BPF Recycling Group Position Statement on Health & Safety

The member companies of the BPF Recycling Group operate as a defined set of ‘recyclers’ within the plastics sector. Data collected by the HSE from reportable accident reports (RIDDOR statistics) indicates that the ‘plastics’ industry has a higher than average accident rate per 100,000 employees than the rest of UK manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the HSE data for the ‘recycling sector’, which includes a wide ranging set of waste handling businesses for all types of materials, indicates that a waste recycling worker is 9 times more likely to suffer an accident at work than in the rest of manufacturing. These facts make the ‘plastics recycling’ sector a ‘HOTSPOT’ for improvement in the eyes of the HSE.

The BPF Recycling Group has therefore welcomed the new plastics industry initiative to improve the management of Health and Safety at work across our sector. This new strategy – SIMPL – (Safety in Manufacturing PLastics), started in October 2010 and has the full support of our members in working towards the key objective of reducing the incidence of accidents at work in plastics recycling. The BPF Recycling Group and many CEO’s from our member companies have signed the pledged in support of the SIMPL strategy and are thus committed to implementing its objectives, as follows:-

LEADERSHIP OBJECTIVE:

Company CEO’s in the Recycling Group will deliver ‘visible felt leadership’ across the sector to drive forwards a safety culture and change personal activity of employees.

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OBJECTIVE:

We will implement suitable Health and Safety Management Systems with appropriate arrangements for planning, monitoring and review.

WORKFORCE INVOLVEMENT OBJECTIVE:

Members will encourage the active engagement of the workforce in all elements of the safety management.

RISK REDUCTION OBJECTIVE:

The Recycling Group will establish an action plan for its members which is appropriate for the key heath and safety issues and challenges relevant to recyclers. The plans will define risk assessment criteria, delivery arrangements, success criteria and monitoring arrangements.

ACCIDENT REDUCTION OBJECTIVE:

The Plastics Recycling group will improve the current collection of members’ accident statistics. We will define an annual reduction target which is challenging, proportional and relevant to our sector.