Briefing: Health and safety in the waste management sector – hazards and risks

27 Jul 2023

A survey of nearly 1,700 people across the recycling and waste management sector by the Environmental Services Association (ESA) has suggested the industry’s health and safety culture is in good form. The statistics say otherwise. In fact, the waste industry appears to be one of the most dangerous in the UK.

The waste sector accounts for around 0.4% of the workforce in Great Britain. HSE data up to March 2023 shows that agriculture, forestry and fishing has the highest rate of fatal injury per 100,000 workers of the main industrial sectors, followed by waste and recycling.

The HSE recorded six fatalities in the waste management sector in the period 2022-2023, up from just one the previous year. The waste and recycling sector also had 11 times the rate of fatal injury over this period (4.61 per 100,000 workers) compared to the average across all industries.

So why is the sector so dangerous? This briefing examines the most common causes and incidences of injury and fatalities in the waste sector.

Falls from height
Work at height continues to be the most common cause of fatal injury, according to the HSE’s latest statistics, published on 6 July 2023.

This could be down to the fact that the type of injury sustained from falls from height is typically more severe than most others, and generally of greater consequence.

In 2019, due to concerns over an increase in the number of fall-from-height fatalities, the All-Party Parliamentary Group published a report examining the reasons behind falls from height accidents in the workplace with the aim of finding the root causes. It identified several contributing factors, including employee culture and complacency, a lack of planning and understanding, and training inadequacies.

In 2020, a waste management company was fined £190,000 after a contractor died having fallen seven metres while carrying out maintenance work. An investigation by the HSE found that Hills Waste Solutions Limited failed to ensure that work at height was properly assessed and planned. The company failed to consider and identify how the necessary work at height could be carried out safely to ensure that the risk of falls was controlled.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £190,000 and ordered to pay costs of £14,816, with a victim surcharge of £190.

Moving vehicles
Being struck by a moving vehicle is one of the top three causes of death in the workplace. Between 2002 and 2010, there were a total of 57 fatalities in the waste management and recycling industry caused by being hit by a moving vehicle. This means an average of six people (workers and members of the public) died annually due to encountering a moving vehicle. At least 21 of those 57 fatalities were associated with the collection of municipal or commercial refuse.

Waste management and recycling activities in waste transfer stations, skip hire, civic amenity sites, MRFs, scrapyards and landfill sites involve the use of a wide range of vehicles and mobile plant (including lorries of various sizes, forklift trucks, 360^o excavators, front-loading shovels and mobile cranes). The risks to workers and visiting members of the public are similar to those posed by collection activities; however, as the majority of these sites are at fixed locations, implementation of a good site layout and suitable management systems can significantly reduce the risks posed by vehicle movements.

Dangerous substances
Workers in the waste management sector may be exposed to biological and chemical risks such as vapours, smoke, fumes and dust and may also need to handle chemical substances and infectious materials.

Contact with infectious materials is a risk factor during waste collection and handling/recycling operations. Many waste materials containing infection hazards enter the domestic waste chain and infection risk may be more difficult to control than during the collection and disposal of clinical wastes.

It is also possible that incorrectly or illegally disposed of asbestos could be encountered in various waste streams, e.g. in skip-hire and waste transfer operations. Asbestos-related diseases kill more people than any other single work-related cause. All types of asbestos can be dangerous if disturbed.

Work-related ill health and injuries
In the waste management sector there are an estimated 5,000 cases of work-related ill health annually (new or long-standing). Around 79% of these are due to musculoskeletal disorders or stress, depression or anxiety. The remainder are other types of illness, such as skin or respiratory conditions.

Collection activities are responsible for a large majority of the accidents within the industry. Key areas of concern include:

Transport-related lifting operations;
Musculoskeletal injuries from handling receptacles of waste and recyclables;
Slips and trips;
Personal hygiene; and
Noise, particularly in glass collection.

The use of appropriate personal protective equipment e.g. high-visibility and cut-resistant clothing is an essential requirement.

Musculoskeletal disorders
Musculoskeletal disorders account for approximately one-third of all reported injuries in the industry, the majority of which are associated with collection activities. These can be both acute (sudden injury) and chronic (cumulative injury).

The high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in the sector can be related to the specific risk factors of the sector:

Biomechanical aspects:
- Lifting, pushing and pulling;
- Working in awkward postures – working with bent back or neck, working in a sustained standing, upright position;
- Movements: twisting and turning of the trunk, reaching above shoulder height, reaching beyond arm length, reaching below waist height;
- Repetitive movements, e.g. sorting waste at a high work rhythm; and
- Applying high force, heavy lifting.

Work environment – temperature.
Work equipment and layout of the workstation – type of refuse collection vehicle, height of the footboard, type of loading; layout of the conveyor belt in a recycling centre (e.g. height not adapted to the worker, no room for feet); whole body vibration related to the use of refuse collection vehicles, vehicles on dump sites, etc.
Work organisation – working hours, weight targets, work rhythm.

Manual handling
Work exposure data from a recent European Working Conditions Survey shows that workers in the waste management sector are highly exposed to risks due to manual handling. More than 50% state that their job involves tiring or painful positions during at least a quarter of their working time. Almost 60% undergo repetitive hand or arm movements and almost 75% say that they stand during at least a quarter of their working time.

Studies on specific work situations in the waste management sector have underpinned the fact that workers have a high workload.

Noise and vibration
Noise-induced hearing loss is a matter of concern and can occur within the industry at:

Kerbside glass collections when the methods of glass collection, the equipment provided and/or the personal protective equipment has not been adequately risk assessed and effective preventive measures taken.
Material recovery facilities (and similar facilities) where acoustic barriers or similar preventive measures have not been provided to attenuate the noise coming from process machinery (e.g. separation magnets, eddy current separators, drive motors, etc).

Exposure to vibration is a more than a century-old risk factor that is still present in various sectors, including waste management. Depending on its direction and the body part affected, vibration has various health effects that affect the worker’s ability to work.

Mental health
As with many other industries, mental health accounts for one of the greatest health issues within the waste industry. According to a report by IOSH, around 300,000 people with a long-term mental health condition lose their jobs each year. This is an alarming figure. The human cost is woefully high, as is the financial burden on businesses – poor mental health is estimated to cost employers between £33bn and £42bn a year in sick pay and lost productivity.

Few respondents to the ESA survey felt that mental health is given the consideration that it deserves in the industry, while only 74% agreed that welfare facilities were adequate.

Line managers, given their position within an organisation, are often best placed to spot the signs of poor mental health in the workplace and – if equipped with the right skill set – can manage issues effectively before they reach crisis point.

Summary
Overall, there are improvements to be made in the waste management sector in terms of health and safety management. Around 3.5% of workers in waste management suffer from work-related ill health annually (new or long-standing cases), which is higher than both manufacturing (2.9%) and construction (3.6%).

An estimated 3,000 workers each year sustain an injury at work in the waste management sector – again, higher than both manufacturing and construction.

However, there are signs that the industry is improving, certainly in terms of its approach to health and safety. The majority of responses to the ESA survey were positive about the industry’s approach to health and safety, and 95% reported that they felt able to raise health and safety concerns if they had any, while 86% agreed that they felt safe working in the waste industry. 88% also agreed that safety is improving in the waste industry.

ESA Policy Advisor, Stephen Freeland, said:

“The overall results of this survey are very encouraging and perhaps reflect a concerted effort made by many in the industry in recent years to improve health and safety. Particularly, ESA members have reduced RIDDOR reportable injuries by 85% since the launch of our first H&S Strategy in 2004 and, year on year, have achieved an injury rate consistently below that reported by HSE for the waste sector as a whole.

“Looking at a few potential areas of improvement arising from the results, we recognised that mental health support is an area in need of additional attention and, before the survey, the ESA had already established a Mental Health Task Group which produced and distributed guidance to operators. H&S culture is known to play a key role in reducing injuries and we, therefore, intend to repeat this survey biennially to help keep track of progress.”