Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Rubber industry
The Rubber Industry Advisory Committee (RUBIAC) Action Plan which was launched in June 1999 and formally ran until May 2005 had assisted the tyre, retread and general rubber goods sectors of the rubber industry deliver an improved health and safety performance. This resulted in the achievement of a 34% reduction in its RIDDOR incident rate. RUBIAC recognised that past success had been driven by the setting of industry wide targets in the RUBIAC Action Plan.
The Action Plan continued until the new RUBIAC Strategic Direction Statement ' The RUBIAC Health & Safety Strategy 2006 - 09 "Rubbing Out Risks" [118kb] 
was formally agreed and launched in April 2006. It recognises the need for the rubber industry to contribute to achieving the 'Health and Safety Commission Strategy for Workplace Health and Safety in Great Britain to 2010 and beyond' and the PSA targets set for HSE.
In recognition of what has worked previously the new RUBIAC Strategy sets targets for the period 2006 - 2009. The strategy and the targets depend for delivery on each of the individual sector trade associations developing Health and Safety Action Plans and their individual member companies preparing their own action plans which reflect these. For the first time RUBIAC will include within its remit the tyre distribution and supply industry which are companies mainly falling into the Local Authority enforced sector.
The trade associations actively involved in delivering the strategy are the British Tyre Manufacturers Association (BTMA), the British Rubber and Polyurethane Products Association (BRPPA), the Retread Manufacturers Association (RMA), the National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA), the Imported Tyre Manufacturers Association (ITMA) and the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA).
The areas covered by the targets include accident performance, working days lost, safety management systems, occupational health, MSDs, workplace transport, slips and trip and carcinogens. Copies of the strategy are available from the sector as will be the trade association Health and Safety Action Plans when these have been prepared.
Inspectors who visit companies in the rubber industry are asked to enquire about their awareness of the RUBIAC Strategy 'Rubbing Out Risks' and in the case of companies who are members of the BTMA, BRPPA, RMA, NTDA, ITMA or TRA establish if they are aware of the trade associations Health and Safety Action Plan and whether there is a company action plan designed to contribute to achievement of the aims for their sector.
The TGWU, AMICUS and GMB trade unions are all members of RUBIAC and are committed to raising awareness of the RUBIAC Strategy and engaging with their safety representatives in the rubber industry to gain their involvement and collate feedback from them. Inspectors are asked to enquire of these safety representatives as to their awareness of the RUBIAC Strategy and any company action plan.