BMPA launches health and safety guidance for meat industry

- Published: 14 March, 2007

The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) has launched a range of guidance notes to help businesses in the meat industry improve health and safety in the workplace.

The meat industry typically reports about 200 major injuries and 3,000 other reportable injuries per year, according to the Health and Safety Executive.

The BMPA has prepared clearer guidance notes which do not concentrate on technical matters, but help employers in the meat industry adapt to the new legal framework. The guidance notes identify significant risks and priorities that are important.

Accidents such as slips, trips and falls, or knife injuries have long dominated statistics and numbers still stubbornly refuse to come down. It is now recognised that active management of safety can successfully reduce these figures, said the BMPA.

The guidance identifies a large range of risks which are relevant to the meat industry, offering a practical approach to risk assessment in meat processing.

A separate booklet 'Your Health and Animals' has also been produced to complement work carried out on health and safety in the workplace. Particular attention has been paid to those employees who may contract diseases from animals, (zoonotic diseases).

The pocket sized booklet contains a list of symptoms certain diseases may display. It has been designed for both employees and GPs to help achieve a speedy diagnosis of zoonotic diseases which are not commonly found, other than in patients who come in contact with animals or animal carcases.

Copies of the booklet are available to order from the Health and Safety section of the BMPA website: www.bmpa.uk.com