At a seminar, held in London, by the Environmental Service Association's "Improving Health and Safety Performance in the Waste Management Sector", it was highlighted by James Barrett, head of manufacturing at the HSE, that although improvements within the waste industry had improved, it remained necessary to continue with these improvements, in order to protect both workers in the industry and the public.
Mr. Barrett commented on other industries who had slashed the number of workplace accidents by making radical changes, highlighting examples such as in the quarrying industry who had halved the number of accidents by introducing industry-wide measures.
Mr. Barrett said:
"In the UK last year 235 people died as a result of their work and there were over 30,000 major injuries - broken bones and permanent maiming,
"Some two million were made ill from their work. Apart from the human pain and suffering there are economic costs. The economy paid out £14 billion in the last year due to ill health and injury, which is a considerable toll.
"It is important that the industry work with the HSE to make working life safer for waste professionals and on this particular occasion nobody was in competition with each other - it was vital that companies shared good practice and ideas".
In an overview of the municipal waste collections state of health and safety, Mr. Paul Harvey, Principal HSE Inspector, agreed that good progress was being made in reducing the obvious risks. However, there were still "significant gaps" requiring improvement, such as the provision of wash facilities on trucks enabling operatives to cleanse themselves in case of contamination and more ergonomic truck designs for prevention of lifting injuries.
Mr. Harvey said:
"With the obvious, long established issues we've got a chance.
"But when we start talking about some of the newer issues, the industry has to work a bit harder on that. I can see that the industry is moving in the right direction and our inspectors are finding many cases of good practice showing you can do it and you can do it right.
"You need to keep doing that for the sake of the workers and the industry."
Mr. Paul Thornber, Health and Safety Manager for Veolia Environmental Services and advisor to the ESA, explained what steps his company was taking, after looking at the safety issues facing commercial waste, in order to improve its safety performance and said:
"For each site you need inspection, evaluation, information, communication and co-operation.
"All of these contribute to a safe commercial waste collection and all of us need to get things right from the start, monitor that they remain right, inform people of our concerns and communicate those concerns to everyone concerned.
"Communication and co-operation equal safe collection."
Further information on Health and Safety in the Waste Management and Recycling industries can be accessed from the HSE Webpage by clicking the following:
Health and Safety in the Waste Management and Recycling Industry
Article by Alexandra Johnston
