Engineering Health & Safety: Key Risks and Controls

Health and Safety should be an integral part of the engineering sector, with design, construction, operation and maintenance activities all needing to be considered. The environment will often involve complex machinery, hazardous materials and substances (both used and created), high-energy-systems, manual handling and hot works.

What are the biggest risks in the engineering sector?

The highest-risk areas in engineering are machinery safety, lifting operations, vehicle movements, hazardous substances, and maintenance activities. Effective risk assessments, robust isolation procedures, competent training, and proactive inspection regimes are critical to preventing serious injury.

Common risks include:

• Slips, trips and falls: on uneven or obstructed surfaces, falls from height, and falling tools, material or other objects
• Vehicle hazards: forklift trucks, pallet trucks, cranes and lifting vehicles, and pedestrian interface
• Machinery hazards: entanglement in moving parts, crushing and shearing injuries, drawing-in points, trapping, contact with rotating parts
• Manual handling: lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling loads
• COSHH hazards: welding fumes, grinding dust, chemical exposure, fuels, oils, greases and metalworking fluids
• Lifting Operations: cranes, hoists, winches, lifting accessories and equipment failures

One of the main areas of legislation within the industry is PUWER but why is this so important?

By complying with PUWER (Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998)you reduce the likelihood of accidents and injuries, ensure legal compliance, improve equipment reliability, and protect both employees and any others affected by work activities.

What are my responsibilities as an employer?

Employers must ensure work equipment is suitable for its intended use, maintained, inspected at appropriate intervals, used by only trained and competent personnel and equipped with suitable guards and safety devices. Ask yourself:

• Are pressure systems inspected under a Written Scheme of Examination?
• Are abrasive wheel users trained and competent?
• Are isolation and lock-off procedures in place for maintenance?
• Are machinery checks recorded?
• Are compressed air-fed RPE systems subject to 3‑monthly air quality testing?
• Are dusts and fumes controlled using LEV or equivalent measures?

What procedures should I have in place?

Your control measures should include:

• Providing Information, instruction, training and supervision
• Equipment maintenance and inspection
• Safe systems of work
• Risk assessments
• Lock Out / Tag Out (LOTO)
• Isolation procedures
• Clear policies and procedures
• Regular auditing and monitoring

What about Occupational Health?

In addition, you need to look at the Occupational Health risk. Engineering activities may lead to:

• Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS)
• Whole Body Vibration
• Occupational dermatitis
• Occupational asthma
• Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL)
• Musculoskeletal disorders
• Lung diseases including COPD, asbestosis and occupational cancers

Health surveillance may be required for:

• Noise exposure
• Vibration exposure
• Welding fume exposure
• Respiratory hazards
• Skin exposure to hazardous substances

By having an effective health and safety management system in place, an organisation will be able to identify associated hazards, assess the risks and implement the control measures needed to prevent accidents, injuries and occupational illnesses.

Stallard Kane are here to help

To discuss your requirements, contact our Health & Safety team:
 healthandsafety@skaltd.co.uk
 01427 420 403

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