The Health and Safety Executive has published a ‘five prong-plan’ aimed at driving down the number of people killed and seriously injured in the waste and recycling industry.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), between 2004/5 and 2011/12, 97 workers and 19 members of the public were fatally injured, and 3,722 employees suffered ‘major injuries’, making the waste and recycling industry ‘one of Britain’s most dangerous sectors’.

The ‘Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) blueprint 2013-15’, published on Friday (7 June), outlines 24 ‘immediate action points’ that need to be taken to provide clearer training and safer workplaces.

Designed for use by ‘WISH, its members of every degree, and any other stakeholder or interest party that wants to become part of what it is trying to achieve’, the blueprint is derived from feedback from waste management representatives who attended the WISH Forum on 7 February.

Blueprint initiatives

The blueprint addresses the ‘expressions of need, desire, frustration and challenge’ voiced by industry through action plans in five main strategy areas:

• strong leadership;
• workforce involvement;
• competence building;
• healthier and safer workplaces; and
• support for small and medium sized employers

Key initiatives listed in the blueprint include:

• producing agreed safety leadership standards for the waste management industry and guidance on ‘what safety leadership looks like and how it is demonstrated’;
• developing sharable training materials for promoting and enhancing worker engagement
• publishing case studies and real life examples of ‘the positive impact of improved workforce competence, including examples of industry best practice and the potential business benefits’; and
• developing guidance and support on Health surveillance (monitoring/screening).

Graeme Walker, HSE’s Waste and Recycling Lead, said: "This is a really important development in the drive for improved health and safety in the waste and recycling sector – it shows the industry’s unequivocal commitment to reducing the number of people killed, injured or made unwell. We know from our experience in other sectors, such as construction, that long-term sustainable improvements rely on strong industry leadership and that is what we are seeing here."

Figures from across the industry are now being recruited to chair sub-groups to drive forward implementation of the plan, which will be updated ‘regularly’.

Chris Jones, WISH Chair and Director of Risk Management and Compliance at Cory Environmental, added: "If the industry combines its efforts, contributes and supports the work needed then everything is achievable, and without unreasonable cost or burden. The more that take part in, and contribute to, the working groups that are being set up, the greater will be the knowledge base, the wider the experience and the lesser will be the burden upon everybody.

"We wanted this to be a sort of roadmap to a healthier and safer industry – something that lets anyone in waste and recycling join us on a journey. There’s a long road ahead but we’re off in the right direction."

Death at Rainbow Waste

The release of the guidance follows news that a 24-year old man died following an industrial incident at a site run by Rainbow Waste in Swadlincote, Derbyshire on Friday.

The man was taken to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham for treatment, but succumbed to his injuries on Saturday (8 June). A police spokesman said it was a "tragic accident".

HSE has confirmed that it is now investigating the cause of the accident and will send mechanical engineers to the site to evaluate the cause of the accident.

Read HSE’s ‘Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) blueprint 2013-15’.