There have been three prosecutions to date this year of UK foundries, the details of which are shared below. It is important to remember that the press releases from the HSE will never speak of any good actions taken by the businesses but will only refer to
Read more →Following the resulting levels of enforcement issued against UK foundries as a result of their silica campaign visits which ran from October 2022 until present, at the CHASAC (Castings Health and Safety Advisory Committee) meeting in January, the HSE have undertaken a review of the outcomes. Given
Read more →The SHIFT website has been updated today, 17th February 2023. Changes include: the addition of information detailing the revised COSHH essentials documents, which can be found on the guidance page an update on the enforcement actions raised against foundries so far in the current HSE 2022/23 operational
Read more →In October 2022 the HSE started their latest proactive inspection campaign looking at users of silica. This campaign includes foundries. However, in additional to the control of silica on site inspectors are also reviewing metal fume and also dusts. The seven key steps in producing castings are
Read more →The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are investigating a number of molten metal/moisture explosions that have occurred in UK foundries in the past twelve months. Currently there are four active investigations underway. The Cast Metals Federation, following the latest HSE CHASAC meeting in March 2021, have produced
Read more →The SHIFT initiative is delighted to welcome a new member to the ever growing numbers of UK foundries who are experiencing the benefits of being involved with one of the most proactive industry led initiatives for improving safety performance and reducing ill-health in the workplace. Micron Alloys
Read more →Employees exposure to workplace noise, vibration, dusts and fumes are still significant issues being found by the HSE during their visits to metals sector businesses. Besides these, there is the ubiquitous matter of machinery guarding. All of these should have been addressed by industry by now, given
Read more →December 2020, saw an excellent presentation from Chris Steel, Noise and Vibration Specialist, Health and Safety Executive, on the management of vibration in the workplace. The feedback from the audience was excellent with delegates reporting that it was one of the best and most engaging presentations on
Read more →The SHIFT initiative, which aims to share knowledge and best practice in health and safety amongst its foundry industry members, quickly switched to on-line meetings last year. Whist it is of course regrettable that physical meetings are not possible, the organisers recognised that webinars were the way
Read more →The Cast Metals Federation has been working behind the scenes with its members, taking guidance from official UK sources including UK government webpages, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Public Health England and others, to produce a guidance document for the UK foundry industry, to help it
Read more →