Some improvement but still not good enough - high rates of injury remain in waste and recycling

Policy Release

Date:

12 November 2010

The combined fatal and major injury rate in waste and recycling is more than four times the average across all industries.

416 employees per 100,000 suffer a major injury or are killed at work compared with the all industry average rate of 102 per 100,000, according to the latest statistics released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

A total of 530 major injuries to employees in waste and recycling were reported in 2009/10 − a fall of 10 per cent on the previous year when 590 major injuries were reported. Major injuries, such as amputations and broken limbs account for around one in four injuries in the sector.

Provisional fatality figures for 2009/10 also show that four employees were killed as a result of working in waste and recycling between April 2009 and March 2010 − three fewer than in 2008/09. Three members of the public also died in relation to work activities in the waste and recycling sector during 2009/10.

There was little discernable improvement in injuries that kept people away from work for three days or more, with 2,151 reported in 2009/10 compared with 2,225 in 2008/09 − a fall of only one per cent.

Geoff Cox, HSE's Head of Manufacturing, including waste and recycling said:

"We are encouraged that there have been fewer deaths and injuries in waste and recycling, but the injury rate, which is stubbornly consistent with that of the previous year, paints a stark picture of how much more needs to be done. We also cannot view fewer deaths this year being any indication of a downward trend. The industry cannot afford to be complacent.

"HSE will continue to work with industry through the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) forum to look at ways to prevent people being killed or injured needlessly."

Across all industries in 2009/10, 152 workers were fatally injured in Britain - down from 179 the previous year. This is the lowest level on record, with 0.5 deaths per 100,000 workers.

Notes to editors

1. NB: This press release relates to waste and recycling as defined by 2003 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes 37 (recycling) and 90 (sewage and refuse disposal) only. A separate press release on manufacturing statistics (excluding waste and recycling) is available.
2. The statistics are available online at http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/manufacturing/index.htm
3. The reporting of health and safety incidents at work is a statutory requirement, set out under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). A reportable incident includes: a death or major injury; any accident which does not result in major injury, but the injured person still has to take four or more days off their normal work to recover; a work-related disease; a member of the public being injured as a result of work-related activity and taken to hospital for treatment; or a dangerous occurrence (which does not result in a serious injury, but could have done).
4. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk

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