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Health and Safety
EU environmental law is driving our sector from reliance on disposal in landfill to much higher levels of recycling and recovery. This step change in working practices and infrastructure has resulted in increasingly labour intensive activities as the industry adapts to new collection methods and more sophisticated waste treatment processes.
ESA’s Members are committed to ensuring the highest levels of health and safety for employees and the public. ESA has therefore developed a strong focus on health and safety to ensure that high recycling performance is met by high standards in health and safety.
ESA Accident Reduction Charter
ESA, in conjunction with HSE, launched an Accident Reduction Charter in 2004. The Charter aimed to reduce the incidence rate of RIDDOR reportable accidents by 10% every year and to eliminate fatalities.
Since the launch of the first Charter ESA has achieved a 40% reduction in RIDDOR incidence rate and, in 2008, decided to renew our Members’ commitment to the Charter. Mrs Judith Hackett CBE, HSE Chair, attended ESA’s Board meeting to witness the signing of the revised ESA Accident Reduction Charter, which extended ESA’s target of 10% annual cuts in RIDDOR accidents until 2013.
A renewed Strategy for Health and Safety
ESA’s Health and Safety Strategy sets out the activities required to meet the targets of the Accident Reduction Charter and a clear timetable for the delivery of such. ESA has revised its Health and Strategy to meet the targets of the renewed Accident Reduction Charter.
The Strategy focuses on slips, trips and falls, manual handling and impact incidents as these incidents make up the majority of incidents reported by ESA Members. The Strategy targets machinery safety as accidents associated with plant and machinery can result in serious injuries. ESA’s Board agreed that the revised Strategy should also adopt a particular focus on occupational health with the aim of reducing sickness absence rates.
Progress to date
Accurate data collection underpins ESA’s approach to health and safety and from 2004 it has been a mandatory requirement for all operational Members to submit annual reports, providing information on incidents reported under the RIDDOR regulations. The data shows that ESA’s Members have achieved year on year reductions in accidents since 2005.
ESA’s Code of Conduct also requires Members to implement their own health and safety plans – with the aim of meeting ESA’s accident reduction targets. To enable active participation in the Health and Safety Strategy, ESA produced a generic template to assist our Members, particularly SMEs, to develop their own health and safety action plans.
To demonstrate a clear commitment to our Charter’s accident reduction target, the Board recently agreed that all Members should be required to have a management system which follows the principles set out in HSG(65): a recognised standard for health and safety management plans. ESA devised a resource to assist Members to achieve this new obligation.
ESA has developed a culture of freely sharing experiences and Members are promptly informed of major incidents in an effort to alert them to potential hazards and improve good working practice.
ESA has a long established Health and Safety Committee, its primary focus is to develop health and safety initiatives within the industry and allow ESA’s Members to exchange information and share best practice.
ESA Health and Safety Events
ESA is committed to holding at least one event on an annual basis to spread good practice and advice on health and safety. Building on the success of last year’s conference, which focused on designing health and safety into the procurement process, the theme of this year’s autumn event will be on the safe collection of waste. The programme and presentations for all events are available on ESA's web site.
A collaborative approach
ESA’s Accident Reduction Charter includes a commitment to work collaboratively with HSE and others to contribute to the development of industry guidance and good working practice
ESA is an active participant on the WISH Forum, a committee comprised of representatives from across the waste management sector. It exists as a forum to exchange information and to discuss and resolve prevailing health and safety problems within the industry. ESA has worked with HSE through the WISH Forum in the production of best practice guidance to assist managers to provide training to the workforce on key areas which make up the majority of reported accidents.
The full range of guidance documents produced by the WISH Forum is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/waste/wish.htm
ESA continues to be an active partner in the production of key WISH publications – most recently guidance on the design of safe collection routes. With more complex collections – and particularly on-street segregation of wastes – workers are potentially exposed to greater risk and the guidance aims to ensure that collection routes are designed and operated to minimise risk.
Also through the WISH Forum, ESA has assisted in the preparation of guidance which aims to reduce the risks to collection operatives from exposure to noise from glass collection.
ESA works with our Sector Skills Council to develop training CD modules aimed at improving the health and safety of workers. To date training CDs have targeted heath and safety aspects of:
- collection operations
- civic amenity sites; and
- commercial waste collections
Further Information and Links
WISH Forum web site www.hse.gov.uk/waste/wish/htm
HSE waste management web site www.hse.gov.uk/waste
Last Updated: September 2009
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