MESH Consultants were contracted to undertake a review of current ice cream filling and packing equipment at the Leeming Bar site. The purpose of the review was to advise any non-compliance guarding issues with requirements of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). Also included in the review is reference to the Work at Height regulations 2005.
Some areas of concern were pointed out at the start by the Group Health and Safety Manager and the remainder of the information gathered came from spending 3 days on-site looking at the operations in detail and taking time with managers and operators to understand the processes.
The survey undertaken took into consideration the primary objective of PUWER; which is that “work equipment should not result in health and safety risks regardless of its age, condition, or origin”. Additionally Regulation 11 of PUWER deals with the employers’ responsibility to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. The established legal definition of “dangerous parts” is any part of the equipment that can cause injury when it is being used in a foreseeable manner.
Looking in detail at the many machines RR operate there were instances found where operators had access to dangerous moving parts because areas were left open for them to attempt to remove rejects or incorrectly located product.
The survey was used to help RR identify where there were any contravention issues with PUWER and to assist in identifying ways to eliminate the need for persons to risk injury. The detailed report provided to RR included a prioritised action plan to work through.