The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has admitted that the number of injuries in the waste sector in 2011/12 increased on the year before, after finding a reporting error in the provisional October figures.
The provisional figures, released on 31 October, originally showed that there were 465 ‘major’ injuries in the waste sector in 2011/12, down from the previous year’s figures of 482.
However, the HSE has now released corrected data after finding that ‘around 300 waste-related injuries reported in 2011/12 [were] incorrectly allocated to “Public administration and defence; compulsory social security”'.
The new data, featuring in ‘Waste and recycling: work related injuries and ill health’, now shows that there were 30 more ‘major’ accidents (which include amputations, fractures and burns) in the category SIC 38 – covering waste collection, treatment, disposal activities and materials recovery – than previously reported, bringing the 2011/12 total to 495.
Incidents that incapacitated a worker for more than three days, known as ‘over three-day injuries’, also increased with the amendment, with figures rising from 1,967 in 2010/11 to 2,160 in 2011/12. In the October figures, the number of ‘over three-day injuries’ was recorded at 1,876.
In a footnote to the main statistics, the HSE writes: ‘Around 300 waste-related injuries reported in 2011/12 have been incorrectly allocated to “Public administration and defence; compulsory social security” (SIC 84), mainly because the injured person was employed by a local authority. These should have been included in the injury numbers for “Waste collection, treatment, disposal activities and materials recovery” (SIC 38).
‘Ten per cent were major injuries and the remainder were over-3-day injuries. No fatal injuries were included.’
The HSE has said that though the mistake was detected too late to be corrected in the provisional published dataset, it will be corrected ‘when the tables are finalised in 2013’.
Overall, the whole waste and recycling sector, including waste management, saw 533 major injuries in 2011/12, down from 588 in 2010/11, and 2,577 ‘over three-day injuries’, up from 2,530 the year before.
The total number of reported non-fatal injuries increased from 3,118 in 2010/11 to 3,130 in 2011/12.
Read the HSE report: ‘Waste and recycling: work related injuries and ill health’.
Get our weekly digest
resource.co article ai
How will the government and DMOs address the challenges of including glass in DRS while ensuring a level playing field across the UK?
There's no easy solution to include glass in the DRS while maintaining a level playing field. Potential approaches include a phased introduction of glass, potentially with higher deposits to reflect its logistical challenges. The government and DMOs could incentivise innovation in glass packaging design and subsidise dedicated return points for glass-handling. Exemptions for smaller businesses unable to handle glass might also be necessary. Any successful solution will likely blend several approaches. It must address the differing priorities of devolved administrations, balance environmental benefits with logistical and cost implications, and be supported by robust consumer education campaigns emphasizing the importance of glass recycling.