A north-east seafood supplier has vowed to challenge health and safety bosses who slapped them with an official warning over noise.
Thistle Seafoods Ltd’s Boddam base was visited by the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) inspector and concerns were subsequently raised about the level of noise exposure being faced by some staff.
The firm has now been hit with an official improvement notice following the visit which it has been ordered to comply with.
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The notice states: “Your employees working in production halls A and C are exposed to noise such that their daily personal exposure is likely to be at or above the upper exposure action value and you have failed to establish and implement a programme of organisational and technical measures to reduce their exposure to noise to as low a level as is reasonably practicable.”
But last night bosses at the supplier insisted they took the health and safety of their staff seriously and had been given no specific guidance as to where they needed to improve.
Managing director Ryan Scatterty said: “We are going to appeal this notice as we take the health and safety of our staff very seriously and feel we go above and beyond.
“The notice is quite vague and doesn’t specify why they felt there was a noise issue and the only feedback we have had is that something for them to determine.
“My view from the company is that we are looking to appeal this notice at the moment.”
Currently firms have to appeal an HSE notice through an employment tribunal and have 21 days to do so.
Mr Scattery added: “This is one of my concerns with HSE, the appeals process is far from ideal.
“A lot of these issues could be resolved in a far more quicker and easier way than they are.
“The inspector had left the site that day and we thought that we were not going to get a notice, and might be told to slightly tighten some things up.
“It’s hard for us to comply with something when there’s no specific targets to hit.”
HSE said it was unable to comment during the appeals period.
