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Posted By Paul L Williams On the week of the Confederation of Paper Industries Conference where a positive continual reduction in the number of accidents was reported it is with regret to announce that a fatal accident has occurred yesterday at a mill in Barrow. Link below to press statement. http://www.nwemail.co.uk...ewarticle.aspx?id=563037
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Posted By Merv Newman Sorry, but there is no information on the circumstances of the accident nor of which machine he was working on. http://www.nwemail.co.uk...ewarticle.aspx?id=563037When I worked in paper mills, (30 years ago) I was told that it was "officially classified" as a "dangerous industry" and one LTI per week was considered as "normal". We met or even exceeded our quota. I trust that things have improved since then. Merv
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Posted By Paul L Williams
Hi there Merv,
There has not been much information released about the circumstances as it is still under investigation by the HSE. All I know is that one account states that the deceased had become trapped in equipment.
Your right the paper industry was renowned for poor accident performance but in the late 90's set about changing this following Union and HSE pressure. All mills within the federation published a safety improvement plan to the HSE. This involved training and management as well as the physical guarding of the paper making machines, which cost some companies millions to do. As you can imagine the functional safety to bring a large paper making machines up to CAT 4 standards as well as guarding all the drying cylinders was a massive task so it was spread out over 3-years.
After the safety plans finished mills continued with their own improvements using HSE guidance, this focused on the main contributory factors to accidents within the industry, that mirrored the HSE revitalizing H&S targets i.e. slips and trips, falls from height, manual handling, workplace transport etc. The improvement trend has since been very positive and the step changes have reaped much praise from the Unions, HSE and others.
The Federation has since taken the recovered paper (recycling) sector under its wing to help them improve their own performance. The accident this week is terrible blow to all and my thoughts go out to the family, friends and colleagues of the young man.
Paul
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Posted By Barry Cooper
As already stated, no details of the accident available. My thoughts are also with the family of the victim.
This is a bitter blow to an industry that is striving to improve its H&S record,
I work as a H&S advisor for a global paper company, and I am based in the UK in a paper mill not too far from the mill in question. Things have improved drastically over the 10 years that I have worked in the industry. The biggest step was adopting "Making Paper Safely", a document requiring guarding of the whole paper machine, plus bringing safety control systems up to an appropriate standard.
Unfortunately not all UK paper mills have met the requirements of MPS. (Do not know about the mill in question).
European mills have definitely not met these requirements or those of the machinery directive. I have seen many with no guarding whatsoever.
Only 2 weeks ago an employee in one of our US mill had his hand amputated above the wrist after becoming trapped in an inward nip whilst jogging the paper machine to fit a feed rope. So serious if not fatal injuries do still result.
This accident only goes to emphasis the need for continual improvement in health and safety standards throughout industry to ensure all workers go home safe at the end of each working day.
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Posted By D H
Hi - I worked in the paper industry for over 30 years and was unfortunate to witness 2 fatalities - and aware of another 9 during my career.
Yes, a dangerous industry where you get no second chances.
Ok - not a lot of information in the report, but I sense it happened during the night shift? And a job that the poor guy was familiar with?
This was always a danger area for us - people working on "auto pilot".
But paper makers are a breed apart. When I started in the industry you would not be classed as a paper maker if you had 10 full digits on your hands.
Days long gone, but still fatalities are still happening!
I believe the industry should be starting to push through the VQ route - where supervisors are A1 accredited and take the individuals through their job processes and assess their capabilities or find their weaknesses and repair them. At the end of the day though, tiredness and shortcuts are a massive cause of fatalities.
My heartfelt sorrow and respects to all who knew and loved the poor man involved.
Dave
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