Health and Safety Executive

Health and safety in waste management and recycling  - Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum

What is WISH?

Representatives from the waste management and recycling industry have come together to form the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) forum. WISH members include representatives from HSE, main trade associations, professional associations, trade unions, recycling organisations and national and local government bodies involved in waste management and recycling.

The aim of WISH is to identify, devise and promote activities to improve industry health and safety standards.

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WISH charter and strategic objectives

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How do WISH members intend to achieve the strategic objectives?

  • The Environmental Services Association (ESA) has recently adopted an Accident Reduction Charter. This aims to reduce ESA’s members’ accident incidence rate by 10% each year for the next five years.
  • HSE has developed a programme of work which aims to reduce the RIDDOR accident rate by 10% each year, understand and identify measures to reduce occupational ill health and to ensure occupational health and safety is an integral part of the specification, procurement and management of muncipal waste/recycling contracts.
  • The Chartered Institute of Wastes Management (CIWM) and Energy & Utility Skills have yet to confirm their intentions.

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WISH Commitment to competence

The WISH forum: Commitment to competence is designed to support the industry in raising staff competency levels. It is hoped that this will help to reduce accidents and occupational ill health.

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WISH meeting minutes

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Can I attend a WISH meeting?

If you would like to attend a WISH meeting as an observer, please email Dr Toni Gladding at t.l.gladding@open.ac.uk

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WISH members

The following organisations are members of the WISH forum:

Organisation Representative
Association for Organics Recycling Jeremy Jacobs
British Metals Recycling Association Howard Bluck
Chartered Institute of Wastes Management Toni Gladding
Geoff Smallwood
Community Recycling Network UK Mal Williams
Container Handling Equipment Manufacturers Association David Buxton
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs John Galvin
Energy and Utility Skills Richard Johnson
Environment Agency David Bliss
Environmental Services Association Chris Jones
Paul Thornber
Health and Safety Executive Chantal Nicholls
Wayne Williams
Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee Mark Foxall
Local Government Employers Steve Sumner
Trades Union Congress John McLean
Vincent Borg
Waste Management Industry Training and Advisory Board Lawrence Strong
Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) Dick Perry

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Good practice guidance

(These are HSE/WISH documents except for Waste Sheets 10, 15, 18 and 20, which were produced solely by HSE.)

New series No Title
Waste01 Operating civic amenity sites safely [PDF 194KB]
Waste02 Green waste collection: Health issues [PDF 163KB]
Waste03 Orphaned compressed gas cylinders in the waste and recycling industries [PDF 635KB]
Waste04 Waste and recycling vehicles in street collection [PDF 508KB]
Waste05 The safe use of refuse collection vehicle hoists and bins [PDF 259KB]
Waste06 Skip and container safety in waste management and recycling [PDF 212KB]
Waste07 Safe handling of asbestos cement waste at civic amenity (CA) sites [PDF 139KB]
Waste08 Compaction equipment: User and public safety [PDF 152KB]
Waste09 Safe transport in waste management and recycling facilities [PDF 187KB]
Waste10 The safe recovery of petrol from end-of-life vehicles [PDF 338KB]
Waste11 Safety at ‘bring sites’ in the waste management and recycling industries [PDF 170KB]
Waste15 Health hazards in the waste and recycling industry [PDF 227KB]
Waste16 Glass kerbside collection: Noise reduction techniques [PDF 218KB]
Waste17 Managing ‘task and finish’ to reduce safety risks [PDF 177KB]
Waste18 Hand sorting of recyclables (‘totting’) with vehicle assistance [PDF 152KB]
Waste19 Handling needles in the waste and recycling industry [PDF 155KB]
Waste20 Landfill fires - controlling the risk
Waste21 Health and safety training: Guidelines for the waste management and recycling sector [PDF 164KB]
Waste22 Handling offensive hygiene waste [PDF 90KB]
Waste23 Safe waste and recycling collection services [PDF 272KB]

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Quick links

Directgov - Business Link

Updated 16.12.09