Food and drink manufacture

HSE's information

Up to 150 000 jobs become available each year in food processing and manufacturing activities. The majority of these jobs are thought to be filled by workers from overseas. In recent years, and in particular since 2004, many of these jobs have been filled by citizens from the new EU Member States.

As a result, there has been a significant increase in workers from Eastern European and Baltic States including, in particular, Poland, the Ukraine, the Czech and Slovak republics, Latvia, Lithuania and more recently Bulgaria and Romania.

Overseas workers are now an essential part of the UK economy and of more localised rural economies and many businesses are reliant on them to survive.

There are significant numbers of overseas workers in most of the 30 food and drink manufacturing sectors in the industry which include meat and fish processing, dairies, bakeries, fruit and vegetable processing, confectionery manufacture, chilled and frozen products and drink manufacture.

The largest proportion of injuries (over 50%) to food manufacture workers result from manual handling of heavy or awkward loads, from slips on wet or food-contaminated floors or trips over items on the floor. Other severe injuries can be caused by falls from height, machinery or workplace transport such as lift trucks or lorries.

In addition, a significant number of food manufacture workers suffer occupational ill-health, in particular, musculoskeletal injuries caused by repetitive work (eg at conveyors), occupational dermatitis, occupational asthma (eg from flour dust) and noise-induced hearing loss.

Employing workers from overseas in food manufacture
Further information and guidance on health and safety in food and drink manufacture

www.she.ltd.uk