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Health and safety in the waste and recycling industries

These pages explain what HSE is doing to tackle key issues as well as providing access to a range of information about health and safety for the waste management and recycling industries.

Research for the HSE 'Mapping health and safety standards in the UK waste industry' indicates that there are currently around 162,500 people employed in the Waste Management industry. Many more are employed in other activities associated with specific recyclables and ancillary activities such as transportation.

The UK is committed to increasing the amount of materials recycled and reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. Consequently, the numbers employed in these industries, with the quantity and range of materials handled and recycled being likely to rise.

Waste management activities include a multitude of activities, including:

  • Collection
  • Reception (e.g. Civic Amenity Sites)
  • Sorting
  • Recovery of materials
  • Biological treatment of organic materials (e.g. composting)
  • Thermal treatment (including incineration with energy recovery
  • Landfill

Waste management industry health and safety profile

'Mapping health and safety standards in the UK waste industry'1, a report of a research project carried out by Bomel Limited for HSE shows that, in 2001-02,

  • the number of fatal incidents are over ten times the national average
  • accident rates are four times the national average.

The incidents predominantly occur to refuse/recycling collection workers who manually handle and sort waste.

The diagrams below are only intended as an indication of the industry statistics and caution is to be exercised in their interpretation.

fatal accidents 2001-2002: some industries compared

The main causes of injury are:

By frequency of accident (total number of reported accidents)

  • Manual handling injuries (including cuts from sharps)
  • Slips and trips
  • Struck by objects (e.g. refuse during collection)

waste management: causes of accidents 2001-02

By severity of accident (total reported major injuries and fatalities only)

  • Slips and trips
  • Struck by objects
  • Transport related accidents

waste management industry causes of major injuries and fatalities 2001-02

Statistical data on health issues within the waste industry is currently unreliable, and research continues. However, health concerns include:

  • Manual handling
  • Exposure to bioaerosols

Sources used for the graphs above:-