Too many workers injured in food production, says HSE

Almost 100,000 workers in the food and drink industry have been injured in the past decade, according to new data from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).

“In the 10 year period from April 1996 to March 2006, over 98,700 workers in the food and drink industries suffered an injury reportable to HSE”, said the HSE.

Its comments came in the wake of a fatality at Cranswick’s DeliCo cooked meats plant in Milton Keynes last month.

The HSE is investigating the incident in order to establish whether the company has breached health and safety legislation.

It said: “We were notified about the accident in the early hours of May 19 after the emergency services were called to attend to a woman who suffered major injuries while cleaning a machine in the factory. We are attempting to establish precisely what happened and whether health and safety procedures were followed.”

According to HSE data, injury rates in meat production are lower than the food and drink industry average, but still well ahead of the manufacturing sector average.

Average injuries per 100,000 workers per year in meat and poultry production are 1,473. This is lower than the food and drink industry average (1,900), but above the manufacturing industry average (1,047).

In 2005/06 there were 45 deaths in the UK manufacturing industry, said the HSE. Of these, four were in food and drink production.

While the injury rate in food manufacturing had dropped by more than a third since 1990/91, a quarter of all manufacturing injuries still occurred in the food industry, it said.

The injury rate in food and drink is almost twice the average for manufacturing industries generally and is twice that of the construction industry.