Posted By RobAnybody
Well, here we are on a Tuesday morning & a national free paper (Metro, reporter Sarah Hills) is reporting that a council official from Moray Council has decided that an open lid on a wheelie bin is a, & I quote, "major health and safety risk." It seems that the bin owner had previously complained to the council for a failure to collect. Hmm. Hmm hmm.

The article goes on to say, as a result of this, the local bin men are now "refusing" to go near bins with open lids!

Good grief.

Yet another excuse for poor workmanship?

This kind of reporting, whether true or not, really does us all no good.

As a profession we need to be clear that this kind of action & reporting is not acceptable & we should be trying to get the press on our side. They need to be telling the populace in general that this kind of behaviour is inconsistent with good risk management & has absolutely nothing to do with H&S.

On a further note, if we as a professional are aware that fellow professionals, or those purporting to be such, are behaving in this manner we should be at first talking to them to try & change their views & if that is to no avail then we should be looking to remove them from our ranks.

I don't know how many of you feel the same but frankly I'm sick of being targeted as a do-gooding prat by those who have only the ignorant bliss of a media driven education to go on.

Rant over.

Rob

Posted By Lulu
The link for anyone who wishes to read the article

http://www.metro.co.uk/n...e_id=46350&in_page_id=34

I can see some sense in not wanting to lift bins if the contents may be hazardous (heavy/sharp/contaminated) and are not properly contained (ie by lid being closed).

However I agree that the way in which it is reported is skewed to make it sound ludicrous.

Posted By RobAnybody
Lulu,

wheelie bins don't get manually lifted. A mechanisim on the back of the bin cart lifts the bin, so there should really be no issue UNLESS rubbish is spilling out.

It would also help if the bins were emptied promptly in the first place.

Rob

Posted By AD
Ok, it does seem like a minor issue, but is it?

You say that other H&S professionals are stepping over the line and not promoting good Health & Safety risk management.

I curently advise in the waste industry, and as many of you know, this industry has the worse Health & Safety record by far, 2,500 reportable accident per 100,000 employees which is 5 times the national average, we have 3 times the national avarage for major injuries and you are 10 times more likely to die whilst working in front line waste management activities.

Yes I totally agree we should be re-educating people, but to say that other professionals in this industry need this....wrong. Re-education should be tailored to local authorities and members of the public.

There is a lid on a bin for a reason. If the bin lid is open the risk of the bin being thrown from the lifters increases drastically, therefore meaning that workers or members of the public may be struck by a 25kg object (not nice)and before you say take the bags out, NO the general public do not care what they put in a bin, and I certainly would not advise any of the 1000 staff that I advise to start emptying wheelie bins so that they close properly before they are lifted.

The waste industry does need to clean up its act (no pun intended)the risks the workforce are facing need to be removed or adequately controlled.

Yes this could have been reported better and spin put on it but everyone love to bash H&S.

Posted By Lulu
Hi Rob

yes I know that bins are lifted mechanically but this still means that overfilled bins can spill their contents. Also most times they will need to be moved into position manually which will mean tilting so it can move on its wheels. Again contents can spill.

The best way to ensure that bins are not overfilled is to ensure that the lid can be closed. A sensible precuation I think.

However in strong weather lids can blow open. Now if, in these circumstances, bins were not emptied, this would, I agree, be plain silly.

The problem appears to be 'rules' applied/followed so strictly that common sense is not used.

Posted By RobAnybody
Ok,

I appreciate that an overfull bin is a problem. One of my neighbours has no idea how to recylce so their bin is always overfull.

However, if the council bin men don't bother to do the job properly in the first place then they should not be falling back on the "it's elfinsafety init mate!" ruse.

If this is exactly what has happened then the employee making the initial claim wants a right old rollicking & a serious case of re-education.

As for the point of windblown lids, of course we should expect our bin men to empty the bins, but not if you live in the windy Scottish Moray Council area apparently.

Ranting again.

Rob

Posted By Gff
our bins are not collected unless they are pull right up to the cerb, and i mean right up, with the handles facing out onto the road.

for what reason?

Posted By Barry x
Wheelie bins will not be picked up in Moray if the bins are overfilled!

If the lid does not close then it has been overfilled! Simple really!!

The posts relating to the wind blowing open the lids are irrelevant to this situation.

I live and work in Moray and have no problems with fortnightly collections of waste however if you do not use the recycling boxes that are collected on a weekly basis then it does become an issue.
To simply pick up more waste for landfill is nonsense and would undo the good work of responsible Moravians in recycling their household waste!

Must be a slow news day!!

Posted By JonCMIOSH
I haven't bothered to read the article, but partially open bin lids can be a major problem. Here's a possibility - council spokesperson did give the full reason it is a danger - story disappears. Just say its 'elf and safety.

Open lids can snag on the hoist mechanisms on the way up which busts the lip/lid and bin pings off on to the operative (who has of course been trained not to stand underneath the hoist, but this is real life) Bin broken, man broken, costs. For us a dislocated shoulder is worst injury to date from such problems.

Positive communication with the punters is what works. Not a major problem nowadays for us thankfully.

I always read forum, but rarely post, lets see what this one generates.
TTFN

Posted By alex mccreadie
Cannot access the story for some reason. I am in full agreement with AD regarding lids should be closed, been there done that!!

Could someone not have sneaked up on the offending bin and closed the lid or was it overfilled?

Seems a load of old cods wallop to me.

Posted By Ron Young
Ah Mr Lease, you don't know everything. Beware the lidless wheelie bin...

Posted By Donk
To address ADs posting, and i quote "10x more likely to die in front-line waste management activities" Ten times more likely than what other activities?

I guess (i may be wrong)that the likelihood is transport related, not open bin lid related which results in an ejection.

I feel there may be a misuse of statistics here.

Posted By Peter Leese
Ron - Unfortunately (as we know) sarcasm doesn't always work in the written word, otherwise there would have been more 'flack' flying!

I would like to see evidence that being lidless can cause the ejection of 25kg loads in a direction that could cause injury. Legless maybe but...!

So, seriously this time, why do bins need lids? Especially if they can be responsible for injuries. Wouldn't it be better to have lidless bins?

Posted By Peter Leese
Drainage holes in the bottom would sort out the water, and nets on the top for birds.

Next?

But still waiting for evidence that lids can cause 25kg bit and bobs to act like projectiles - because if that is the case a radical rethink is required on bin design.

Posted By Peter Leese
Depends on which part of the 2 acres you want me to put it on?

Posted By GARRY WIZZ
Funny old game,
Dustman on Radio 2 at lunch time. No problems on the round with bins falling on him, no problems with lids.
Did have a problem with smells and heavy weights.
From his point of view his only real problem is that recycling has lead to a 30% increase work load and that rescources have not increased by 30%
curious....

Posted By J Knight
Haven't seen bats over the garden yet, though there're plenty of them over the Hull which is at the end of the road. We do have newts though; happily not Great Crested (which is what the vendor said), just Palmate. Nothing against Great Crested Newts you understand, just didn't fancy sharing the garden with English Nature's Newt Protection Posse over the summer,

John