Aylesbury Vale District Council and South Northamptonshire Council

Refuse and recycling services are currently operated as in-house services in Aylesbury Vale District Council and South Northamptonshire Council.

Health and safety officers and waste managers from the authorities recognised the importance of supervising and monitoring refuse and recycling services to ensure they are carried out safely, and in accordance with existing safe systems of work.

To that end, the authorities have combined to produce a DVD called 'Supervising and monitoring in Refuse and Recycling', which provides a useful training resource for anyone involved in this aspect of waste service provision. It uses various scenarios and trainers notes to assist in developing the right skills and competence for supervisors. The 30-minute run time includes the following sections: legislation; responsibilities; hazards and risks; supervision; monitoring; accidents, first aid and health; and accident investigation, together with four practical monitoring exercises.

Dr Lawrence Strong, Director General WAMITAB, said of the DVD:

'Gaining an initial level of vocational competence for operatives is vital for improving service quality and health and safety practices. Supervisors play a key role in maintaining and improving this level of competence in the workplace and I would recommend this to those who have supervisory responsibilities. I will also be recommending it to WAMITAB's assessment centres.'

The authorities are also in the process of developing two different workshops for local authority officers who are required to carry out monitoring. As well as covering the material included in the DVD, the workshops will also cover:

• For those involved in in-house supervision and monitoring processes: setting monitoring schedules; giving feedback; improving observational skills and the roles of drivers/team leaders; and
• For those monitoring external contracts: the design and specification of tenders; risk assessment; selection of contractors including the use of accreditation schemes and the role of monitoring and auditing.

The aim is to improve the competence of staff involved in this type of work.

Although the authorities concerned operate their waste and recycling services in-house, the lessons learnt apply equally to a range of contracted out services.

For more information on the DVD contact:

• [email protected] or [email protected]
• Or view an extract from the DVD

For more information on the two training courses contact: [email protected]