Posted By John A Wright Since April 2005 there has been 6 members of the public killed by reversing waste/ recycling collection vehicles whilst undertaking collection activities. The council safety department Risk Assessment ought to come to the conclusion that a banksman is required. A Coventry City Council vehicle recently killed a pedestrian in circumstances similar to what you describe. Prosecution resulted: http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2008/gnnwm50608.htm quote: "HSE, working in partnership with the waste and recycling industry has produced a set of clear standards which have been shown to be reasonable and practicable by other local authorities and organizations. By using the collection staff to keep a look out as the vehicle reverses, warning pedestrians and instructing the driver to stop if a pedestrian is likely to enter the reversing zone are some of the simple measures that can be taken." John

Posted By Bob Youel I thought that you were going to supprise us and say that you watched a vehicle reversing properly! Get in touch with the internal H&S team of council that you observed re the issue as there is no excuse for the reversing of such vehicles without a reversing assistant being in place and whilst there is no law against it there's lots of case law etc that puts the employer on the spot! In the employers defence I know of councils who have spent large amounts on training etc, provision of new vehicles etc and even sacking people for missconduct and even then staff still reverse with the reversing assistant sat in the cab with the driver!

Posted By Mitch Unfortunately a sign of the times, with services contracted out, commercial pressures applied, the operatives have to get the job done as fast as possible, therefore corners cut, no different to grass cutting etc only more dangerous to members of the public. One thought are reversing cameras an acceptable replacement for banksmen? Mitch

Posted By Merv Newman Actually, we get three bin lorries coming. Every monday we get the black bags out. Non recylables. Every two weeks its the blue (paper) and yellow (other recyclables) Each lorrie is preceeded by a young bloke who who puts the bags within reach of the lorry. Man, or wsoman, n°3 chucks the bags in the back. Merv

Posted By Bob Shillabeer This is not an isolated incident. In my local authority area a young lad I know was working as a refuse collector with a gang of two others the driver and another loader when he fell or was knocked by the lorry and left in the middle of the road with very serious head injuries. He fortunately recovered and is now back in work, but there was no understanding of how the accident happened from either of the other two operatives. Strange I know but this is often the case. Personnaly speaking it smells of some larking about that went tragically wrong but there is no proof of this as they closed ranks and the injured boy had no recollection of how it happened. I say about this as there seems to be a thing about doing it the easy way all the time. Perhaps a training event raising the risks that such behaviour raises would be in order.

Posted By Zyggy Turek Mike, "Some of us are trying but invariably local authority employees will make the rest of us look as poor as they are." Quite a sweeping statement, you obviously have the evidence to back this up otherwise you would not have posted your response. Please could you share this with the rest of the forum bearing in mind that a large number of waste collection contracts are outsourced to independent organisations?

Posted By Rhodesiabill Thanks Bill

Posted By garyh Merv, your sweeping statement about waste companies is way out of order to the point of being unprofessional. I work for a training and consultancy that does a lot of work with a major player in the waste area. Obviously I can't name "it". Are they perfect? No? Are they trying to improve? Yes. Do they have competent people? Yes. Do they know about vehicle safety? Yes. Bear in mind that this industry is about cut throat competition, as we all want our waste collection (ie council tax) bills to be low. How easy is it to manage such operations? Let's give some credit and not tar everyone with the same brush.

Posted By Pete Sutton local authority.. I firmly believe that they are above the law and rules and regs dont apply to them as opposed to private sector companies. How many LA's get prosecuted for breaches of H&S How many play by the rules that govern the rest of us... its rather like the Govt/HSE looking after their own... i know becuase i suffered working there for 18 years..and in the words of my granny "if i knew then what i know now"