Finally, the weather is set to take a turn for the better after what seems to be the longest winter I can remember. This change in season has made me think about how health & safety emphasis changes throughout the year from Bonfire ‘best practice’ issued in October to ‘safety advice’ recently issued by the HSE regarding Bouncy Castles. Every industry has hidden risks and the potential for accident, injury and even death and we need to prepare well for what might lie around the corner, this is illustrated today quite starkly, as I write this Notre Dame is burning …
With the change of weather that we are reminded of the significant risks within our own industry all year round. Despite all of the hard work undertaken by our industry as a whole through the numerous forums and working groups, the issuing of best practice guidance, innovation and awards, we are now THE most dangerous industry in the UK when it comes to the number of deaths per 100,000 employees, according to the official HSE statistics for 2018.
The waste sector accounts for just 0.4% of employees in the UK, yet in 2018, the waste sector accounted for 12 of the 144 UK industry fatalities. This equates to 10.26 fatalities per 100,000 employees compared to the UK average of 0.45 fatalities per 100,000 employees. It’s not surprising that we work in such a dangerous industry when you think about the plant, equipment and machinery we operate, from RCVs to JCBs, transfer stations to incinerators and conveyors to bailers and sorting lines, but what is surprising is the high level of fatalities from simple human error or a lack of judgement.
The HSE has brought about a number of successful prosecutions in the last six months resulting in some major fines as a result of avoidable deaths and significant injuries. These included the death of a cleaner due to being crushed in a bailer because there was no isolator switch, the death of a loader after being run over by a reversing RCV and a number of significant crushing injuries from poor Risk Controls and poor operator judgement.
We continue to provide training to our workforce, undertake contract monitoring and perform site safety audits, yet the most simple of tasks like writing an adequate Risk Assessment and identifying sufficient Risk Control appears to be lacking, undermining the sterling work that this industry is doing to improve Health & Safety, so it’s important to keep the HSE on our side!
Now, where is that bouncy castle!?
