health & safety workplace injuries l
ShD, in conjunction with the United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) and materials handling equipment manufacturer Jungheinrich, recently hosted a round-table discussion forum at which senior managers from Bibby Distribution, Wincanton and Dairy Crest discussed how the need to minimise the risk of manual handling-related accidents and injuries impacts on their operations.
Injury time T
he discussion panel, which was chaired by ShD’s editor, Peter MacLeod (PM), featured Brandon Moss (BM), operations manager –
prepack, Dairy Crest; Tony Stewart (TS), MHS manager, Wincanton; Tony Mohan (TM), marketing director, Bibby Distribution; Peter Scott (PS) , Jungheinrich UK Ltd’s group UK HSE manager; Tony Porter (TP), divisional sales manager, Jungheinrich UK Ltd; and Bill Goodwin (BG), sales director, Jungheinrich UK Ltd. Their comments make fascinating reading and edited highlights are reproduced here.
PM:What is the size of the problem caused by manual handling injuries? Does anyone have any information on the number of days that are lost to industry as a result of manual handling injuries each year? PS: It’s a major problem. Across all sectors, manual handling-related accidents account for a third of all injuries at work that are reported in the UK. That equates to 10.7 million working days lost or 16.7 absent days per person in the UK workforce each year due to a problem thought to be related to a manual handling injury. In monetary terms, once compensation payouts, lost productivity, the cost of hiring replacement staff and other overheads are taken into account, the actual cost of manual handling injury-related absenteeism is estimated to be over £100m a year to the British economy. Manual handling injuries are putting a strain on the NHS and the Health and
32 ShD May 2011
www.PressOnShD.com
Safety Executive is becoming increasingly concerned about the issue.
PM: Major accidents at work become board level issues and most businesses have processes in place to manage and monitor incidents. But to what extent are companies aware of minor injuries that may occur at work? TM: We monitor accidents – no matter how small – and have a process for reporting near misses. But the fact is that some practices that are a fundamental part of every warehousing operation are by their very nature, not risk-free. For example, picking from a floor-based pallet involves bending and leaning forward, and while we train our staff to perform the task in such a way that puts minimal strain on their back and other joints, it is hard to see how the process can be made entirely risk-free. If we notice a trend in the type and number of incidents that are occurring we will ensure that staff receive extra training. If someone has an accident that is clearly the result of not following their previous training and guidance, we will retrain them. BM: At Dairy Crest we’ve spent a lot of time and money monitoring our working practices to ensure that our operation is as safe as possible. We’ve been working with a company called Pristine Condition Ltd who train our staff in different ways of lifting things. Most people realise that a different approach is required for lifting a heavy bulky object than a lighter one, but both heavy and light objects pose their
own health risks if they are not picked up properly.
The Pristine Condition
representatives as well as our POPs (Pass On the Principles) coaches constantly record and review how our staff are lifting goods throughout our company distribution centre. If they see that a worker is not lifting correctly they are immediately reminded how the job should be done so working practices are constantly being reviewed on the shop floor. The scheme has been very well received by our staff. TS: We monitor every accident and near miss. Of course, order picking is a very intensive part of our operation and I think one of the biggest problems with manual handling training is that a lot of staff completely ignore the advice they receive. BG: In addition to greater emphasis on staff training, we have noticed an increase in the number of companies looking to their materials handling equipment supplier to help reduce the number of staff days lost to manual handling injuries. Technology certainly has a role to play in making the distribution centre environment safer. For example, we have noticed a significant trend towards greater use of powered pallet trucks over hand pallet trucks. Our research shows that the risk of injury to a worker using a hand pallet truck is 66% higher than it is for a worker with a powered pallet truck. Powered pallet trucks may be more expensive as products than the hand held alternative, but once the reduction in the cost of personal injury
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52