HSE Issues Updated Guidance for Food Manufacturing Industries
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a new edition of its guidance for food manufacturing industries, A Recipe for Safety: Occupational Health and Safety in Food and Drink Manufacture. This publication provides practical advice for management, supervisory staff and workers representatives in the food and drink manufacturing industries. It also aims to increase understanding of the injury and ill health picture in these sectors and to stimulate awareness of priority areas for attention.
This ‘Recipe for Safety’ updates and replaces the earlier edition published in 1999. The new edition has expanded chapters on occupational health and sets out benchmarks for both occupational health and safety risks. Member organisations and expert advisers of the Food Manufacture Health and Safety Forum contributed to and reviewed the publication, making it a truly joint HSE/food industry booklet involving both trade organisations and trade unions.
The booklet identifies the priority health and safety issues that require risk assessment and management in order to reduce injuries and occupational ill health. These include:
| • | manual handling and musculoskeletal injuries; |
| • | workplace transport; |
| • | falls from height; |
| • | machinery; |
| • | slips and trips; |
| • | occupational Dermatitis; |
| • | occupational Asthma; |
| • | noise-induced hearing loss; and |
| • | work-related stress. |
The booklet also contains useful guidance on why it pays to manage health and safety, an action plan for management, and guidance on managing safety hazards and occupational health priorities.
Dr Roger Nourish, Head of HSE’s Agriculture and Food Sector, said: “This guidance will greatly assist the food and drink industries in managing health and safety priorities. It draws together into one book a lot of useful information from previous HSE publications and from practical industry experience.
Although food and drink is processed in a strictly controlled environment, it would be wrong to perceive these industries as ‘low risk’ in terms of the health and safety of employees. Food processing operations can be very hazardous.
Positive action is needed to continue to improve the overall health and safety performance in the food and drink industries. Effective management of occupational health and safety is essential to sound business management. Many companies have good health and safety records – suggestions in this booklet reflect their good practice. In other companies this positive management culture needs to be developed and this guidance will assist.”
Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
PENINSULA COMMENT
This article emphasises the fact that businesses involved in food manufacture have two main areas of risk that impact upon their undertakings:
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those that involve food hygiene and food handling; and
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those that involve safety issues in the working environment.
Most food manufacturers understand the need to meet food hygiene and food handling standards. Unfortunately many do not understand or manage the risks involved in the working environment.
These risks range from simple issues such as wet floors, handling knives, boiling water, hot fat and steam to more serious matters such as dangerous equipment, chilled environments, lone working, hot ovens, manual handling including hot equipment, loading/unloading of vehicles, deliveries, workplace transport, working at height, equipment maintenance, issue and use of PPE, hazardous substances etc.
It is essential that proper and appropriate risk assessments are carried out that include all areas of risk; appropriate control measures are introduced to remove or reduce and control the risks; effective training and management is provided to ensure that the risks are fully understood and the control measures fully implemented.
The services provided by Peninsula, whilst not encompassing food hygiene issues, can be instrumental in ensuring that proper workplace safety measures are adopted and put into place.