health and safety in the food and drink sector
The Food and Drink Manufacture Health & Safety Forum, which
comprises representatives from HSE's Food Section, the Food and
Drink Federation and 20 other key food/drink trade associations and
trade unions, has recently updated its common strategy
document.
The first common strategy document was published 20 years ago
and set out the actions each party would take to improve health and
safety in the food industry. This was rewritten in 2004 to include
actions on companies as well as trade associations and HSE. The
latest edition revises the earlier editions and sets out the
challenges, objectives, progress to date and proposed
action/targets that each Forum partner will undertake to reduce
injuries and occupational ill health further.
Twenty years ago injuries in the food and drink manufacturing
industries were two to three times higher than that of
manufacturing generally. Since then there has been considerable
progress in the reduction of injuries in this sector:
- reportable injuries – 50% reduction
- major injuries – 31% reduction
- fatal injuries – 60% reduction - there were only 2 fatal
injuries in 2010/2011
The aim going forward is to reduce the:
- reportable injury rate to that of manufacturing generally and
eventually below it
- major injury rate to that of manufacturing generally and
eventually below it
- fatal injuries each year to zero.
There has also bee a significant improvement in the incidence of
occupational ill health in the sector over the last 20 years with
figures now being comparable to the manufacturing industry average.
The Forum’s aim is to reduce occupational ill health further,
particularly upper limb disorders and back injuries that comprise
almost 60% of the ill health.
While it is acknowledged that considerable effort has been made
by many companies over the last decade or more to improve the
management of health and safety, continued effort is still
required. In this respect the Forum’s objective is to continue to
promote, develop and implement the management issues
identified.
The proposed actions and targets required to implement the
Common Strategy are set out for HSE’s Food Manufacture section,
Forum member organisations (trade associations, trade unions and
IOSH food and drink group) and individual food and drink
companies.
