Representatives of the waste and recycling sector have agreed a five-point plan for reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured in the industry.
The Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum — which includes representatives from the HSE, trade and professional associations, unions, recycling organisations and government bodies — has been working on its blueprint for better risk management since a landmark summit in February.
The final plan, published last week, focuses attention on those areas where industry leaders believe action should be prioritised.
Between 2004/5 and 2011/12, 97 workers and 19 members of the public were fatally injured in waste and recycling activities, making it one of Britain’s deadliest industries.
WISH’s plan to reduce the industry’s death toll covers 24 immediate action points, under five strategic themes: strong leadership; worker involvement; competence; creating healthier and safer workplaces; and providing support for small and medium-sized employers.
Key initiatives include the industry developing its own leadership standards, publishing new training materials on successful worker involvement, and working with customers to use their leverage to promote improved competence.
Chris Jones, WISH chair and director of risk management and compliance at Cory Environmental, said: “There’s no shortage of desire in the industry to improve our record — this was clear from the summit in February and the amount of energy and commitment that has been shown in getting us to this point in publishing the blueprint.
“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 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.”
To reduce unnecessary duplication and maximise impact, the blueprint commits each working group to act as a knowledge hub, making the necessary links to, and coordinate, existing initiatives and working groups already established from across industry to deliver actions.
Commenting on the plans, HSE waste and recycling lead Graeme Walker 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.”
Key figures from across the industry are being recruited to chair sub-groups to help implement the plan, which will be updated regularly. WISH will continue to oversee the implementation and its members will act as advocates in each of the sub-groups.
The WISH blueprint is available at www.hse.gov.uk/waste/wish-blueprint.pdf
