SAFE CHAT AT BTAC
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Startling accident statistics among draymen were presented at this year's BTAC Trucking Consult, which drew pointed questions on improved standards and sensible legislation.
IN With the possible exception of the stripper on the Leyland Daf stand, the most controversial presentation at last month's Brewery Transport Adivsory Committee (BTAC) meeting came from the Health and Safety Executive's Ed Friend.
He is currently writing a guide to safety in beer delivery, and chose BTAC's Trucking '88 Consult to warn that further legislation on materials handling may be necessary. "Not only is the accident rate among draymen one of the highest in the industry," he says, "there is an acceptance that even without an accident the nature of the work over a period of many years is so debilitating as to reduce a drayman's useful working life by several years."
Brewers Society figures show that draymen suffer 47 incidents per thousand man hours — double the rate in manufacturing industry. Last year, accident statistics relating to brewery deliveries were collated centrally for the first time. They showed that in 1987/8 438 accidents to draymen were reported to the HSE.
These figures do not include accidents in breweries. More than 54% of handling accidents resulted in back injuries.
Friend says the Brewery industry "must now look to ways, however radical, to reduce the long-term effects on draymen of their work. Beer delivery in kegs or casks requires manhandling loads of up to 400lb (180kg) in weight, in the different environments, from lorry decks, along uneven pavements, into poorly lit cellars, often with difficult access. Accidents occur regularly while carrying out all these activities to all the more obvious parts of the body at risk: fingers, hands, backs, legs and feet. Reducing injuries and long-term disability has to be the priority of any progressive and caring and careful employer.
"No one answer will eliminate the problem," says Friend. "The trade must reduce manhandling and ensure that that which is left is as safe as possible. Breweries are experimenting with various mechanical devices and some are potentially accepted, but none have yet been universally accepted. The industry must ask the question 'why?"
Friend warns that both the European Commission and the HSE plan to develop new regulations covering the handling of beer. "We have already had one fairly unsuccessful stab at legislation," he says, "now we are moving away from prescribing certain weight limitation legislation covering the lifting of a load which could be a foreseeable cause of injury."
He argues that virtually all the loading activities of draymen today are in breach of such proposed legislation, though he adds the legislation would apply to other industries as well.
"Before the industry has to respond to legislation, the leaders in the industry, with their not insignificant resources, should recognise the only really effective option open to them, allocate sufficient resources to develop the technology, and provide it, for the benefit of the industry and the people who work in it," he believes. Friend does not have any ready answers to the problems of handling beer. He does not, for instance, suggest the adoption of any'particular load handling technique.
WORKING PRACTICES
Nevertheless, BTAC secretary Bill Montague says that Friend has overlooked the working practices of the industry, such as the fact that most draymen employed by breweries work on a "job-and-finish" basis.
When these working practices were introduced in the 1970s they had an important role to play in improving brewery transport operations, says Montague. Today, he says, they have the unfortunate effect of encouraging draymen to hurry their deliveries, with a consequent effect on safety. The draymen know the sooner the work is done the sooner they can go home.
Not surprisingly, these working practices are popular with draymen: Stories abound of crews completing their work by 2pm. Most brewers believe they will have an uphill task persuading their draymen to adopt safer working practices.
Friend believes the breweries may be forced to change their working practices, however — not only in response to legislation, but also in response to competition from beer distribution from contract companies such as TNT Brewery Distribution and National Carriers Contract Services.
It is still too early for the HSE to comment about safety standards among the contracting companies, says Friend.
Nonetheless he believes that the arrival of contracting companies in brewery distribution is more likely to result in a shakeup of working practices, with possible safety benefits as a consequence. "I see the potential for the breaking of traditions in the brewery industry," he says, "it is the easy option in management terms to leave things as they are, . . but in my personal view the transport industry is far more ruthless in applying change than the breweries."
Charlie Secker, Whitbread's distribution engineering manager, says Friend's speech was openly controversial, and that an equally long reply would have been required to answer all Friend's points.
"I don't believe the industry in the major areas is anything like as bad in terms of caring as Friend suggested," says Secker. "We do care. Here at Whitbread we are investing significant money each year in better handling equipment and delivering the product.
"Whitbread has been working over three decades to improve the way we handle the product and I am sure our figures are much, much better than the average numbers presented," says Secker.
"Not all new handling techniques are satisfactory and sometimes they introduce new dangers. I really believe we have improved handling significantly through mechanical handling at the warehouse, low drive deck heights, and lighter, smaller containers."
Secker concedes that further legislation may help safety standards in the industry, but warns it must be sensible legislation drafted jointly by the Government and the brewing industry.
JOB AND FINISH
Whitbread has moved away from job-andfinish working practices in recent years. Secker believes that salaried staff generally offer better customer service and usually have lower accident levels than those working to job and finish practices.
Smeed explains that Bass has a dedicated department continually investigating materials handling techniques, but some changes can only come slowly, for example: "With aluminium containers we could replace them, but the total population among the breweries runs into millions, and they have an average life of between 13 and 15 years. If we introduced plastic containers there would still be long-term problems.
Legislation could have an important place in improving brewery safety, says Smeed. "It's no secret that proposed legislation will place the emphasis on employers to assess the risks to workers fo handling work." Smeed expects such legislation to be similar in style to the Control of Substances and Hazards to Health legislation in that it requires employees to assess the risks.
Whatever form future legislation takes, Smeed expects that "anybody involved in the handling of heavy items will need to closely review their practices, and put tremendous emphasis on training. The industry is not currently getting the results we want from training. Old habits die hard and often the men re-learn habits. CIRichard Scrase