Getting into Packaging

Did you know that 67,000 people go to casualty departments every year because of accidents with packaging? This costs the NHS £12m. The Department of Trade and Industry held a seminar to present recently completed research on the subject. Peter Mason from the DTI was the Chairman, and he hoped that by promoting safer packaging it would be possible to rid the country of needless accidents and enhance product quality and business competitiveness.

Hospital Accidents Surveillance System (HASS)

David Cotton of Metra Martech gave a presentation of the national statistics taken from HASS, a system where accident details are collected from patients on a rolling programme with 18 hospitals throughout the UK. They are then calculated to give estimated national totals. The surveillance statistics include details of the patient, the accident, the injury and the product involved.

Consumer Views

Jane Moore from the Institute of Grocery Distribution spoke next, about their continued research on the source of accidents. The Institute follows up reported incidents with telephone interviews and focus group discussions and has come forward with recommendations for improvements to various types of packaging including:

phasing out flange and key type tin openers, and improving can openers so that there are no sharp edges.

lacquering the insides of tins (to avoid having to dig out the corned beef with a knife!)

redesigning ring pulls,

texturing the surface of glass bottles (to avoid slip)

fluting lids

avoiding the use of clear plastic bottles for dangerous liquids

They discovered that:

accidents with glass bottles and jars are usually from clearing up the broken glass.

one third of the accidents caused by tins are from corned beef tins which cause cuts from sharp edges.

accidents caused by plastic bottles are most often to children drinking contents, so child resistant closure bottles are not being closed or stored properly.

Injuries from knives are increasing, perhaps from trying to open bacon, cheese, or frozen vegetable packing, but also, as a surgeon present at the seminar pointed out, from people trying to cut frozen meat or separate frozen hamburgers.

Packaging Developments

Packaging has developed quickly over recent years where concerns not to over pack for environmental reasons go alongside safety and convenience considerations. Improvements take time. For instance the concerns of UK retailers may take a while to affect Argentinean beef canneries.

Those attending the seminar, mostly from the packaging industry, agreed that a body to receive and co-ordinate comments and suggestions on packaging from consumers, patients and doctors would be useful. NfCG regrets the loss of the Packaging Standards Council which fulfilled this role until financial cut backs caused its closure.

The research and a video is published by the DTI as "Domestic Accidents Involving Packaging" and a useful guide to opening tools is published by IGD and the Disabled Living Centre Council and was mentioned in the April I May (No 184) issue of Consumer News. Let me know if you would like to see a copy of any of these.

Sue Payne, Bromley & District Consumer Group.

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