Health and safety improvement in waste and recycling sector

ESA claims to have helped reduce the number of injuries within the waste and recycling sector

A new report published by the Environmental Services Association (ESA) claims that it has helped reduce the number of injuries sustained by workers in the waste and recycling industry by up to 78 per cent since 2004 when a report titled ‘Mapping Health and Safety Standards in the UK Waste Industry’ highlighted alarming fatality figures.

The 2004 report was produced by Bombel Limited and revealed that, in the year 2001/02, more than 4,000 injuries were sustained by workers within the waste and recycling industry. Even more alarming was a fatality rate of 10 in every 100,000 employees; which, at the time of the report, was ten times higher than the UK’s national average.

The new report, titled ‘Aiming for Zero Harm in the Waste & Recycling Industry’, discusses the results of the “concerted effort” which has been made since 2004 by the ESA, WISH (Waste Industry Safety & Health), and the waste management industry.

The statistics show that members of the ESA have reported an overall reduction of 78 per cent in the number of injuries sustained within the workplace since 2004. The waste management industry as a whole, has witnessed a 23.7 per cent decrease in workplace injuries within the last five years.

Despite these positive numbers, figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that the waste management sector is still recording a higher than average number of accidents; with figures suggesting a rate four times higher than the national average.

ESA has said that with the changing face of the waste and recycling industry, particularly since the development of circular economy models, waste management workers are dealing with jobs that are “increasingly mechanised and more labour intensive”.

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