Red tape: of benefit to all or strangling businesses?
June 1st 2010 While the coalition government in the UK is determined to cut red tape governing businesses, there is no sign that European regulations will become any less pertinent. In fact, as far as the logistics world is concerned, possible changes to separate regulations could soon affect both the distribution and materials handling sectors.
In distribution, amendments to EU food regulations requiring stricter traceability have been proposed in response to recent food fraud cases involving meat sold with misleading labels.
While this is a noble cause, there is is concern among trade bodies that onerous responsibilities, with all the costs and administration that come with that, are being foisted upon the industry.
So, what can the industry do? The good news is the EU is not the unlistening monolith many portray it to be. The Food Storage and Distribution Federation, among others, is leading the way in resisting tougher regulations on food traceability and is hopeful that UK Government support will help to convince EU mandarins that the regulations as they stand are fit for purpose.
In materials handling, the amount of manual lifting carried out per shift per worker has been under scrutiny.
The maximum limit for weight manually lifted per shift is expected, by some, to be lowered soon throughout the EU. Denmark has led the way with its own interpretation of the relevant EU directive, which is said to place employee welfare at the highest priority regardless of the effect on costs.
It does not necessarily follow that the UK will adopt Denmark’s approach but the Danes have set a precedent.
The relevant European directive has already long been in place - Council Directive 90/269/EEC (May 1990). This was transposed into UK law as the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 Act. Under this Act employers are obliged to avoid manual handling by employees when appropriate. And when it is does take place, they must provide workers with the means to reduce the risks involved.
What is potentially new, and what happened in Denmark, is the setting of a hard and fast limit to the amount than can be manually lifted by worker per shift.
Depending on the limit set, this would arguably threaten the viability of manual handling in some warehouse settings.
The driver for setting a limit (not specified in the original directive) is the possibility that companies may be liable for injuries which workers incur (now or later on in life) if caused by lifting too much now. The UK has taken a more relaxed approach to this directive yet this could change if companies seek to protect themselves more against such claims.
With both companies and employees with something to gain from setting a limit, this is one tweak of regulations everyone may welcome.
One thing is certain, if the regulations are tightened we will see an accelerated move towards greater automation and smarter manual handling in the warehouse.
Simon Duddy, Editor More articles from Handling & Storage Solutions: | 
