In November, the HSE, the government agency in charge of regulating and enforcing workplace health, safety and welfare, released its annual report on health and safety statistics on work-related injury, ill health and costs in Britain (see letsrecycle.com story).
Over the past decade, the UK has made great strides in the number of work-related injuries occurring each year, with a continued downward trend. However, this year there was a slight up-tick in the number of people suffering from a work-related illness – 1.8 million, up from 1.7 million last year – and those sustaining an injury at work – 565,000, up from 441,000 in 2021.
While the overall picture may be bleaker, it is brighter in the recycling and waste management industry where the number of non-fatal injuries under the RIDDOR scheme has fallen back to pre-pandemic levels. In 2020/21 there were 1,641 incidents, falling to 1,555 in 2021/22. This continues the trend seen since 2015/16 with incidents in the sector declining.
Overall, while the UK’s progress is encouraging to see, especially compared to its European counterparts – with France reporting five times the number of fatal injuries per 100,000 workers as the UK – there is still a significant amount of work for the UK – and the waste sector – to do to continue to drive down work-related injuries and deaths.
Workplace safety
To achieve this, waste operators must continue to put workplace safety at the heart of their company culture. This is of course easier said than done. One of the main barriers for organisations struggling to improve their safety culture is ensuring that employees are engaged and actively participating in trying to improve it. This can be a particular challenge for recycling and waste operators, given how dispersed their workforce can be – office-based, on-site and on the road.
The question that many companies ask themselves is, how do we get employees engaged in the process?
The answer to this question can differ from organisation to organisation. However, from Intelex’s significant experience working with clients in the recycling and waste management industry we find that a sound basis to start from is being able to demonstrate that the health and safety initiatives that have been introduced are having a positive impact.
To be able to do this, it is imperative that companies have their data in order. If they don’t, they will be unable to measure and track their health and safety performance effectively, and as such, will not be able to demonstrate to their workers that the health and safety practices they have put in place are making a difference.
Report
However, findings from an Intelex research report released earlier this year are revealing. In Engaging Workers, Growing Business and Protecting the Planet we found that of those health and safety professionals working in environmental sectors who have experienced at least one health and safety incident in the last 12 months, a third said they were struggling to extract, format and submit the data they need to deal with the challenge successfully. This issue was compounded by the fact that they were using inconsistent data across multiple sources, and wasting time and effort trying to locate key information across different IT systems.
It is not that surprising therefore that over nine out of 10 research respondents working in environmental sectors believe implementing technologies and applications specifically designed for monitoring, managing and reporting health and safety would resolve the majority of their organisation’s health and safety issues.
Software
With such clear wants coming from health and safety professionals working in the sector, it does beg the question that if more waste management companies deployed bespoke health and safety management software over the next five years, could the number of non-fatal injuries in the waste industry drop below 1,000 for the first time? At Intelex we appreciate that technology cannot remove all dangers from the workplace, or account for human error. It can however, help health and professionals collect data, manage performance and identify trends as to where potential hazards may be – giving them the data to enact strategies to mitigate the risks, as well as showing where these strategies are working – all the while driving further employee awareness and buy-in.
This in turn creates a virtuous cycle. The more employees that are on board with health and safety initiatives, the fewer workplace incidents there will be, making organisations safer and improving their health and safety performance further.
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