HSE Action Plan Seeks to Raise Safety in Waste and Recycling Sector

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has released a new plan aimed at improving the safety standards of waste and recycling industry. The plan seeks to address safety issues within the sector through better control mechanisms and effective management systems.

According to HSE, the waste and recycling sector is one of the most dangerous sectors in the UK in terms of workplace injury and work-related ill-health. The sector which covers activities such as collection, transfer, sorting and processing of industrial, commercial and household waste employs around 12,000 people.

An analysis of the five-year data up to March 2016 indicates that fatal injury rate in the waste and recycling sector stood high at around 10 times the average across all industries. Also, the sector accounted for 12 fatalities to members of the public. On average, around 5% sector workers get injured in non-fatal incidents every year. This is almost double the overall industry average. The rate of workers who suffer work-related illness amounts to 5%, which is significantly higher than the all-industry rate.

HSE notes that the major causes of fatal injuries include being struck by moving vehicle, coming into contact with moving machinery and being trapped by collapsing or overturning objects. Also, the major health issues faced by workers from the sector include musculoskeletal disorders, work-related stress, skin disease and occupational lung disease.

The proposed HSE plan outlines the priorities that waste and recycling industry need to focus on in order to bring in notable progress in health and safety of its workers. The first priority must be to implement an action plan to reduce the number of people killed by moving vehicles or being caught in moving machinery. It also prioritizes on reduction in the cases of musculoskeletal disorders and occupational lung disease. It called upon the sector to take ownership of the challenges and take leadership on implementing solutions.

HSE aims to direct inspection and enforcement activities at work sites. This includes identifying new safety issues and solutions, revamping of under-utilized solutions and identifying areas which need further HSE interventions. The information thus obtained will be shared with regulatory agencies such as Environment Agency, National Resource Wales, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, fire authorities and local authorities. Also, HSE intends to boost its collaboration with the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum and its member organizations.