The HSE has kicked off the UK’s participation in a Europe-wide campaign to raise awareness about the importance of safe maintenance.
The European Healthy Workplaces Campaign on Safe Maintenance 2010-2011 is coordinated by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), and is being taken forward in the UK by the HSE, along with organisations representing employers, workers and other interested bodies, including the TUC and EEF – the manufacturers’ organisation.
It is estimated that between 25 and 30 per cent of all manufacturing-industry deaths in Britain result from maintenance activity, with fatalities and major injuries often linked to falls from height, or a failure to properly isolate machinery so that it doesn’t restart during repair work.
In order to reduce the number of incidents attributed to maintenance work, the European initiative aims to raise awareness among businesses and their workers, and to help them implement simple precautionary measures.
Launching the UK leg of the campaign at a special event on 21 June, HSE chair Judith Hackitt said: “Maintenance work is often seen simply as a disruption to normal service, but it is fundamental to the integrity of every system and to the health and safety of workers and the public. Workers are often under pressure to complete jobs quickly, but there is no excuse for putting themselves and others in danger by taking shortcuts.”
The UK drive includes a new safe-maintenance section on the HSE website, featuring a checklist to assess how good current maintenance practices are, and offering pointers on how to improve. Free downloadable fact sheets, posters, and information on how organisations can get involved are also available.
Delegates at the launch event were given a checklist to plan how their organisations could get involved in the initiative. Chris Ball, chair of the Ladder Association, who attended the event, said: “The Ladder Association fully supports this latest initiative, promoting the need for timely, regular and proper maintenance in the workplace.
“As much of this maintenance is likely to be carried out using ladders and stepladders, it particularly welcomes the opportunity to reinforce the need for ladders to be used safely and competently through training.”
Another organisation supporting the campaign is the British Plastics Federation, whose health and safety committee chair, Lynn Edwards, said: “Even though every business is legally obliged to ensure the health and safety of its employees and persons who come into contact with their trade, it is easy to forget how intrinsic maintenance operations are to occupational safety and health.
“It is evident that the smallest failure can have drastic consequences. I see this campaign as a wake-up call to those businesses that look upon maintenance as a quick fix to getting their product out of the door.”
Added Ms Hackitt: “All organisations, irrespective of their size and purpose, need to take the opportunity to look at how they plan and manage maintenance to see if improvements could be made. With planning and the right skills, it can be done efficiently and will lead to increased production and better service delivery.”
For more information, visit www.hse.gov.uk/safemaintenance
Maintenance programs are an integral part of good H&S Management systems. Which as a H&S professional I would fully expect and endorse, however sometime you may wonder why bother!! A recent example of where the law is an ass – Regulation 5 of The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 States. The workplace and the equipment, devices and systems to which this regulation applies shall be maintained (including cleaned as appropriate) in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. Courts have ruled that this is an absolute duty and no mater how good you maintenance… Read more »
The Napo Consortium is supporting the Safe maintenance campaign with a new Napo animation film: “Napo in… Safe maintenance!” which is available to download from the Napo website at: http://www.napofilm.net/en/napos-films
The film is also available from HSE Books.
In producing machinery Technical Files, a large percentage of the higher risks are often associated with maintenance, although the machine manufacturer/supplier/end-user usually assumes that the main danger is to the operator.
When double-shifting (using nightshifts), some companies reduce their maintenance breakdown capability or don’t have any engineering cover, leaving untrained operators or supervisors to keep production going – a recipe for accidents.
Banyards wish the ‘Campaign on Safe Maintenance’ every success. As a maintenance contractor ourselves we are exposed to the risks described on a daily basis but dramatically reduce theose risks using an e-permits system, which we would heartily recommend to others.
We read about so many machine guarding injuries/deaths in SHP I am glad the HSE is focussing a campaign on this area. I hope employers take notice of this campaign