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Applying the brakes to accidents and health problems.

Issued at 2011-12-02



A commitment to health and safety and an improvement in productivity go hand in hand, says the CEO of one of Europe’s leading brake disc manufacturers. Thomas Krosnar of the EURAC Group made the claim during a health and safety networking day at Precision Disc Castings Ltd in Poole (UK) where the chair of the Health and Safety Executive, Judith Hackitt CBE and invited guests toured the site and were given an insight into the extensive attention paid to detail at the safety-conscious foundry.

A subsidiary of the EURAC Group, PDC has a £30m turnover and employs 180 people on its five and a half acre site on the south coast of England. The foundry exports 90% of its five million brake disc castings a year to continental Europe for the aftersales, OEM and motorsport markets. It is one of four European manufacturing facilities in the group. EURAC Group foundries in the UK and Czech Republic produce over 100,000 tonnes of grey iron castings a year and machining facilities in the UK, Czech Republic and Germany specialise in brake disc production and distribution.

Health and safety is an endemic culture at the company where accidents per 10,000 hours worked have been driven down from six in 2003 to one and a half in 2010. PDC senior site manager Graham Starr explained that an ongoing training programme at all levels and in particular for supervisors had improved their ability to maintain safety, quality and production. Working with the Cast Metals Federation, the HSE and ICME through the SHIFT initiative, PDC has embraced a health and safety policy beyond just the legal requirements. “We have adopted many of the ideas from the SHIFT programme,” said Graham. “It offers some great information and it’s been a real team effort here at PDC. The training we undertake is all integrated and prioritises safety.”

Operations director of the EURAC Group Hana Krosnar said the key was to keep the momentum going. “The safety message is continually being pushed every day, it is not just once a month or every three months – that isn’t good enough. We also operate the same level of health and safety in our other foundry in Czech Republic where we have transferred good practice from the Poole facility.”

Along with the usual best safety practice, PDC noticed operators on the knock-out, which is located outside at the foundry, were exposed to a high level of respiratory issues. The solution was to move the extraction air from another extractor and use the warm air to help improve the situation. They also recognised the need for safety wear to be fashionable to increase the chances of it being worn and so made the move to safety glasses that were more ‘in vogue’ which Graham says the employees really like. All safety masks are face fitted and monitored to ensure they work correctly, including reminding employees who need to wear them about the requirement to be clean shaven at the start of their shift to allow their masks to be more effective. At PDC employees get a choice of masks, have them face fitted, are trained in how to wear them and understand the disciplinary actions if they don’t use them correctly.

The HSE Manufacturing Sector’s Michael Bone works closely with the molten metal industries and has witnessed a marked improvement in the foundry industry in the UK. “There is a much greater pace of improvements in health and safety in the industry currently,” he said. “The injury rates in the molten metal industry are above national average and we are working with the industry to prioritise actions for this and are encouraging the industry to sign up to injury reduction targets. Precision Disc Castings is a classic example of the right attitude to the subject. They volunteered their site for two days of solid filming for us to prepare a HSE inspector training DVD. They have also volunteered themselves for the Long Latency Risks Project which will involve giving time to the HSE for a further two days. Their willingness to work with us and the CMF is admirable.”

In 2012 the SHIFT initiative will be re-launched with a new target that will include health as well as accident reduction. The health aspect will highlight the improvement of substance control and good controls practices. John Parker of the Cast Metals Federation says the success of SHIFT has attracted attention from the European Health and Safety Body which is interested in the work undertaken in the UK to meet the initiative’s targets.

The HSE negotiates on policy in Europe for the UK Government and Chair Judith Hackitt said the organisation would continue to monitor how legislation impacts on our lives. “It’s not paperwork that saves lives; it’s doing the right thing.”

PDC’s efforts were recognised by Judith and fellow guests during the day and the foundry’s ongoing commitment was commended by the HSE.

 Contact: Thomas Krosnar, Precision Disc Castings Ltd, a member of the EURAC Group of Companies, 16 Mannings Heath Road, Poole, Dorset, BH12 4NJ UK. Tel:             01202 715050      , email: enquiries@pdcastings.co.uk  web: www.eurac-group.com






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