Waste industry urged to sort out health and safety record

The number of fatal incidents in the UK's waste and recycling industry is more than four times the national average

Waste management firms should step up efforts to improve the sector's woeful health and safety record or risk missing out on the increased interest being shown in the industry by investors and high-profile customers.

That is the warning from Stuart Wardlaw, director of the Safety and Environment Team at law firm Dickinson Dees LLP, who warned firms that fail to demonstrate a willingness to improve health and safety policies and practices could not only be at greater risk of legal action, but could also find it harder to attract the investors and customers increasingly interested in funding recycling and waste-to-energy projects.

According to recent figures from the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) forum, the number of fatal incidents in the UK's waste and recycling industry is more than four times the national average and reportable incidents are four times the national average.

Earlier this month, members of WISH signed up to a new charter, committing to better promoting health and safety and reducing reportable accident rates by 10 per cent each year over the next five years.

Wardlaw welcomed the target, arguing that while the industry's reliance on heavy machinery meant there were some inherent dangers associated with working in the sector, more could be done to curb accident rates.

"In fairness to the sector, it has to manage a complicated set of operations ranging from collection, through transport, sorting, recycling and landfill," he said. "But that does not excuse the level of accidents that appear to be occurring."

There is a strong commercial as well as a moral and legal case for firms to improve their health and safety policies, according to Wardlaw, who warned that investors and customers are increasingly factoring health and safety policy when selecting waste firms to work with.

"For years, waste management has been an established industry focused on landfill, but that is changing now because a lot of investment comes through to fund increases in recycling and waste-to-energy capacity," he explained. "That new investment will help to drive improvements in health and safety, but equally the laggards in terms of policy will be found out by investors' due diligence processes."

Wardlaw advised that waste management firms should draw up a "clear and robust health and safety policy that is implemented on a daily basis", undertake regular risk assessments, and also appoint a board-level executive with responsibility for health and safety issues.

He added that such measures would help bring the sector into line with health and safety best practices and also allow the firm to demonstrate that it has a strong system of practice in place in the event that a workplace accident results in legal action being taken against the firm.