Supervisor and team leader competence in roadside waste and recycling collection activities

Background

Despite some improvement over the last five years, the health and safety performance of the waste and recycling industry remains poor in comparison to other industries. Collection activities represent one of the most hazardous activities associated with the industry, with approximately 80% of accidents occurring during collection of household and trade waste. 

Supervisors and team leaders have a critical role in managing the health and safety of the collection crews and drivers. Promotion to supervisor or team leader is often based on an individual’s experience and practical ability, and this credibility is very important when supervising a team on a day-to-day basis. However, supervisors and team leaders also have to make their teams aware of less obvious health and safety hazards and risks that they might encounter during their rounds and persuade them that certain working practices reduce those risks and protect their health and safety. Communicating these messages and persuading crews to adhere to procedures requires supervisors and team leaders to have good interpersonal and communication skills as well as practical experience.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has commissioned the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) to work in partnership with the waste and recycling industry to:

• identify what competencies supervisors and team leaders need to manage health and safety effectively. In other words, what knowledge, skills attitudes and behaviours does a supervisor or team leader who manages health and safety effectively possess?
• identify whether the training given to supervisors and team leaders provides an adequate basis for these competencies or whether there are further training needs. 

We need your help

These research questions can only be answered by working in collaboration with the waste and recycling industry. Therefore we need your help and involvement.

There are two options for getting involved:

• OPTION 1. Providing HSL with a sample of your organisation’s job descriptions and training matrix for supervisors/team leaders; or
• OPTION 2. Volunteering for HSL to visit your organisation to interview a sample of managers and hold discussion groups with a sample of collection crews and supervisors/team leaders.

What does volunteering for the interviews and discussion groups entail?

Two HSL researchers will visit one of your organisation’s depots/sites for a day or two to speak to a sample of:

• Managers for about an hour each.
• Supervisors and team leaders. If they are only available individually, the researchers can interview them for about an hour. If it is possible to organise four or five supervisors or team leaders to get together for a discussion group lasting around an hour and half, that would be ideal. The groups should not be a mixture of supervisors and team leaders; it is better to keep them separate, so they speak more openly.
• Representatives from some of the collection crews via discussion groups which will last for about an hour and a half. These discussion groups can be held before the collection round starts or afterwards (or both). Ideally, the discussion groups would have 10-12 participants, but if it is not possible to arrange for this number of people to get together, groups of five people upwards is acceptable.

Please let us know if you are interested in getting involved by completing the form at the end of this document by 31 August 2012 and sending it by email to: phoebe.smith@hsl.gov.uk or Jennifer.Webster@hsl.gov.uk by post to Phoebe Smith/Jen Webster, Health and Safety Laboratory, Harpur Hill, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 9JN

What happens next?

Once HSL have received expressions of interest and background information, we will select those we would like to participate in the interviews and focus groups (OPTION 2) and contact them to discuss further details. HSL will only be able to undertake interviews and discussion groups with a small number of organisations, which will need to reflect the different operating and contractual arrangements that exist in the collection of waste and recycling. Consequently, not every organisation that volunteers for OPTION 2 will be selected, but we hope you will still be happy to supply us with job descriptions and your training matrix (OPTION 1). We will also let those know who have volunteered to send job descriptions and training matrix (OPTION 1) when we would like them.

Expressing interest at this stage will not be interpreted as a firm commitment to get involved if you decide that you are unable to later on.

If you would you like to talk to somebody about this research please contact:

Phoebe Smith
01298 218 369
phoebe.smith@hsl.gsi.gov.uk

or

Jen Webster
01298 218 372
jennifer.Webster@hsl.gsi.gov.uk