The UK Health & Safety Executive Targets the UK Waste Industry to Reduce Accidents

Make sure your Waste Management Facility, Landfill, Recycling, Waste Processing Site is complying with 'Best Practice' Guidance on Health and Safety for the Waste Industry’.

The Health and Safety Executive has recently announced that it is targeting the waste and recycling industry due to an increased number of fatal and serious accidents that have occurred during collection and management of municipal waste (especially in recycling activities).

An extremely useful checklist is published on the HSE waste website listing those points that an inspector will look for.  To view the checklist, click here http://www.hse.gov.uk/waste/checklist.doc.

There will clearly be a large number of unannounced inspections carried out many their inspectors over the next few years.

However, the HSE has given the industry a useful audit tool ahead of any inspection in the form of the checklist.

All management with responsibility for Health & Safety on sites will be well advised to use this form, among other tools.

The most dangerous areas of a landfill are clearly the tipping areas on the landfill itself, and any area where personnel and vehicles mix.

Waste Industry Health & Safety News

To highlight the sort of accidents which occur we have added an Newsfeed below which should display worldwide landfill accidents, not as reflection on landfill in the UK specifically, but to highlight the dangers of landfilling, and indeed of any waste related activity as all these do present high accident risks worldwide.