Protect yourself Before you Wreck yourself

Employers have duties concerning the provision and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) at work.

Waste management operations are hazardous in nature, wherein employees are constantly at risk of getting injured and being exposed to diseases.

The Health and Safety Executive reported over 250,000 work-related illnesses and injury, in the UK last year. Of this, over 10,000 alone were in the waste sector and 15 of these events led to fatalities.

A study conducted by EHS Today found that in the majority of organisations (98%), on at least 1 occasion, workers had failed to wear the necessary safety equipment and had not taken all safety precautions required. On top of this, 30% had actually claimed to allow this to happen on several occasions.

Non-compliance with PPE presents a serious threat to staff health & safety, and can result in implications for the whole workforce - this needs to be enforced, especially with the risk of being fined for multi-million pound lawsuits.

From the feedback, which we received from 2270 waste management professionals, 36% stated that they have witnessed members of staff to not wear PPE on numerous instances. This came as a surprise, seeing as there are many health & safety courses that are required to be taken, before working in the waste management industry.

The general consensus from our respondents focused primarily on the need for higher quality protective equipment, along with services which can offer courses on health & safety in the workplace. It was emphasised that, in the waste management sector, poor health & safety is an unfortunate stigma - in comparison to the rest of the industries. Due to this, it’s vital that the regulations of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is closely monitored.

With the waste management industry set to exponentially grow, mainly due to the massive demands of the recycling target needing to be hit, companies are actively looking to avoid any unnecessary complications. Because of this, it was reported that 84% of our audience would be open to acquiring higher quality equipment in the next 12 months, as a preventative measure.

The majority of accidents occur during waste collection and involve vehicles or other plants. An alarming catalogue of serious incidents have occurred over the last couple years, and even when safety measures have been applied, hazards still remain in the workplace. It’s encouraging to see that it’s at the top of the agenda for all waste management companies and they are doing everything in their power to ensure the safety of their workforce

For more information on health & safety, and to stay up to date with the latest industry trends, make sure to visit the 350 expert-led seminars & 500 cutting-edge exhibitors at RWM 2018! For your free tickets to attend, click here now to register!

If your company offers personal protective equipment, and are interested in exhibiting to over 20,000 waste management professionals attending the show, contact me now on 0117 929 6083, [email protected], or simply message me on LinkedIn.