Fruit and vegetables

Main causes of injury

  • Manual handling and lifting - especially heavy or awkward loads or sharp edges
  • Slips and trips - mostly slips on wet floors also tripping over obstructions
  • Being struck by objects - mostly from falling packages etc and use of hand tools
  • Falls from height - off stairs, ladders, work platforms and vehicles
  • Striking against fixed and moveable objects, eg machinery, stationary vehicles
  • Machinery - mostly conveyors also packaging machines (bagging, form fill seal and palletisers)
  • Exposure to harmful substances - cleaning fluids (fume and splashes), ammonia refrigerant leaks
  • Transport - mostly involving fork lift trucks

Main occupational ill health risks

  • Musculoskeletal injury from manual handling boxes, sacks, wheeled trolleys etc.
  • Work-related upper limb disorders (WRULDs), eg from repetitive sorting/packing work
  • Noise induced hearing loss from noisy machines, eg cleaning plant, packaging machinery
  • Respiratory irritation from breathing fumes such as chlorine, hypochlorite, ammonia and sulphur dioxide
  • Occupational dermatitis from handling fruits, vegetables and from chemical cleaners

Preventing manual handling/musculoskeletal injuries

Around 30% of manual handling injuries and the greatest proportion of musculoskeletal injuries (eg injured backs and work-related upper limb disorders (WRULDs)) result from lifting, carrying or moving boxes, containers or sacks of fruit and vegetables. To reduce the risk of injuries, the following precautions should be considered:

  • mechanise where possible so as to avoid manual handling or, where this is not possible:
  • ensure unit weights are as low as practicable (not more than 25kg)
  • ensure heavy or awkward lifting movements (eg twisting) are avoided
  • avoid lifting at low level (eg consider self-raising pallet systems) or at high level above shoulder height (consider raised walkways)
  • ensure a manual handling risk assessment has been carried out for each work station and appropriate precautions adopted.

Link URLs in this page

  1. Food & drink manufacturehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/index.htm
  2. Common risks - in food and drink manufacturing industrieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/industries.htm
  3. Meat, poultry and fishhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/slaughter.htm
  4. Milling, animal feedshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/grain.htm
  5. Bakery productshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/bakery.htm
  6. Dairy productshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/dairy.htm
  7. Fruit and vegetableshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/fruitveg.htm
  8. Alcoholic and soft drinkshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/drink.htm
  9. Chilled and frozen products https://www.hse.gov.uk/food/chilled.htm
  10. Supply chainhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/chain.htm
  11. Safety risks overviewhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/safety-hazards.htm
  12. Manual handlinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/handling.htm
  13. Slips on wet or contaminated floorshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/slips.htm
  14. Falls from heighthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/falls.htm
  15. Workplace transporthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/transport.htm
  16. Struck by somethinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/struckby.htm
  17. Overview - Food processing machineryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/machinery.htm
  18. European CEN 'C' Standards for food processing machineshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/standards.htm
  19. Packaging machineryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/package.htm
  20. Overview - Prevention of dust explosionshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/dustexplosion.htm
  21. Selection and use of vacuum cleanershttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/dustexplosionapp1.htm
  22. Explosion relief for small bins and siloshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/dustexplosionapp2.htm
  23. Overview - Occupational health topicshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/healthtopics.htm
  24. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)https://www.hse.gov.uk/food/musculoskeletal.htm
  25. Dermatitishttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/dermatitis.htm
  26. Noise induced hearing losshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/noise.htm
  27. Overviewhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/asthma.htm
  28. Low dust flourhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/low-flour-dust.htm
  29. Exposure to disinfectantshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/disinfectants.htm
  30. Work-related stresshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/stress.htm
  31. Overview - Occupational rehabilitationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/rehabilitation/index.htm
  32. OH Case studieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/rehabilitation/casestudies.htm
  33. Overview - Resourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/information.htm
  34. Case studieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/experience.htm
  35. Useful linkshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/links.htm
  36. Food and Drink Manufacture Health and Safety Forumhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/forum.htm
  37. Topics of interesthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/live.htm
  38. A recipe for safety: Occupational health and safety in food and drink manufacturehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg252.htm
  39. Moving food and drink: Manual handling solutions for the food and drink industries https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg196.htm
  40. Chilled Foods Association (CFA)http://www.chilledfood.org/
  41. Food and Drink Federation (FDF)http://www.fdf.org.uk/
  42. Food Standards Agencyhttp://www.food.gov.uk/

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Updated 2023-06-15