1 July 2010

European safe maintenance drive launches in Britain

Maintenance is integral to running a safe and reliable operation. Good planning and having the right skills and tools to do the job minimises the risk to workers and the public in any task from repairing a gas main to fixing a roof.

This is the message presented behind a new European initiative launched in Britain on Monday 21 June 2010.

Current figures identify that an estimate between 25 and 30 per cent of all manufacturing industry deaths in Britain resulted from some form of maintenance activity. Common causes of fatalities and major injuries range from failure to properly isolate machinery (restart incidents), and falls from height.

Many of these incidents are common to us and well known and entirely preventable and therefore, the campaign aims to raise awareness among businesses and their workers and to help them implement simple risk management solutions.

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 Britain by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) along with organisations representing employers, their workers and other interested parties, including the Trades Union Congress (TUC), EEF the Manufacturers' Organisation and trade associations.

This British campaign also includes a new 'one stop shop' safe maintenance section, which can be found upon the HSE website. There is a quick and easy checklist to help you assess how good and stringent your organisations current control measures are for maintenance practises and offers pointers on how to improve.
There are free downloadable fact sheets, information and posters on how organisations can get involved etc.

HSE Chair Judith Hackitt delivered a speech at a launch event in London, attended by many organisations including car manufacturer Jaguar/Land Rover, The British Plastics Federation (BPF) and The Ladder Association, as well as other trade unions.

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 short cuts.

"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."

Again, this campaign illustrates the significance of undertaking workplace risk assessments on all activities.

For more information, click here to visit the HSE Safe Maintenance website.