Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Waste management and recycling
'Energy & Utility Skills in partnership with the Environmental Services Association (ESA), and Health and Safety practitioners from Biffa Waste Services, SITA UK, Veolia Environmental Services, Viridor Waste Management, and Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), has developed a health and safety software package for use across the waste management industry. The awareness raising CD consists of industry best practice, photographic stills, video clips, and unique interactive hazard spotting exercises, and can be completed independently by employees on site in approximately one hour. A scoring mechanism determines the level of awareness displayed by each employee and can help influence future training plans.
The first CD is classified as module 1 and focuses on waste collection. The programme is based upon ‘A day in the life of’ and details the potential hazards faced by a collection operative as he undertakes his working day – from leaving the depot in the morning to returning again at the end of the day. It can be used during induction for new starters or as a refresher for existing employees.
Cylch (Wales Community Recycling Network) has over 60 full Members carrying out community recycling activities throughout Wales, including kerbside recycling, re-use and composting.
Cylch together with CHERE (Centre for Environment Research and Expertise) has produced an interactive training tool, in the form of a CD Rom, which has been specifically designed for the community recycling, reuse and composting sector. The tool is divided into sections enabling the user to work at their own pace and takes them through various important aspects of Health and Safety, such as risk assessment. The tool also enables the user to link directly to applicable HSE documents without the need to trawl through the web.
The aim of the tool is to provide a source of relevant, up to date health and safety information and advice specifically for the sector that is easy to use and accessible. The intention is to regularly update the CD Rom so that it remains a valuable tool.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) awarded the RoSPA MORR Bronze Award to Leeds fleet safety team for their achievements which include an annual reduction in reported accidents and incidents over the last five years. Last year saw a 28.57% decrease in overall accident damage to the Council's fleet of 1200 vehicles.
The fleets safety team supports a team of four, qualified to RoSPA driver assessor level and advanced driver standard, who's responsibilities include:
This success is underpinned by guidance produced by HSE's Waste Industry Safety and Health group (WISH) and the waste industry.
RoSPA 's assessors praised the councils forward thinking approach and the support shown from senior management and unions.
'This award was achieved by the hard work of the previous head of fleet and the team. I am pleased to see their efforts have paid off and that we have good support from our senior managers and receive recognition for the important contribution we make. We now have a great platform from which to build on.'
'I would like to congratulate the team for their hard work and commitment to delivering an excellent and valuable service for the benefit of council colleagues.
As an employer we take seriously the risks posed to employees who are involved in work related to driving and want them to feel sufficiently informed and skilled to deal with them.'
THCRC was formed in 2003 and is the largest tower block doorstep recycling collection scheme in Western Europe. A 'not profit distributing' company, it employs around 80 staff and services 75,000 households who live in blocks of flats in the London borough of Tower Hamlets.
By investing in their staff. They spend approximately £700 per year per employee on special equipment such as mobile phones for recycling operatives and manual handling training.
They worked with their insurance underwriters to analyse risks then carried out 86 separate risk assessments.
'On the basis of this working relationship we were able to reduce the level of our insurance premium to the lowest in the industry,' said Managing Director Worku Lakew.
Cory Environmental, operates across the country and employs over 1 000 people, providing a wide range of integrated services including street cleansing and municipal waste collection, recycling, transfer and disposal. Cory's services have been recognised with a number of awards for sustainable transport, the management of facilities and city cleanliness.
By raising awareness of safety issues, attitudes to health and safety changed. Compared to a year ago, most regard safety as part of their job.
Chris Jones, Director of Risk Management and Compliance for Cory, said:
'Cory is proud of its record and there is both enthusiasm and energy for safety throughout the business.
'It is difficult, however, to be proud of an industry sector which is frequently reported as injuring and killing so many people each year. We, as a company and within the industry, therefore need to continue to work hard on improving both the visible measures of our safety performance (like accident rates) and the perception and culture of safety that forms part of our management ethos.'
Sims Group UK Limited is the European subsidiary of Sims Group Limited, the world’s leading recycler of metals and waste electronic equipment with a UK workforce exceeding 800.
Paul Urbonas, H&S Manager for the Group said: 'Transport is one of our front line key risk areas and we aim to deliver continual improvements. For example, we have changed our dated pure tone reversing alarms on our mobile plant to broadband 'white noise' sirens. We carry out machinery assessments to determine blind spots and fit extra mirrors and colour reversing cameras where needed. Our facilities staff have also been given on-site banksman training from ROSPA.'
Tom Bird, Managing Director for Sims Group Metal Recycling division commented:
'At Sims Group we are always seeking new and innovative ways to improve our health and safety performance. We are focused on promoting a real safety culture within the business and actively engage employees through our monthly Health and Safety Award scheme.'
The waste and recycling industry is often criticised for its health and safety performance compared to other industry sectors, Sims Group look forward to reporting continued improvements in the future.'