Crew safety prioritised :: wasteaction.org.uk

Councils and their contractors have been battling to ensure their workers remain safe as collections continued to be affected by the latest onslaught of wintry weather...

Local authorities across the country have either had to suspend or amend waste and recycling collections on health and safety grounds as severe weather warnings were issued by the Met Office for the majority of the UK, which saw overnight temperatures fall to -10c in some parts of the country.

Waste management companies and councils are working together to assess the safety of routes and rounds, with some firms issuing special guidance to help at this time.

William Furniss, health and safety manager for the logistics division of SITA UK, said that SITA had issued winter wear to its workers in the form of hats, gloves and fleeces to ensure they are protected against the cold and the standard issue ballistic trousers - designed to offer protection against punctures - also offered warmth.

"It is a very difficult call, as it is a balance between the risk of damage to the trucks, risk to the members of the public, risk to our guys and the need to do a collection, we try to maintain the service as well as we can," he added.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said that it would be not issuing any specific guidance to councils and employers at this stage and it was up to public and private employers to carry out thorough risk assessments before beginning collections.

Chantal Nicholls, principal inspector for waste at the HSE, said "I know a number of councils are putting refuse workers onto gritting, and it is a difficult balancing act but it is no different to other industries. And we are expecting every employer to do a sensible assessment of for the safety of their workers and the general public."

"The main thing is keeping people safe and we don't want anyone getting killed over a bag of rubbish that they could collect next week."

The most common response to the backlog likely to be caused by the weather conditions is for councils to rearrange collection dates for later in the week or to encourage residents to make use of household waste and recycling centres if it is safe for them to do so.

Source:letsrecycle.com