Food manufacture - Chocolate and sugar confectionery manufacture

Injury rate comparisons

Injury incidence rates (ie injuries per 100,000 workers per year) averaged for the three years 2004/05-2006/07 are as follows:

Manual handling and lifting - especially heavy loads or sharp edges
Slips - mostly due to wet or contaminated floors
Being struck by objects - mostly falling packages, sometimes hand tools
Striking against fixed or moveable objects, eg plant or stationary vehicles
Machinery - mainly conveyors but also packaging machines etc
Exposure to harmful substances - burns and scalds from carrying open containers of hot product, manual dispensing of caustic cleaners etc.

Musculoskeletal injury from manual handling boxes, containers etc
Work-related upper limb disorders (WRULDs), eg from repetitive packing work
Noise induced hearing loss from noisy machinery, eg hopper feeds, mould shakers, packaging machinery