The Health and Safety Committee’s annual survey of accidents in flour mills enables our sector to compare accidents across years, both in terms of numbers and type (e.g. slips and trips versus manual handling accidents).
This year 38 sites responded, representing approximately 97 per cent of the industry by production.
The data shows that the overall accident rate is in line with the average over the past five years, indicating that as a sector we have plateaued in terms of accident reduction. Reassuringly, there were no serious fires or dust explosions reported in the past year.
Occupational health figures show that the industry is doing a good job at managing employee asthma, although mental health, which has received significant focus from the H&S Committee over the past year, continues to have a significant effect.
Responses to the survey were provided on a site-by-site basis this year, which allows for better benchmarking as accident rates per member of staff across sites can be compared.
Site data will of course remain confidential to the company that provided it, as with all UK Flour Miller responses, and benchmarking reports will refer to anonymised data only. These reports will be distributed to members in the coming weeks.
