Packaging Safety

The manufacture of packaging which is destined to the food and drinks industries can be hazardous and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) keeps an eye on making sure companies comply.

Recently two companies have been fined the first, £300,000 and the second £400,000 for safety failings. The first company was reported by an external consultant who had concerns; the HSE followed these up by visiting the site. They found areas where improvements were needed in electrical safety, machinery guarding and how materials were stored; 14 notices in total were served.

The second company was fined following an employee being able to put his foot onto an open conveyor and being drawn into the moving parts. The incident occurred during uncontrolled maintenance work and the company had not assessed the risks or followed any procedures for safe maintenance. The conveyor had a ‘jog mode’ which could have been used to enable maintenance works to be carried out safely, but this was not identified and no training given to use it.

A systems integrator based in Lancashire is able to provide time served maintenance engineers who adhere to Safecontractor approved method statements and risk assessments. The engineers are able to provide line maintenance, OEE, and project managed works to the food and drinks industry manufacturing sites providing engineering support for particular pieces of work, as a service contractor to augment an engineering team at peak times. By ensuring production lines work at their optimum capacity, they work efficiently and regular, safe maintenance identifies problems before they cause downtime or major costs.