Displaying items by tag: hygiene
Poor pallet hygiene poses threat to UK economy
“UK businesses using wood packaging materials for shipping goods could be putting the health and safety of staff at serious risk and causing untold damage to the UK economy”, says Jim Hardisty, Managing Director of Goplasticpallets.com.
This warning comes after a staff member for the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon, fell ill at one of its depots after handling packaging on goods imported to the UK.*
GMB, the union for staff at Amazon, is convinced that the illness is linked to insects carried in the packaging and has called for the company to conduct a thorough, independent risk assessment of the dangers of insect contamination in wood and other packaging of goods imported from abroad.
Jim continues: “Although all wood packaging used for transporting goods into the EU or out of Portugal (a known pinewood nematode area) must be heat treated in accordance with ISPM 15 regulations to kill off pests, it’s clear that insect invasions from abroad remain a very real threat to the UK economy.
“In May this year, the Ecological Society of America discovered the emerald ash borer in the wood packing material of goods imported into North America. This case surely strengthens the argument for enforcing stricter safety checks worldwide for verifying ISPM 15 compliancy and for extending ISPM 15 by making it compulsory to heat treat all wood pallets and crates moving within EU member states – something the European Commission is in the process of reviewing.
“Poor pallet hygiene however is a much bigger topic than insect contamination alone. Mould and bacteria are other common signs that pallets are being kept in unsanitary conditions which, when using plastic varieties, can be easily combatted with regular cleaning as plastic pallets are 100 per cent water resistant. Timber pallets are much harder to preserve as even kiln dried varieties contain some moisture, making them susceptible to mould growth and blue stain fungus.
“The timber industry is fully aware of the hygiene issues with wooden pallets and to their credit TIMCON – the Timber Packaging & Pallet Confederation – has launched a new Essential Guide Pack** for drying timber pallets to keep them mould-free.
“Guide or no guide, the fact remains that wooden pallets are still inherently more likely to harbour contaminants than plastic ones – the only variety that can be repeatedly steam cleaned and reused guaranteeing optimum hygiene throughout its working life.”
For further advice on pallet hygiene, call Goplasticpallets.com on 01323 744057 or visit www.goplasticpallets.com to browse the widest range of plastic pallets available in the UK.
References:
* Handling & Storage Solutions, 13 August, Amazon asked to assess insect invasions risk
http://www.hsssearch.co.uk/page.asp?obj_id=498901&sid=234
** Packaging Europe, 28 July, Timcon launches essential guide for drying timber pallets
www.Goplasticpallets.com was established in 2001 and is a division of All Pallets Ltd. Since its inception, Goplasticpallets.com has fast become the UK’s leading independent supplier of plastic pallets and, through sister company Goplasticboxes.com, offers an extensive range of plastic containers, crates and trays.
Goplasticpallets.com stocks in excess of 155 different pallets, offering a wide choice of product features and colour options. Pallet styles include nestable pallets, hygienic pallets, pool pallets, full perimeter and non-perimeter pallets, pallets suitable for export, display pallets and two-colour pallets, a new concept the company introduced to aid pallet identification.
Goplasticboxes.com offers a further 115 plastic containers, crates and trays and a variety of accessories, including dollies, lids and flooring. Goplasticboxes.com has six distinct ranges - attached lid range, automotive range, euro range, folding range, agricultural range and food range.
For further information visit www.goplasticpallets.com and www.goplasticboxes.com