Patrick Wood, joint managing director of casualty at Manchester Underwriting Management, part of Pen Underwriting, explores how to create better risk outcomes for the waste and recycling sector
The UK’s waste and recycling industry is a fundamentally important one.
Valued at £24bn by the Environmental Services Association in June 2024, this sector plays a crucial role in the circular economy by keeping materials in productive use as long as possible.
As the world’s focus on reusing, recycling and repurposing intensifies, the waste industry is one we can confidently expect to grow.
Yet, from a specialist casualty underwriter’s perspective, this market is not without its challenges.
Whether you’re looking at employer, public or product liability exposure, the waste and recycling sector is rife with risks that need assessment, management and mitigation. This demands underwriting expertise to sit hand in glove with a risk management focused approach.
Sobering statistics
Take injury statistics as an example. At first glance, they don’t appear too stark.
According to a July 2024 report from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the waste and recycling sector recorded four fatalities over the 2023/34 period – two less than the previous reporting period and representing around 3% of the 138 workers killed.
Taking the last five years together – and thus removing year-on-year fluctuations – the waste and recycling sector has an elevated rate of fatal injury that is nine times higher than the average across all other industries.
Its five-year fatality rate of 3.65 per 100,000 workers is nearly twice as high as the 1.96 rate recorded by construction – another high risk industry from a casualty risk perspective, but one that has made real strides in recent years.
HSE fines give us a snapshot of the risks being seen on sites.
For example, in May 2024, a Yorkshire metals recycling firm was fined £1.2m after a worker was struck by a moving 32 tonne skip wagon.
Also in May, a Lincolnshire waste management company was fined £200,000 after a worker suffered burns when his crowbar connected with a live electrical conductor, while a Halifax-based recycling company director was sentenced in July 2024 after a worker lost a leg.
The HSE underlined how most of these incidents were entirely avoidable. The risks could easily have been addressed to avoid injury, ill health, fines – or any associated claims.
In waste management, some of the biggest risks are moveable ones. Every site therefore needs a traffic management plan to keep moving plant and pedestrians safely segregated.
Crushing injuries from manual separating and processing tasks within recycling facilities can also be common due to a lack of safety guards, isolation or appropriate worker training.
More transient labour and a high proportion of foreign language workers add to the complexities of embedding an understanding of risk within the workforce.
Then there’s the inevitable manual handling risks, potential for injuries caused by fire from risks like lithium batteries and pollution risks to neighbouring sites, to name just three of a long additional list.
Virtuous circle
Ultimately, brokers, clients and underwriters all want the same thing – less injuries and less damage to third party properties.
Brokers can use their client relationships to set out the tangible connection between documentation about embedded risk management practices, reduced risk of worker injury or wider damage and more accurate premiums.
Unlike an HSE fine, we don’t have to wait until the worst happens for clients to reap the productivity and premium benefits of a safety aware waste and recycling business.
