Poor performers with consistently high accident rates in the UK paper industry have been named and shamed in a Health & Safety Executive (HSE) report.

Among the worst performers was Georgia Pacific, whose mills at Bridgend, where a fatality took place in July, and Oughtibridge topped the tables with accident totals of 107 and 59 between 1996 and 2000. Shotton Paper Deeside reported 102 accidents during the same period.

Its unacceptably high, said Shotton Paper managing director Martin Gale, who is also president of the Paper Federation.

He said the company had spent over 1m on safety during the past three years.

We have adopted a system called Be Safe, and formed an unofficial group with Aylesford Newsprint and Bridgewater to discuss safety issues, he added.

The number of fatal accidents in the industry has fallen by 30% since 1998, but in 1999-2000 25 mills accounted for more than half of all accidents reported to the HSE.

Mike Wilcock, head of the HSEs paper and printing national sector group, said consultations would take place with poor performers to identify why they were not in line with others.

In agreement with the Paper and Board Industry Advisory Committee (PABIAC), the tables have been produced using figures from the HSE database.

The figures highlight mills with consistently high accident rates, a currently high accident rate or a high rate and a high number of accidents per 100,000 employees.

The Paper Federations director of employment services, Tim Watt, said the document was being sent to all UK paper mill chiefs.

GPMU health & safety advisor Bud Hudspith said although the information had been compiled from figures supplied by the companies, this was the first time the document had been distributed to all paper mills, instead of just HSE inspectors.

He hopes to set up regional meetings for all mills by the end of the year or early next year. I would like to point to the paper industry as an example in a few years time, and say this is how they have improved their safety record. That is the aim.

Story by Andy Scott