The Environmental Services Association’s (ESA) latest report has highlighted a variation in the health and safety performances of different organisations and companies within the waste management industry sector. It has also drawn attention to reporting methods used which do not necessarily recognise individual performers and progress they have made due to the way that data has been presented.
Indeed, ESA has stated that the most recent figures, provided by the Health and Safety Executive, do not differentiate between the private and public sector, nor do they offer an in depth insight into how each part of the industry compares to each other – rather the performance stats refer to the industry as a whole more generally. Stephen Freeland, policy advisor at ESA, believes that providing an in depth breakdown of the sector would be beneficial in order to be able to identify areas for improvement. This would encourage those not performing well to address issues and ensure that high standards of safety were being met across the waste management sector.
Giving an example of how the report does not necessarily provide an accurate picture of health and safety performance Freeland stated: “ESA Members have achieved a significant reduction in injuries over recent years and our injury rate now stands at 577 (per 100,000 employees) which is three times lower than the injury rate reported by HSE for the waste industry as a whole (1801)”, showing how variations across different companies are present.
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