In his annual report which goes before the annual meeting of the association tomorrow in London, Mr Whittaker, who is managing director of Halifax-based Heath Recycling said that the accident record of the industry last year “is considerably worse than in the previous two years”.
But, he pointed to work being done by the association to help raise standards.
“During the year three health and safety seminars were held regionally which were well supported. The Open Learning Safety Course which has been specially formulated for the recovered paper industry was launched and well received by our membership who are finding it a useful tool to educate their own workforce.”
Northern regional chairman Derek Tilt of BPB Recycling, in his report, said that despite all the efforts and those of the association's working party “our industry has a totally unacceptable accident record of 31.28 accidents per 1,000 employees compared with total British industry which is 6.82. Two fatalities were recorded – one in the industry and one related to collections at a supermarket.”
Mr Whittaker also commented on the competitiveness study for the paper industries which was published in December and said that the next stage now is for the industry to produce an action plan for the future.
At tomorrow's annual meeting, Peter McGuinness of Severnside Recycling is due to be elected as chairman.
Other regional reports will also be presented.
Register for free to comment