Members of the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) forum – which promotes health and safety in the sector – attended a ceremony in London yesterday at which they pledged to:
– Produce a standard format to measure the number of working days lost due to occupational health or safety incidents.
– Gain widespread adoption of safety management systems, which could include the provision of an online assessment for companies to gauge whether they meet standards.
– Improve attitudes to health and safety, particularly within SMEs.
– And, increase competence in line with the WISH ‘Commitment to competence' statement.
Members include: the Association for Organics Recycling, the British Metals Recycling Association, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, Community Recycling Network, Container Handling Equipment Manufacturers, Defra, the Energy and Utility Skills, the Environment Agency, the Environmental Services Association, the Health and Safety Executive, the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee, the Local Government Employers Organisation, Trades Union Congress, the Waste Management Industry Training and Advisory Board, and WRAP.
At present, the number of fatal accidents in the waste and recycling industry is more than 10 times the national average and reportable accidents in these workplaces are more than four times the national average. This makes working in the industry one of the most dangerous jobs in the UK.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Chris Jones, chair of WISH and director of risk management and compliance at waste management firm Cory Environmental, said: “Doing anything with accident rates is very difficult, because accidents by their very nature aren't controlled and there is sometimes more than one thing that results in a serious accident and to prevent that accident you need to prevent all of the component factors.”
“What we need to do under this charter is to improve various areas – such as competence, training, etc. and cover a broad spectrum of things. It is about having a working programme,” he added.
Concern
Concerns had been raised over the performance of the sector in annual HSE figures published in October 2008, which showed that major or fatal injuries to employees involved in waste and recycling had risen by 32% during the period 2004-05 to 2007-08 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Speaking at the launch, Judith Hackitt, chair of the Health and Safety Executive, said: “We have to ask ‘Are we doing everything we can do to make these targets a reality?', it cannot just take good intentions and support but commitment. A statement of good intent is a good start but it is only a start and the benefits of this charter will only come from practical application.”
Under the charter, members of WISH are set to focus on reducing accidents through means relevant to their involvement in the waste industry – for example the Energy and Utility Skills is believed to be tackling competence and training, while the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is set to contribute through inspections and research.
It is hoped when all the individual efforts are compiled, that there will be a 10% reduction in the number of accidents recorded for 2009-10 in comparison to 2008-09.
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