HSE endorses BFFF guidance for working at height
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has recognised the work of the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) to reduce accidents in the food and drink industry.
The Guidance for Working at Height (WAH) on refrigerated vehicles was developed by the BFFF under the leadership of Joanna Hancock, head of health & safety, with assistance from the Food Storage and Distribution Federation (FSDF) as well as input from 30 stakeholders.
Until now, engineers working at height on vehicles and trailers were doing so without detailed industry guidance on good practice.
The project involved establishing a working group to create new protocols, holding detailed negotiations with stakeholders and practical demonstrations to illustrate the effectiveness of the new safety guidance. BFFF intend to include further examples of industry best practice into the guidance in the coming months.
Commenting on the WAH guidance, Warren Pennington, HM inspector of health and safety says, “Falls from height account for 6% of all accidents in the food and drink sector and I congratulate the BFFF’s leadership here in writing guidance which helps to address this.”
The guidance gives operators, contractors and engineers clarity on how the regulations relevant to their operation can be put into practice. This includes an example of the practical implementation of the hierarchy of control measures to be considered when working at height, which must be followed systematically.
Joanna Hancock, adds, “We would like to thank all of our members and industry representatives who assisted us in the development of this guidance and look forward to taking it forward as an industry and ensuring best practice benchmarks are developed.”
As well as being endorsed by the HSE, the guidance has been developed in full consultation with BFFF’s Primary Authority Wakefield MSC.
