The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) has announced a programme of workplace transport inspections focused on the food industry.
The HSENI’s agriculture and food team (AFT) will carry out inspections as part of the workplace regulator’s industry-wide ‘Drive Danger Out’ campaign.
The campaign began this month and inspections being undertaken as part of it are set to continue until March 2024.
HSENI principal inspector of the AFT, Camilla Mackey, said: “Workplace transport management is absolutely critical in all industries, that applies equally in the food processing sector.
“Some of the more common causes of injury in the food sector include injuries sustained from using knives to slips, trips and falls, however, most of the injuries sustained in these incidents are less serious compared to those involving workplace transport, for example, which usually result in very serious injury or death.
“Our inspectors frequently find that most food processors do have some form of traffic management plans in place, unfortunately these are not always adequate.”
Mackey said common failings include:
- Lack of control of contractors’ safety;
- Issues with parking of staff and visitors directly on the site;
- Not having “very simple” control measures in place, like good signage and appropriate lighting.
‘Drive Danger Out’
“Part of our ‘Drive Danger Out’ campaign will help inform the food industry of the necessary workplace transport management plans they need to have in place to help prevent future incidents,” Mackey said.
Typically, an inspection will first consider whether a site is safe. The AFT will ask the following of the site:
- Is there a traffic management plan and associated risk assessments in place for the site?
- Are pedestrians and vehicles adequately segregated?
- Has the traffic management plan and associated risk assessments been shared and agreed with all contractors?
- How is parking managed at the site?
The next thing considered is the safety of vehicles on the site. HSENI inspectors will check that all vehicles are adequately maintained by competent people.
As well as this, they will ensure all relevant vehicles have been thoroughly examined, that daily checks are undertaken and recorded and that any defects are dealt with promptly.
Inspections will then turn to the drivers of these vehicles and it will be checked that all drivers hold adequate licenses/training certificates for the vehicles they are authorised to drive.
Inspectors will check if there are refresher programmes in place and if new employees hold adequate training certification for the vehicles that are on site and if they had their competency assessed prior to operating them.
The HSENI said the local food industry employs over 25,000 people across a variety of sub-sectors including meat, poultry, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables, drinks, and bakeries.
“The sector is already highly regulated with very stringent requirements under food safety, hygiene, environmental and health and safety legislation,” it said.
“Companies have a statutory requirement to regularly review their risk assessments to ensure that their control measures are sufficient to keep everyone on their site safe at work.
“Where HSENI inspectors identify breaches of health and safety legislation enforcement action may be taken.”