HSE Updates Health & Safety Advice for Tyre Fitters

Almost 20 years after it published the last “blue book” giving advice on how to comply with health and safety guidelines, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has released updated details. And what’s more “Health and Safety in Motor Vehicle Repair and Associated Industries” can be downloaded for free from the HSE website.

Apart from the Vauxhall Cavalier no longer being the nation’s favourite car, much has changed since the early nineties – the introduction of air conditioning, hybrid vehicles; and Small and Medium Area Repair Techniques (SMART) are just a few of the general changes motor vehicle repair industry. Tyre fitters specifically have the extra challenges of run-flats and increasingly large and low profile tyres to keep them occupied. As beneficial as these developments have been to the look and performance of our vehicles, the HSE points out each that of these technologies has also brought new health and safety challenges in an industry already dealing with many serious issues. In the last five years alone there have been over 8000 injuries and 25 deaths in the MVR sector.

And those figures exclude longer-term health problems such as bad backs and musculoskeletal injury, damage from noisy and vibrating tools, dermatitis and asthma (vehicle paint sprayers are 80 times more likely to develop this life-changing disease than the average worker).

Over the last two years a group of industry experts (including representatives from NTDA and BTMA) have come together and worked closely with HSE in compiling guidance which represents the very best in good practice and tells operators exactly what needs to be done to protect their health. This guidance has been developed to cover the major health and safety issues faced by employers and the self-employed in vehicle maintenance and repair (including tyre, exhaust, and windscreen replacement), body repair, refinishing and valeting, and the roadside recovery of vehicles. It also covers issues common across the industry such as working under vehicles, fire and explosion, electrical safety and noise and vibration. However, there is new extensive guidance on safety on tyre repair replacement and inflation contained within the 88 page motor vehicle repair document.

The bound version can be purchased in the normal way from HSE Books or the content is available to download free of charge from HSE’s website.