“The KST200e Sharpness Tester eliminates the guesswork and subjectivity and allows you to set benchmarks. It’s a fantastic tool”.
Murray Izzard – Meat Industry Trainer and Assessor, Central West Community College
THE COMPANY
Central West Community College is an independent not-for-profit organisation, providing a range of integrated training, recruitment and community support services. With 180 staff and 130 trainers, their services are currently offered in 23 locations as well as two outreach sites throughout the Central West and other areas of NSW.
Within the Meat Industry they provide training and assessment from the Australian Meat Industry Training Package at Cert II, III & IV levels.
THE PROBLEM
Staff at the Central West Community College were concerned about the health and safety issues experienced by some workers at meat processing facilities. They suspected that the use of blunt knives contributed to the incidence of injuries and Occupational Overuse Syndrome, but had never been able to prove a direct correlation.
They felt that a more objective understanding of the relationship between knife sharpness and worker health would assist them in improving health and safety amongst their workers.
THE SOLUTION
The Central West Community College has introduced the Anago KST200e Sharpness Tester as an evaluation and training tool in eight meat processing facilities.
By providing an objective measure of sharpness, the KST200e has enable them to establish a clear link between blunt knives and health issues. According to Murray, the correlation between people with health issues and those getting poor results on the Sharpness Tester is incredibly close. “People who were coming up badly on the Sharpness Tester we invariably the ones who were being strapped up every morning, or taking time off work with sore wrists or sore arms” he says.
Identifying these people and now being able to draw a direct link between blunt knives and worker health, has encouraged the College to prioritise training and education in this area.
“We use the tool to identify the people who most need help” says Murray. “Then we use it to provide accurate feedback regarding their progress during the training process” he adds.