Posted By MT
Kevin, could you maybe rephrase your question, because I've read it 3 times and I still can't work out what you're asking! Maybe that's why there aren't any responses yet, or maybe I'm just too tired come friday to be able to read properly. :-)

Posted By andrew morris
The easy get out answer is depends how frequent, infrequent is...

We say all warehouse operative must wear safety shoes at all times. Visitors to the warehouse i.e. admin/etc. do not as we can approximate their time in there as a couple of hours a week - so low frequency... But we felt £15 for each operative, once every few years was reasonably practicable...

We use FLTs and pallet trucks though so it may not be entirely relevant!

Hope this helps K...

Posted By ITK
I dont belive that issuing safety footwear to everyone is SFAIRP.

Posted By ITK
So you would make evreyone who enters this area wear safety shoes, admin staff, managers, cleaners....if I were served an Improvement notice to enforce this I would appeal it.

I maintain it is not reasonably practicable.

Posted By Darren (Daz) Fraser
Kevin

Having finally worked out what you are saying, I have a couple of suggestions,

1. Eliminate any possibility of the packer moving items by expressly forbidding it - could not see working in practice, due to production schedules, human nature etc.

2. Reduce the possibility by only allowing trained persons to move items - similar answer to above.

3. Isolate - can not see how

Sure you can see the pattern forming, therefore final option is provide safety shoes to all, for the sake of a few pounds, compared to someone who does not do this as part of their normal task and is therefore more likely to have an accident, a no brainer in my book.

If you wish, you could work out the potential cost / saving of supply compared to loss of employee due to injury / retraining of temporary cover (if required) / late order delivery / overtime to recover / upset customer etc.

It may be asking yourself the question from an external viewpoint 'Why was the wearing of safety footwear in this environment not mandatory for all, as there is the potential for the packers to occasionally move items etc and you have already identified that the normal movers have to wear PPE', and then trying to answer it from an internal viewpoint and see if you feel the answer is adequate, and would you be happy/confident to say that.

If not done so already would suggest documented training for all packers in MH techniques, use of equipment etc.

I would then say that you had done all that is SFAIRP to prevent any accident and the control measures in place are adequate, but need monitoring to ensure continued adequacy.

Posted By Jonathan Breeze
Kevin,

I agree 100% with the suggestion made by Daz above.

The cost of supplying 25 pairs of £15 boots per year is £375. And any boot supplied would probably last more than a year if it is such a benign environment as you describe.

The cost of the downtime due to any injury, temporarily replacing the injured person and your time taken to investigate and report would easily exceed this.

So a saving is immediately made if you have more than one incident to investigate per year.

That is how I would go about attempting to justify it financially in any case.

You will of course have to do your own calculation based on your own actual accident stats and costs, this is just an example.

Posted By Merv Newman
Kevin,

the ollowing is a coppy/paste of a reply to a similar query by simonh :

"The vast majority of factories where I work require safety shoes as minimum ppe for ALL persons present in the production/warehouse areas. And this has been largely the case for years.

Contractors are required to conform.

Some sites do allow guided tours so long as the visitors (clients, suppliers, schools ...) remain within marked pathways.

Employees, including administrative services and those from other sites are also required to conform.

At reception or guardhouse you can expect to be asked if you will be visiting production areas and if so do you have your own safety shoes. If you don't then they will lend you a pair. (sterilising is by same system used by ski-boot hire shops)

One company will loan you the shoes and GIVE you a new pair of socks to keep. (they just happen to bear the company logo (Dim))

I feel that such "blanket" rules in a manufacturing environment are quite sensible and realistic. There are so many ways of injuring your feet that even Risk Assessments tend to skim over them.

Having dropped a full bottle of wine on my left foot (force of less than 1kg/m) and subsequently demonstrated the one-legged Hopi "get-well-soon" dance to admiring guests I know of what I speak. (both participants survived the encounter without permanent injury)(though the bottle was later pronounced "dead")

I do have on this computer a photo of a safety shoe stuck under a pallet truck. Leather toe-cap ripped off, toe cap intact. No injury.

Copies can be sent to those applying by e-mail. I don't do "me-toos""

End of self-quote.

And, confirming the opinion of another respondent, they get, free, a pair of stout but comfortable shoes which are also pretty good for doing the garden, DIY and shifting furniture.

Merv