Volume 6: Human Health, 1989-96
8. Development of guidance on occupational risks from BSE and other TSEs
1992
HSE issues guidance for the knackering (including hunt kennels and maggot farms) and rendering industries

8.124 The CDTFZ & BSE group met, as planned, on 11 March 1992. On this occasion Mr Fleetwood and Dr Matthews from MAFF also attended. Mr North reported on progress in providing advice to slaughterhouse workers regarding safe working practices for dealing with BSE-infected cattle. Dr Matthews reported that there was no legislation intended to prohibit the splitting of cattle heads to remove the brains. The meeting agreed that the most important point to get across was that brain should not be removed from split heads by hand. ¹

HSE issues guidance for the knackering (including hunt kennels and maggot farms) and rendering industries

8.125 On 9 June 1992, HSE Field Operations Division distributed an Operational Circular 'OC' entitled 'Zoonoses on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy: Guidance for the Knackering (including at Hunt Kennels and Maggot Farms) and Rendering Industries' to Factory and Agriculture Inspectors and Specialist Inspectors (Occupational Hygiene). This stated:

This OC describes the above processes and advises Inspectors on the microbiological hazards which may be present, gives and assessment of their risk and indicates the guidance which could be given to occupiers. It has been agreed with the industry. ²

8.126 The note recommended that when handling carcasses and waste, workers at knackers, hunt kennels and maggot farms should:

1. Wear gloves and cover cuts and abrasions with waterproof plasters;
2. Wear gloves or gauntlets on the non-knife hand and protective aprons when using sharp knives for boning and cutting;
3. Not remove brains by hand;
4. Maintain a high standard of general housekeeping in the premises and minimise contamination of surfaces by frequent washing;
5. Wash hands and arms frequently, particularly before drinking, eating and smoking;
6. When using a captive bolt stunner, clean the bolt thoroughly before further use and avoid returning the bolt to the barrel of the stunner using the hand or other parts of the body; and
7. Implement the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) and guidelines from the British Meat Manufacturers Association. ³

8.127 Similar precautions were recommended for workers in the rendering industry.

8.128 The CDTFZ & BSE group met again on 1 October 1992. Mr Lister reported that the advice on SEs being produced by the ACDP would contain some advice for 'handlers' of all kinds but would mainly be concerned with those who were likely to encounter the agent in the laboratory. The Committee agreed 'that there was nothing further the group could or should have done so far in relation to advice for those liable to encounter the BSE agent in their work'. ⁴