Prioritise PPE to retain waste and recycling staff, says Eriks.
Industrial services provider ERIKS UK & Ireland is calling on the waste and recycling sector to prioritise the purchase and management of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in order to retain staff.
This follows a report from the Health & Safety Executive (H&SE), which revealed earlier this year that the number of fatalities in the sector has doubled over the past five years, making waste and recycling one of the most dangerous sectors for UK workers.
ERIKS is advising businesses to remain well-stocked in vital PPE equipment, such as gloves, hats, eye-guards and face masks, which should be inspected on a regular basis and changed when they no longer provide optimal protective capabilities. In addition, it is also recommending the installation of condition monitoring equipment for heavy machinery, to ensure that it is working safely and efficiently and minimise the risk of subsequent mechanical downtime.
Health and safety violations can prove costly to a business, with potential fines of up to £1million for the most serious cases. The implementation of health and safety measures required as a result of inspection can also cause disruption, not to mention the reputational damage that can occur following any reported violations.
Furthermore, a lack of proper health and safety equipment can prove costly to a business in the long term. Waste and recycling loses up to 274,000 working days a year to work-related illnesses, with skin, respiratory and musculoskeletal problems highlighted as the most common for this sector.
As well as illness, the sector has an unusually high rate of worker fatalities. According to the report by the H&SE, the waste and recycling sector suffered 14 worker fatalities between April 2016 and March 2017. This August, recorded fatalities included a man who was killed in a reported explosion at a recycling facility in Oldbury. The number of fatalities recorded by the sector over the past five years is over 15 times higher than the national average, with only construction and agriculture superseding waste and recycling as the most dangerous sectors for UK workers. This is already affecting worker morale, with the industry experiencing a high rate of employee turnover.
Ian Richmond, Contracts Director supporting the Waste & Recycling industry at ERIKS UK & Ireland, said: “The waste and recycling industry is changing constantly, with new processes introduced every day. As a result, businesses within the sector are often struggling to keep up with new legislation, which leaves them open to potential fines, loss of reputation, high staff turnover and, in the most serious cases, worker fatalities.
“ERIKS is always one step ahead of the legislation, and understands how best to help businesses to ensure that they are operating safely and efficiently. After an initial on-site inspection, ERIKS engineers can recommend the very latest PPE equipment and condition monitoring technology to suit that business’s needs. ERIKS then works with the team from installation through to maintenance and asset management, to make sure the business continues to run smoothly and, above all, safely.”