly:
 
- No. of fatal and major accidents in your company and their causes
- No. of over three day injuries in your company and their causes
- No. of lost time accidents in your company and their causes
- No. of employees
- No. of hours worked (if you do not collect this data the instructions below detail how you can estimate these figures);
- No. of fires
- No. of back injuries
- No. of cases of mental ill health
- No. of cases of WRULD;
- No. of cases of occupational asthma
- No. of cases of occupational dermatitis;
- No. of cases of occupational hearing loss
 
* the information submitted should be for the latest 12 month period you have available.  It could be from Jan – Dec or the financial year that your company uses.
 
The results of the survey will be available by the end of the year and will be circulated to IOSH Food and Drink Group and FDF members and will be available on both websites.
 
Information which will be made available includes accident frequency rates, major injury rates, accident causation rates, occupational disease numbers and number of fires.
 
If you require guidance to complete this survey, detailed information can be found here.
 
The deadline for completing the survey is 31 October 2011.  Please click here to proceed.
 
If you have any queries, please contact Claire Davis.

An Edgware gas company has been fined after an explosion killed a worker and severely injured a member of the public.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Oak Farm Gas Company Ltd, (trading as Mr Fizz), after the incident at a site in New Denham, Buckinghamshire.

The gas firm specialises in the supply of high-pressure carbon dioxide, nitrogen and gas mixtures for licensed trade drink dispensers.

The HSE investigation showed the equipment at Mr Fizz's premises was totally unsuitable for filling a low pressure gas cylinder. Mr Daly's training consisted solely of verbal instruction and there was no documentation of this, nor any written risk assessments.

Oak Farm Gas Company Ltd, trading as Mr Fizz, of Trinominis House, 125 -129 High Street, Edgware, Harrow pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and regulations 4(3) and 8(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The company was fined £90,000 and ordered to pay costs of £50,000

To learn more Go to:

• HSE

20th June 2011

A food process worker died after a fire ripped through the premises as he worked the nightshift.

Sixty firefighters tackled the blaze, which broke out shortly after 11pm on Sunday.

The body was found inside the badly damaged factory.

The company produces gourmet vegetarian food, supplying delis and supermarkets across the UK and uses large deep fat fryers in which it is assumed the fire started.

Police and fire officers are investigating the cause.

For more information Go to:

• Scotsman

HSE's food/drink manufacture website now contains additional material

Updates have been selected and extracted from the old hard copy HSE Food Information Sheets series Nos. 3-33 (which will soon be withdrawn).
 
For example there is:
• a new comprehensive section on controlling exposure to disinfectants 
• additional information on the manual handling page and a comprehensive new section on roll cages
• additional information on the workplace transport page

In addition, the Live issues page will continue to be updated every few weeks with topical information.
 

Petcare giant Nestle Purina has been fined after five workers suffered severe burns when a steam pressure system malfunctioned.

The five men were all working on the maintenance of a hydrostat, a high-pressure food-processing machine, when they were hit by an uncontrolled release of steam and boiling water at Nestle Purina's plant on Cromwell Road, Wisbech.

Cambridge Crown Court heard Gary Coe, David Garner, Mark Mawby, Christopher Newell, and David Naylor suffered severe burns to their faces, arms and hands as a result of the incident on the 4 August 2006.

The workers, all from the Wisbech area, were treated in hospital, with one man needing cosmetic surgery to his arm. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the hydrostat control systems had been replaced prior to the maintenance work but no proper assessment of the risks associated with these modifications was undertaken.

Nestle Purina Petcare (UK) Limited, based in Croydon, Surrey admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974, and Regulation 13 of the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 by failing to ensure the steam pressure system its employees were working on was safe.

The firm was fined £50,000 with £22,634.15 costs.

After the hearing HSE inspector, Peter Burns, said:

"This incident highlights the need for companies to plan and implement all projects with a clear health and safety oversight. In particular, there are strict rules and regulations around the modifications and repairs of high pressure systems that are in place to protect workers operating or maintaining these machines.

"Had Nestle Purina followed these regulations properly, this incident may have been avoided and these five men may not have suffered the injuries they did.

"HSE will not hesitate to prosecute companies who fail to take their health and safety obligations seriously."

East Coast Viners Grain LLP has been fined  £4,000 after one of its workers suffered head injuries after falling five feet onto a concrete floor.

Mill worker Douglas Mortimer had been preparing animal feed in his role for East Coast Viners Grain LLP, of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, when the incident happened on 9 December 2009.

Stonehaven Sheriff Court heard that Mr Mortimer lost his balance while climbing into an excavator bucket to shake the contents of a tote bag to allow an even spread of feed. He was unconscious for five minutes and had a cut to his head stapled at hospital.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that there was no safe system of work in place for preparing the specialist mix.

No control measures were in place to prevent Mr Mortimer from falling as a suitable assessment of the risks involved in the work from height had never been carried out, HSE officials said.

East Coast Viners Grain LLP, Broadwood, Drumlithie, Stonehaven, received the fine after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc 1974 Act

Health and safety graduates looking to get a head start in the food and drink sector are being offered work placements by the world’s leading organisation for health and safety professionals.

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) Food and Drink Group is now piloting the organisation’s Shadowing Scheme, to give graduates the opportunity of at least three months experience with a company in the food and drinks industry. By offering crucial hands-on experience of the world of health and safety work, it gives those on a placement a greater chance of getting onto the employment ladder.

This follows the Office of National Statistics’ recent announcement that the graduate unemployment rate is now at one in five – 20 per cent. Having reached the highest rate in a decade, the figure has doubled since before the start of the recession.

Committee members from IOSH’s Food and Drink Group are health and safety managers for some of the UK’s biggest food and drink manufacturers. They have pledged places for job-hunting IOSH graduate members with companies such as The Shropshire Group, Britvic, Greencore, Dairy Crest and Tulip.

IOSH Food and Drink Group committee member and project founder Tom Chambers, said: “A lot of recently qualified health and safety practitioners are coming out of education and struggling to find their first posts. We all know how tough times are at the moment, but I was still shocked at the sheer number of graduates who were desperate to find work – unpaid or paid.

“The IOSH Food and Drink Group is piloting the Shadowing Scheme purely to give unemployed graduates the opportunity to shadow experienced safety advisors and gain the experience they’ll need to get on that first rung of the employment ladder.

“After all, good qualifications are important, but that’s only half of the complete package.”

Mr Chambers, who is also Greencore’s Group Safety, Health and Environmental Manager, took on the Scheme’s first graduate in 2010 at the company’s Bow factory, which makes sandwiches and snacks for major retailers. Ernest Apau spent three months on his placement, but was offered a nine month extension to his contract as safety, health and environment (SHE) advisor.

To learn more Go to:

• Graduate Shadowing Scheme

A Lincolnshire food company which packs vegetables for supermarkets has been fined £15,000 after a worker ended up in hospital when hit by a falling crate.

QV Foods Ltd, of Manor Farm, Holbeach Hurn, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at its factory on 22 May 2009.

Kings Lynn Magistrates' Court heard that a 43 year-old employee from Holbeach, who has asked not to be named, was labelling boxes in the factory yard when she was hit by a wooden crate of potatoes which fell from a forklift truck as it was being emptied into a skip.

She fractured her right knee and suffered severe bruising to her back. She was hospitalised and was unable to work for several months but has since returned to the factory.

QV Foods Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of its employees. It was today fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,606.

HSE inspector Judith McNulty-Green said:

"This was an entirely preventable incident, but the company failed to make sure work stations were a safe distance from moving vehicles and materials being handled that might fall. Health and safety is about making sure real risks are thought through and control measures put in place so any dangers are properly managed.

"Had the company taken the time to think through a safe system of work, an employee may not have suffered such a painful injury."

(HR Strategy & Practice: February 28, 2011)

With the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR), due to hit the UK in October 2011, only seven per cent of UK employers have conducted an assessment and a further seven percent in the process of doing so, of how they will be impacted by the one of the most complicated legislative workplace changes to hit the UK, says a recent report by Randstad (a staffing and recruitment consultancy).

Over a third of organisations (37 per cent) surveyed in Randstad’s ‘Shifting Sands’ report admit that they are unfamiliar with the Regulations.

The AWR will come into force on 1 October 2011 and will ensure that agency workers receive the right to the same basic working and employment conditions as those in the equivalent permanent job recruited directly by their host organization. Some rights will apply from day one, such as the same access to facilities and job vacancies. Other rights, such as pay and some benefits, will apply after the agency worker has been in the same job for 12 weeks.

Agency workers make up about four per cent of the UK workforce, the highest proportion in Europe, and Randstad estimates that at least half of them will be affected by the AWR.

The impact of the AWR will vary across industries, according to their use of temporary workers, with sectors such as construction, education and healthcare likely to face some of the greatest challenges.
Brian Wilkinson, head of Randstad UK, says: “With the implementation of the AWR just a few months away, it is a concern that such a high proportion of organisations are so unprepared. We urge all users of agency workers to conduct a thorough assessment of their human capital resources and the impact of the Regulations. Doing this properly will enable organisations to optimise the structure and efficiency of their workforces.”

Wilkinson adds: “Whilst Randstad recognises the teething challenges that the AWR poses users of agency workers, those that supply them and the workers themselves, we support the Regulations in their ambition to professionalise the use of agency workers and, in particular, give greater recognition to those that are paid on an hourly basis and often working unsocial hours.

“The equalisation of basic working and employment conditions for agency workers will encourage more people that don’t want permanent work to enter the labour market. That is good for them and it’s good for UK employers.”

6 - 8 April 2011

HSL are hosting an international conference on Slips and Trip accidents presenting 30 technical papers from UK, EU, US, Canada, Japan, Australia.

Conference details including how to register and how to pay the
registration fee are at:

http://www.hsl.gov.uk/health-and-safety-conferences/slips-trips-falls/home.aspx

The registration fee includes a Conference dinner at Hassop Hall on the
Thursday evening.

2 March 2012

The National Food and Drink Health and Safety Awards are proudly sponsored by the IOSH Food and Drink Group. The awards recognise innovative industry projects that have produced a practical solution to, and made a positive impact on, a health and safety problem in the food or drink manufacturing sector.

Entry is open to anyone working in the food or drink manufacturing industry and individual or team entrants can be submitted. Projects submitted will need to be original and unpublished but previous entries may also be resubmitted.

awards will be presented at the Food & Drinks Conference on 9-10 October 2012.

We offer the winner or a representative from the winning team a free conference place, a ticket to the awards dinner, one night of accommodation and up to £100 worth of travel expenses. The award winners and runners-up will be offered the opportunity to give a 20-minute presentation on their project at the start of day 2 of the conference.

There are generous prizes on offer including a cheque for £500, trophies and certificates.

Have a look at the entry form and awards flyer.

Send your completed entry form to the Events team, IOSH, The Grange,Wigston, Leicestershire LE18 1NN, UK, or email the events team. 

Your entry should reach us by 3 August 2012.

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

Maintenance is not only necessary to ensure reliability of technical structures or productivity of the company, but regular maintenance has an important role in providing safer and healthier working conditions.

While maintenance is absolutely essential to keep equipment, machines and the work environment safe and reliable and prevent harm, the maintenance work itself is a high-risk activity.

This report provides below provides information on successful initiatives in the workplace illustrating how safety and health risks associated with maintenance can be managed.

Many companies, insurers and authorities have successfully developed solutions to improve safety and health during maintenance.

The new approaches presented in this report demonstrate clearly that good occupational safety and health (OSH) management practices are at the heart of reliable and safe maintenance.

Go to:

• Safe maintenance in practice - European Agency for Safety and health at Work

HSE consultation on RIDDOR change

The Health and Safety Executive today opened a three-month consultation on proposed changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995.

Changes to RIDDOR were recommended in the Young report on health and safety published last year, which contained a proposal to increase the threshold for reporting workplace injuries to seven days.

Under current rules when an employee is absent from work for more than three days following an incident, employers are required to report the injury to the relevant enforcing authority - either HSE or the local council. The proposed amendment increases this 'over three day' period to over seven consecutive days.

The change would align the incident reporting threshold with that for obtaining a 'fit note' from a GP for sickness absence, and would ensure that someone who has suffered a reportable injury has had a professional medical assessment.

• HSE Press Release:   http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2011/hse-riddor.htm?eban=rss-press-release
• 
  HSE Consultation Document:     http://www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd233.htm
  

Dec 18 2010

FIREFIGHTERS from across West Yorkshire have been tackling a massive blaze in Bradford during the night.

Crews were called to Parkam Foods food processing plant in Haycliffe Lane in Wibsey shortly after 2am today.

Firefighters from Brighouse, Batley and Cleckheaton were among 10 crews called to the incident.

Around half of one large building has been destroyed. No-one was hurt.

To learn more

• Go to: Examiner 

From 7 November 2010 there is significant change to the DVLA procedure in relation to the surrendering of driver licences for endorsements. 

"There are very real risks for employers, that employees don’t comply with new timescales with the risk that they are in breach of insurance policy wordings and hence driving uninsured."

To learn more Go to an article by

• Beachcroft LLP. 

Article kindkly reproduced with permission of Sally Roff - Partner

Discussion Forum Link

We are reviewing our policy relating to freezer workers (-18 - -24 C). I was hoping to identify the policy that other companies have regarding rest breaks in the absense of any firm guidance!............

Refer: http://www.hse.gov.uk/food/chilled.htm .

HSE specialists recommend BS7915 as a start point.

Go to:

• IOSH Forum
  
  

The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) have published their annual update on the number of injuries and fatalities sustained at work. The headlines are:

• 1.3 million people who worked during the last year were suffering from an illness (long standing as well as new cases) they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work. 555,000 of these were new cases.
  • 152 workers were killed at work, a rate of 0.5 per 100,000 workers.
  • 121,430 other injuries to employees were reported under RIDDOR, a rate of 473 per 100,000 employees.
  • 233,000 reportable injuries occurred, according to the Labour Force Survey, a rate of 840 per 100,000 workers.
  • 28.5 million days were lost overall (1.2 days per worker), 23.4 million due to work-related ill health and 5.1 million due to workplace injury.
  

In 2009/10, there were 9,734 enforcement notices issued by HSE, compared to 8,079 in 2008/09.

The HSE took 512 cases to court,  a duty holder may be prosecuted for more than one breach within the same case. The 512 cases led to 922 offences with a conviction secured in 474 cases (93%). The statistics do not show the number of individuals personally prosecuted.

Influencing safety in the sector

The national food and drink manufacturing conference 2010 that took place on 28−29 September at the Oxford Belfry Hotel. was a huge success, attracting over 150 health and safety professionals from across the food and drink manufacturing sector.

Most of the presentations from the conference, which were included on the delegate USB in your conference packs, are now also available to download from www.iosh.co.uk/fdhighlights.

This link will take you to a webpage where you’ll also be able to listen to downloadable audio podcasts of the conference sessions. We hope that this new webpage facility is helpful and will allow you to get more out of attending the event.

Next year’s conference is taking place on 04–05 October 2011 – make sure you save the date in your diary. We’ll be in touch with more details soon. Please keep checking www.iosh.co.uk/fooddrinkconference for regular updates.

Kind regards
The Events team

Working with UK governments

IOSH is the conduit for knowledge, opinion and research on many important matters affecting the health and safety profession, and is often consulted by government departments for members' views on draft legislation, codes of practice and other government initiatives.

We aim to ensure that our members have a strong and effective voice which influences health and safety related issues with governments, employers and trades unions.

Working with Europe

IOSH aims to increase its contribution within the European Community and explore ways in which it can more directly influence European directives and guidance. IOSH aims to increase its contribution within the European Community and explore ways in which it can more directly influence European directives and guidance. IOSH aims to increase its contribution within the European Community and explore ways in which it can more directly influence European directives and guidance.

IOSH aims to increase its contribution within the European Community and explore ways in which it can more directly influence European directives and guidance.

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

An international frozen food company has been fined after a worker was injured by the moving blades of an industrial freezer.

Thomas Munford, from Bourne, was clearing ice from the inside of the freezer when a colleague switched it on, not realising he was inside. Mr Munford was working a night shift at the Bourne factory of PinguinLutosa Foods UK Ltd on 21 November 2008.

The vegetable flow freezer, a piece of equipment that freezes pre-washed vegetables, included a large stirrer to help distribute the vegetables on to a conveyor. Mr Munford was hit by the blades on the stirrer before he could jump clear. He suffered severe bruising to his legs.

For more information Go to:

• HSE - Press releases

Thursday, 11 November 2010

New stats

New statistics released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have revealed that the UK has the lowest rate of workplace fatalities and one of the lowest rates of work related ill health in Europe.

Rates of workplace injuries and ill-health are steadily declining each year in Britain, with the number of workers fatally injured at work last year reducing by around 15% compared to the year 2008-2009. Around 26,000 major injuries, including amputations and burns, occurred at work in 2009-2010, compared with nearly 28,000 the previous year.

The figures are encouraging, but the HSE is quick to highlight that further improvements can still be made and that many thousands of people are still suffering injuries serious enough to cause them to be absent from work for a period of time.

Judith Hackitt, Chair of the HSE, said: “It is encouraging to see further reduction in the number of people being killed and seriously injured at work. We now need to ensure that the improvements which are being made continue. Every statistic represents an individual or a family which is now suffering as a result of health and safety failings at work.”

Unfortunately, the statistics demonstrate that the number of people suffering from an illness caused or worsened by work is actually increasing. Last year, around 1.3 million people reported that they were suffering from an illness caused or aggravated by their workplace activity, an increase from 1.2 million in 2008-2009. An estimated 555,000 of these related to new illnesses occurring during the year. Many retired workers also claim to still suffer from an illness related to their former work.

Judith Hackitt explains: “Britain remains one of the safest places to work in the EU and we are rightly proud of this record. The challenge now is to focus on those areas where improvement is slow to emerge.

“[...] These statistics also remind us yet again of the significant gains which are yet to be made in reducing harm caused to people’s health by work.”

“Work related injuries and cases of ill-health have a high personal cost for those involved, and they also have a significant impact on the country’s economy. Last year alone, 28.5 million working days were lost as a result of injury and ill-health.

"The HSE figures also show that they took legal action against 1,026 serious offences by companies for failing to manage safety sufficiently. Not complying with regulations and failing to follow good health and safety practice is a costly business. In hard times like this, training is often the first thing to be dropped, but this is false economy and can have a significant impact on worker’s safety.”

Thursday, 11 November 2010

A pizza manufacturer in Hounslow has been fined £15,000 and ordered to pay a further £2,607 in costs after they failed to comply with an Improvement Notice issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Capri Foods Ltd was first served with the notice on 29th July 2009 after the HSE made a visit to their factory. Inspectors found that a doorway standing four metres above the ground, which was used to load and unload goods from a forklift truck, posed a continuous risk of a fall from height. The doorway was kept open even when the fork-lift truck was not in operation and there were no railings or barriers to prevent employees from falling through it.

Capri Foods Ltd pleaded guilty at City of London Magistrates Court to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The court heard how the improvement notice issued by the HSE required the firm to make improvements by 1st November 2009 but a follow-up inspection on 9th December showed that no progress had been made.

Commenting on the case, HSE Inspector Steve Kirton said: “Falls from height remain one of the biggest dangers in the workplace, accounting for a fifth of all deaths and scores of serious injuries in the food manufacturing sector alone according to our latest official figures.

“So it’s incredibly frustrating to see a company like Capri Foods blatantly ignoring calls to protect employees when such a clear and obvious risk has been identified. Fortunately no-one was hurt on this occasion, but the consequences of falling through that door could have been horrific.”

“It is the duty of employers to ensure that they take all measures that are reasonably practicable to protect their employees from harm. All firms, especially those in high risk industries such as manufacturing or construction, should conduct a thorough risk assessment of their premises. This will enable them to identify any potential safety hazards and deal with them before they become an issue.

By encouraging, facilitating and leading communication of good practices and expertise, we aim to promote awareness of health and safety matters in the workplace and ensure that high standards are achieved, and maintained.

Working with UK governments

IOSH is the conduit for knowledge, opinion and research on many important matters affecting the health and safety profession, and is often consulted by government departments for members' views on draft legislation, codes of practice and other government initiatives.

We aim to ensure that our members have a strong and effective voice which influences health and safety related issues with governments, employers and trades unions.

Working with Europe

IOSH aims to increase its contribution within the European Community and explore ways in which it can more directly influence European directives and guidance. IOSH aims to increase its contribution within the European Community and explore ways in which it can more directly influence European directives and guidance. IOSH aims to increase its contribution within the European Community and explore ways in which it can more directly influence European directives and guidance.

IOSH aims to increase its contribution within the European Community and explore ways in which it can more directly influence European directives and guidance.

BFFF Seminar - slips and trips prevention - 3 November 2010 (0930-1530) - Grantham

Slips and trips are the most common workplace hazard - in the food and drink industries accounting for over one-third of major injuries reported to HSE.
 
The British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) has teamed up with HSE, the Health & Safety Laboratories and key industry speakers to provide a seminar on slips and trips prevention.

To learn more go to:

HSE food manufacture website: www.hse.gov.uk/food

11 August 2010

On 20 – 22 July 2010, the IOSH Food and Drink Group in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) held a series of practical workshops on the new Assessment of Repetitive Tasks (ART) Tool in Leeds, Leicester and Windsor.

ART highlights the risk factors for key upper limb disorders by assessing four categories of risk: frequency, force, posture and breaks/duration. It’s quick and simple to use and provides a risk score for each task.

The events were very well attended by a total of 107 delegates.

The events featured presentations from the HSE and HSL and allowed delegates the opportunity to attempt an assessment of their own.

Positive feedback was received from the delegates, including;

‘Excellent value for money.  Particularly due to the cost of HSE courses in Buxton’

‘Excellent introduction to ART tool, well worth attending’’

‘Good educational day.  Good fun.  Well balanced between talk and doing’

‘Event very informative’

‘Well organised, good content’

The presentations from the event will be available on the ‘members' only’ section of the IOSH Food and Drink Group website in the near future.

Should you be interested in attending future IOSH Food and Drink Group Events, or IOSH Networking Events please contact the IOSH Networks team.

15 September 2010

On 12th July 2010 more than 100 firefighters and two air support units were called to a fire at Wessex Foods in Lowesoft. 

Fire fighters worked throughout the night to tackle the blaze. 

Wessex Food processes mince and burgers at the factory and has 150 staff.

To find out more go to:

• BBC

20 September 2010

Twenty-eight people have been injured in a chemical leak at a frozen food distribution centre in Staffordshire.

One man suffered severe ammonia burns to his arms in the incident in a compressor room at Brakes in Bonehill Road, Tamworth, at about 11:50 BST.

The leak left another 27 people needing treatment, seven of whom were taken to hospital but none were detained.

Go to:

• BBC News

Police closed off nearby roads, resulting in severe congestion around Tamworth town centre.

4 June 2010

The National Food and Drink Health and Safety Awards are proudly sponsored by the IOSH Food and Drink Group. The awards recognise innovative industry projects that have produced a practical solution to, and made a positive impact on, a health and safety problem in the food or drink manufacturing sector.

Entry is open to anyone working in the food or drink manufacturing industry and individual or team entrants can be submitted. Projects submitted will need to be original and unpublished but previous entries may also be resubmitted.

We’ll present the awards at the National Food and Drink Manufacturing Conference in Oxford on 28-29 September 2010. The winners or winning teams’ representatives will be invited to attend the full conference, with accommodation and travel expenses (up to £100) paid. Award winners and runners-up will give a 20-minute presentation at the start of day two.

There are generous prizes on offer including a cheque for £500, trophies and certificates.

For further information on how to enter, please see the flyer and entry form.

PLEASE NOTE: the deadline for entries is now closed.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning all users of telescopic variable reach trucks, commonly known as telehandlers, of the danger of not replacing broken windows on these machines.

This follows the recent death of a 36 year old killed whilst operating a telehandler.

Find out more on the HSE website.

30 June 2010

Two new 'Live Issues' on HSE's food website

1    For information - two new items have recently been added to HSE's food website Live Issues page:
• HSE's 'safe maintenance campaign'
• HSE's new 'managing for health and safety' website
HSE Live Issues webpage: http://www.hse.gov.uk/food/live.htm
 
2    You might also be interested in visiting HSE's Media Centre from time-to-time

Work at height case study

The National Food Manufacture health and safety Conference will be held on 28/29 September this year in Oxford.

The organising committee is looking for a good before and after case study on Working at Height (prevention of falls) preferably in a food/drink manufacture environment.  This study would need to fill a 20-30 minute session.

If you have, or know of, a suitable case study not previously used at such an event the IOSH food and drink committee would be grateful to hear from you.

Please contact Nina Price to find out more.

February 2010

BMPA has published revised best health and safety practice guidance for the meat processing industry. 

Find out more.

December 2009

Fire remains potentially the most damaging and disruptive event that any food business has to face. It can lead to significant loss of production process and in some cases destroying whole operations beyond repair. The impacts of event small fires should not be underestimated.

The Food and Drink Group is organising a networking event on 03 March 2010 in Runcorn to share and learn lessons from fires that have recently affected the sector.

Full programme and registration details are available on the events web page.

December 2009

The Food and Drink Group held a very well attended event focusing on machine safety. The event held at the Leicester Race Course on 02 December 2009, covered current best practice in machinery safety and explored the implications of upcoming changes in the law.

You can now view the presentations by downloading the PDF documents below.

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Tuesday, 19 February 2008

The speaker presentations from the Food and Drink Group (F&DG) networking event, entitled 'Slips: A recipe for action', are now available to download below.

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Monday, 03 March 2008

Police are carrying out a joint investigation with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the death of a worker at a sweet factory in Dorset.

The 33-year-old man died after getting his leg caught in a sweet-making machine.

For the full story, visit the BBC News website.

Thursday, 22 January 2009

The IOSH Food and Drink Group Committee in partnership with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) organised an event called, 'Flour dust - respiratory disease in the food industry' on 21 January 2009.

Due to oversubscription not everyone who expressed interest had the opportunity to attend this programme. However, the presentations given on the day are now available in the PDF attachments below.

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Thursday, 30 April 2009

An updated table showing testing results for a further 20 footwear samples has been published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

This table is the latest in the ongoing programme of slip-resistance testing of footwear at work.

For further information and to view the table, please visit the HSE website.

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Flour dust and enzymes are the second highest cause of occupational asthma.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has produced a colourful leaflet aimed at reducing the exposure to dust in this industry. To view this PDF document and for further information, please visit the HSE website.

Friday, 17 July 2009

A Food and Drink Group training day called 'Managing a crisis from the director's chair' was held on 01 July 2009 in Hinckley, Leicestershire.

The first half of the day focused on how to respond effectively to a serious incident and explained the role of head of organisations in managing such an incident and the impact it can have on your business. This was followed by workshop sessions which were set up as various crisis scenarios.

These presentations are now available in the PDF attachments below (one not available due to file size).

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Tuesday, 28 July 2009

The IOSH Policy and Technical Director Richard Jones attended on behalf of the Institution and various other IOSH members also attended from their employer or union perspectives, covering several sectors.

Food and Drink Group Chair John Nevitt (representing Tulip) and Tom Chambers (representing Greencore Group) were also present. Several other food and drinks companies sent delegates who also made contributions including: First Milk Group, Hovis, Premier Foods, Warburtons and The Yum Restaurant Group.

Over 60 delegates attended this meeting drawn from various sectors, the trade union movement and trade associations contributing to a lively and informative debate. An initial welcome was extended by the HSE Chief Executive Geoffrey Podger who highlighted the overall principles and priorities of the day’s events. Professor Kemp completed an overview of perceived issues, followed by a summary of known international approaches to the management of workplace temperatures both from within the European Union and further afield such as Canada and Australia. He also highlighted that the main thrust of this current consultation would focus on hot working conditions, as opposed to cold or chilled working environments.

A plenary session followed with delegates given the opportunity to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the current UK approach. Delegates were then broken into four syndicate groups to enable them to discuss the four key questions raised by the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Rt Hon James Parnell MP, namely:

• Has the relevant legislation and guidance kept pace with the changing nature of workplaces and working patterns?
• Is there continued justification for having a minimum recommended working temperature but not a corresponding maximum recommendation – for those working indoors?
• Can more be done to address the corresponding effects – including seasonal variations – on those working outdoors?
• What can be learned about workplace temperatures in the wider "good work" context, for example in relation to access for drinking water and other facilities in the working environment?

Food and Drink Group members highlighted a need to consult more widely, suggesting that the exercise run at Rose Court is taken into the Regions and that more of the smaller firms are included. HSE agreed to try to talk to trade associations representing smaller organisations before Professor Kemp submits his final recommendations.

Professor Kemp summarised the issues raised during the day’s event and advised delegates of the next steps. His report should be with HSE within six weeks and HSE will then add its own comments. Here the Food and Drink Group have made representations to HSE indicating the need to include experienced HSE Inspectors for the food and drinks sector in the process.

Also at the request of HSE, IOSH have conducted a SNAP survey of IOSH members on ‘workplace temperatures’, from across the entire UK membership. Richard Jones, IOSH Policy and Technical Director, indicated that the closing date for this was 27 July and that early indications were that over 350 responses had been received so far. IOSH Policy and Technical staff will help with the analysis and provide the data set to HSE for inclusion in Professor Kemp's report. 

A report summarising the stakeholder forum will be issued by the Health and Safety Executive in due course.

Friday, 21 August 2009

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued an alert advising bakeries to check that their explosion relief panels are free to operate properly without obstruction.

This is in response to a gas explosion at a pie factory in Huddersfield that caused the death of a 37-year-old man last Friday.

For more information on the alert, please visit the HSE website. For more on the news story, please visit the Halifax Courier website.