Health and Safety Updates in the Plastics Sector – July 2014

The BPF will keep you informed of the latest news relevant for the plastics industry. This month: updates on the new SIMPL strategy, HSE inspections of plastics SMEs and Public consultation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation (CLP).

New SIMPL pledge already available – Be part of the solution

Whether you are a member of the Safety in Manufacturing Plastics (SIMPL) or not you are required to sign the new pledge which will run from October 2014 to the end of 2017. SIMPL sets ambitious targets on accident reduction and features the launch of an audit tool that will help BPF members to monitor their H&S performance.

Mike Jones, Chairman of the BPF’s Industrial Health and Safety Committee said ‘Following its initial launch by the British Plastics Federation (BPF)  in October 2010, the 'Safety in Manufacturing Plastics' or SIMPL industry-led initiative is now entering its second strategy cycle. The BPF continues its commitment to health and safety improvement in the UK plastics industry through its SIMPL strategy and welcomes your on-going support and commitment.  The UK plastics industry accounts for 7% of manufacturing activity and provide approximately 180,000 jobs in the UK and is made up of over 7,500 individual firms. The safety of every person is important and each accident or ill health is one too many.  The industries safety performance is improving, but still lags behind the performance of UK industry as a whole.  When people are making career choices and considering a career in the plastics industry they could think twice about joining an industry which is perceived as having an inferior safety record, but we need to attract good people to the industry to ensure long term growth and sustainability’.

For more information and to get involved, please contact the BPF’s Health and Safety team on [email protected] or go to www.bpf.co.uk/SIMPL

HSE inspection of plastics SMEs

From 1 October 2013 HSE inspectors are carrying out visits to small and medium sized plastic manufacturing companies. The purpose of the visits is to check that the risk of exposure to plastic fume is being controlled. For more information see Plastics Processing Sheet No.13 Controlling Fume During Plastics Processing (http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/pps13.pdf )

In 2009 HSE carried out some research into the presence of harmful fume in plastics manufacturing. The conclusion of this work was that only low levels of fume were detected which supported our view that the controls recommended in Plastics Information Sheet 13 'Control of fume during plastics processing' were being applied and were adequate. However, this research was to a very small number of factories and more significantly, was only to large factories. Subsequent analysis of HSE visit data revealed that overall compliance levels with other aspects of worker health and safety in the industry were significantly worse than the manufacturing average. In addition, anecdotal evidence suggested that effective fume control was more of a problem at smaller sites.
 
As a consequence, and bearing in mind the potentially serious health risks arising if there is exposure to plastic process fume, it was decided to move the plastics industry from group C of the Strategy to group B of the Strategy. It was always recognised that there would be movement between the groupings, and there has been a similar change in another industry. The Manufacturing Sector Strategy document will be amended to reflect the changes.

More information on health and safety in the plastics industry can be found on the HSE's Plastics Manufacturing Website (http://www.hse.gov.uk/plastics/index.htm?ebul=gd-plasrub&cr=4/Oct13 )

HSE Consultation on proposals on the alignment of health and safety regulations with the EU direct acting Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation

HSE is seeking views on the proposals to align domestic  health and safety legislation with the EU direct acting Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation (CLP). The best way to view the consultation and respond is online at http://www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd269.htm.  Responses are required by 5 August 2014

To give some context, CLP, which implements in the EU the United Nations Globally Harmonised System (GHS) on the classification and labelling of chemicals, comes fully into force in June 2015. An amending directive with a transposition deadline of 1 June 2015 has been adopted which updates five health and safety directives, including the Safety Signs at Work Directive, to reflect CLP.  In addition, consequential amendments to a range of domestic regulations to align them with CLP also need to be made. The amendments will replace references to the existing classification system and hazard warning symbols with CLP references and need to be made to relevant health and safety regulations in Great Britain by 1 June 2015. This is to ensure that GB regulations continue to be workable and comply with EU obligations.