What a waste…

     Higher than average sick days among waste and recycling workers

A new report from The Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) has revealed an above average sickness absence rate among waste and recycling industry workers. In a report, commissioned for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), experts from the HSL found the sector recorded more days off work than other departments within local government.

However the disparity in documentation methods between the different local authorities across the UK meant they had failed to accurately capture the reasons for absence, leaving health and safety experts calling for the industry to implement more robust measures to capture the data so action can be taken to reduce the time and resources wasted through absence.

The report revealed local authority employees in the waste industry had an average of 12.8 days' absence. In contrast, the Local Government Employers (LGE) absence survey, published in 2007, reported an average of 9.6 days' absence for wider local authority workers. 

Dr Eileen Holmes, statistician at HSL, commented: "The research revealed some interesting findings and indicated there are higher rates of absenteeism in local authority waste workers than in the wider public sector.

"While we collected some useful data, we did find there were gaps in our knowledge because of the various approaches to recording reasons for absence. These varied from a set of well-defined categories to free text fields depending on which local authority you asked. This meant it has not been possible to identify the most common reason for someone taking time off work and, it follows, to recommend measures to highlight and address those underlying causes."

The study looked at data compiled in 2007 and 2008 from 16 local authorities and two private companies. Following the discovery that many organisations encountered problems in providing data, and that there was no consistent method for recording reasons for absence across the industry, HSL recommended the industry comply with the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum's guidelines.

Eileen added: "The current system makes it near impossible to determine the most frequently occurring absences or to properly compare like for like. In order to provide an effective analysis we need the industry to agree a set of criteria for recording this information. Our recommendation to them is to adopt the WISH forum's metrics for recording sickness absences."

WISH members include representatives from HSE, trade and professional associations, trades unions, recycling organisations, national and local government bodies involved in waste management and recycling. Its aim is to identify, devise and promote activities to improve industry health and safety standards and conducts an annual absence survey.

Worker sickness and absence is credited with costing the UK economy 175m working days every year, according to Dame Carol Black's 2008 report "Working for a Healthier Tomorrow". She asserted the health and wellbeing of workers is vital for the success of any organisation. It can impact not only on service and the customer experience but also on the financial and mental health implications for the individual staff members concerned.

HSL, based in Buxton, has one of the largest teams of scientists in the world dedicated to investigating workplace health, and works alongside HSE to investigate the occurrence of, and reasons for, sickness and absence across a range of industry sectors. Its research forms the basis of recommendations and legislation developed by HSE.

The complete report, titled 'Review of sickness absence data in the waste and recycling industry' can be downloaded from the HSE website, www.hse.gov.uk

ENDS

Editors Note:

The Health and Safety Laboratory was originally set up as HSE's in-house research and testing facility and continues to fulfil that original function, helping HSE deliver the UK Government's strategy for improving health and safety.

HSL's expertise and specialist services are also available to public and private sector clients in the UK and overseas. In 2007/8, independently sourced (i.e. non-HSE) business accounted for 20 per cent of the organisation's total revenue.

Media representatives interested in visiting the Laboratory and/or interviewing members of the senior management team should contact Karen Wilkinson 01298 218814