SHIFT
> The Target |
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At least 25 employees in every 1,000 within the
foundry industry suffer an injury, which prevents
them from working for at least three days. That
rate is over twice the average for manufacturing
as a whole and four times that of UK workforce
as a whole.
By reducing the accident rate
by 30%, the target is to bring the industry in
line with similar sectors and reduce the huge
personal suffering and financial burden this places
on the UK foundry industry.
Within the statistics for the
industry there is evidence that individual companies
are able to control the risks to their employees.
Therefore, by spreading best practice and focusing
on significant areas of concern, the Initiative
will enable all companies to benefit from good
health and safety practice.
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SHIFT
> How does it work? |
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The SHIFT Initiative is designed, implemented
and run by the foundry industry itself through
the Foundries Industry Advisory Committee
(FIAC). The Initiative will take the existing
knowledge on health and safety in the foundries
industry and present it in a user-friendly
form that can be used by industry, focusing
on the major causes of accidents and ill
health within the industry. SHIFT will concentrate
on those health and safety issues which
cause the greatest numbers of incidents
in the industry and produce industry specific
guidance, best practice, control systems,
monitoring etc to enable companies to manage
their health and safety risks.
The second part of the
SHIFT Initiative is for individual companies
to commit themselves to control their health
and safety hazards. Signing up to SHIFT
demonstrates that a company is committed
to providing a healthy and safe workplace
for its employees, contractors and visitors.
That commitment involves senior management
pledging to follow the Initiative by producing
an annual safety improvement plan, monitoring
its progress and reporting on performance.
The sequence of topics covered by the Initiative
can provide companies with a pathway to
address the various industry specific issues.
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SHIFT
> Benefits of the Initiative |
Companies signing up to the Initiative will
be demonstrating to its employees, shareholders
and customers that it is serious about looking
after its workforce, its profitability and
its reputation.
The scheme provides companies
with a pathway to achieve goals and a means
of measuring performance. Industry specific
guidelines, audits, bulletins and best practice
will be produced in a style that will build
up over time into a manual for health and
safety management in foundries. As a member
of the scheme, companies will have access
to industry specific advice through the
administrators office.
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SHIFT
> Requirements to Join the Scheme |
.: Individual companies or organisations
must commit themselves to the Initiative.
.: Accident and ill health data must
be returned to the Initiative administrator
upon joining the scheme and thereafter annually.
The
information will not be used in any way
that will identify the company (unless given
the permission of that company).
.: The company will be required to
produced an annual health and safety plan
on joining the scheme and thereafter annually.
.: The company will be required to
submit a report on progress of the annual
action plan at the end of each year.
.: Commitment to the SHIFT Initiative
must be provided by a director or senior
manager. They will be responsible for ensuring
compliance with the safety improvement plan.
.: There is no fee to join
the SHIFT Initiative, just company commitment.
Further details of the SHIFT Initiative
can be obtained from the SHIFT administrator
at the: -
Cast Metals Federation, National Metalforming
Centre, 47 Birmingham Road, West Bromwich,
West Midlands, B70 6PY, (tel 0121-601 6390)
or
The Institute of Cast Metal Engineers,
National Metalforming Centre, 47 Birmingham
Road, West Bromwich, (tel 0121 6016979)
or
Paul Harvey at the Health and Safety Executive,
Cardiff, tel 029 20263044.
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