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Skip Hire Traffic Nightmare

Louise — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 10:31:26 +0000

Cornwall skip hire company, Portland Stone Ltd have described how their working life has become a nightmare after roadworks have created complete chaos around their workbase.

The company, which provides skip hire and waste management from its recycling centre has 20 lorries operating in and around the borough.

Drivers are facing quadrupled journey times as routes that normally take 20 minutes are taking 90 minutes instead.

Jason Ayles, manager at Portland Stone said: “We estimate it’s costing us £8,000 to £10,000 per week – based on one lost day per week per lorry.

“So over the four-week roadwork period it could cost us as much as £40,000, approximately the same as a council officer’s annual salary.

“We all know and appreciate that road alterations and repairs have to be carried out but why does it appear that nearly every main road in and out of Weymouth and Portland seems to be either ripped up, in the process of being surfaced or otherwise altered?

“Here at Portland Stone Ltd we’ve been seriously affected as a result of the current works being carried out, especially the Ferrybridge work, which has resulted in a downturn in our ability to give our customers the service that is expected of us.”

Mr Ayles wants to know why the work is not being continued through the night on shift patterns and why weekends were not being used to speed up operations.

He added: “More importantly, who is going to apologise to our customers for letting them down? Something we are not accustomed to here at Portland Stone.”

Roadworks are pretty common problems for businesses – Portland Stone are one of the many companies where the problem has grown in to a massive leaking bucket for cash. Interruptions on the road need a proper looking at – taking in to account exactly how small to medium businesses – particularly those who rely on transport – would cope with the problems. In Portland Stone’s case, it is clear they have not been included in pre-work plans.

Source: Dorset Echo

It’s a Skip Eat Skip World

Louise — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:17:12 +0000

Is nothing sacred? Somehow, thieves have stolen a council skip placed to help residents get rid of household waste left uncollected because of the snow.

The large yellow skip was placed at Shaw, north Manchester so people living in side roads which waste trucks had not able to reach could empty their rubbish. But when residents arrived on Monday they discovered it had been stolen over the weekend.

Cllr Mark Alcock, environment spokesman, said: “Whoever took this skip would have needed a specialist truck to take it away.

“We are currently checking nearby CCTV cameras to see if such a vehicle has been seen in the area.

“If the thieves are tracked down then they will be prosecuted.

“It is very disappointing. People are doing so much to help others while some selfish individuals are helping themselves.”

Sad times. Whoever did this had access to a skip wagon – so there will be a skip firm somewhere who is responsible for this. Guys, let’s clean up skip hire and get rid of these cowboys who continue to dirty the name of our industry.

Shredded Treat

Dave — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 15:21:12 +0000

UNTHA shredding technology in Austria specialise in the supply of shredding solutions and they have designed a new concept MSW Waste Shredder.
Traditionally the waste industry have used two shaft shredders which has now become old technology. Two shaft shredders have many problems concerning wear, particle sizing and un-shreddable materials which are often found in municipal waste. In the case of un-shreddable items in a two shaft shredder it can be necessary for operatives to climb into the machine and manually remove the un-shreddable item which, in turn, leads to Health and Safety problems.
UNTHA have addressed this H&S problem and the other issues by specifically designing the XR shredder for municipal waste.
Chris Oldfield MD of Riverside Waste Machinery Ltd (who are sole distributors of UNTHA shredders in the UK), told The Skip, “These new XR has wear cost which is only approximately 10% of that of traditional shredder and have the facility to easily remove un-shreddable or ‘tramp’ materials, without putting the operatives at risk”.
Once the XR has shredded the municipal waste, the processed material can then if required be separated into organics, woods, plastics and metals etc. via equipment such as screeners and conveyors.
To demonstrate the UNTHA XR 2000S Shredder in the UK, Riverside are bringing a demonstration machine over at the end of April and they are looking for a host company who would site the machine and provide waste for shredding for a week. Riverside would then like to bring in potential Customers to see the shredder in operation, shredding Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and skip waste.
Chris Oldfield managing director at Riverside Waste Machinery points out how the XR has proved useful in Europe. “The XR shredder has already proved successful in Energy from Waste (EfW) plants all over mainland Europe. In European countries they have a lot more incinerators which generate power from waste to serve the local community. This is where the UNTHA XR shredder has been used – for the pre-shredding of MSW prior to incineration.
Any waste company who would like to try the shredder for one week should contact Riverside Waste Machinery Ltd. on 0845 450 5388 or www.wastemachinery.co.uk
This article originally appeared in Issue 20 of The Skip magazine

Race Storm Brews In East Anglia

Dave — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:08:31 +0000

A skip company who are facing prosecution from their local council have fought back to claim they are victims of racism.
Councillors have backed a move to start legal proceedings against the firm, whose site they claim is an “eyesore”.
But the owner of Raj Singh UK Ltd, based in Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, thinks they have been unfairly targeted due to their ethnicity. They have also told the council that the demands made are proving difficult to comply with due to the bad weather.
Councillors Bella Saltmarsh and Adrian Miners, who represent the Dogsthorpe ward, are angered by the constant failures by the company to clean up their yard.
“It is such an eyesore,” says Cllr Saltmarsh, “The rubbish is piled high above the fence, and when it gets windy it blows everywhere.”
Cllr Miner added, “The company was warned about its failure to implement approved landscaping that was intended to shield the site and its activities from the public highway.
“It looks like the council is going to prosecute, which is a good thing, because it is a blight on the area at the moment.”
The council served a Breach of Condition Notice on July 26 last year for failing to put approved landscaping into place, and the lack of landscaping represents a significant loss to public amenity.
On August 22, Mr Singh agreed to comply with the condition notice, which stipulated that all works should have been completed by December 1st. The work has yet to be carried out.
But Raj Singh believes the council are being unjust with their behaviour claiming his two other sites in March and Kings Lynn have never had any problems with the councils.
Mr Singh said, “It is frustrating. With the inclement weather we have had over for the past few months it has been impossible to comply with the notice due to the time of year. We can’t plant the foliage they want because it is winter.
Before we moved here, the area was a big magnet for fly-tipping. We have stopped this and provide an outlet for many local businesses to legally dispose of their waste that could be jeopardised by the councillors’ determination, which in our view is misguided.”
“I also feel the council is targeting us because we are the only ethnic minority skip hire and recycling business in the whole of East Anglia.
Councillor Mike Lennox hit back against these allegations, saying, “The city council planning team includes several officers from the Indian sub continent. It is offensive to the council that somebody should suggest this.”
“To date, the works have not been carried out and the city council’s legal team is being asked to prepare papers with a view to bringing a prosecution in the magistrate’s court.”
This article originally appeared in Issue 20 of The Skip magazine

Cumbria In Chaos

Dave — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:02:29 +0000

Waste management is going from bad to worse in Cumbria following The Skip’s report last month on fraud investigations in the area.
Barrow based firm CAW Ltd have had numerous waste collection contracts cancelled since revelations of the investigations were revealed. The most damaging of these cancelled contracts is Cumbria County Council’s, which contracted CAW Ltd to run seven waste tips in South Cumbria including one in Barrow.
Barrow Borough Council and South Lakeland District Council have followed suit, cancelling their contracts with CAW for it to collect green waste every fortnight.
Gary Ormondroyd, chief environmental health officer for Barrow council, said the reason behind the cancelled contract was that it appeared that CAW had not been composting material sent to it as agreed in the contract.
He said: “We served a notice on them effective from yesterday. Interim measures are in place involving other contractors in the area. There is no intention that the authority changes its collection arrangements. There is no need for the public to worry.”
But the public are worrying! And council bosses have had to apologise to residents struggling to dump their waste at one Barrow tip.
Since the Walney Road civic amenity site reopened earlier this year residents have said the service has descended into chaos.
Many have been unable to recycle items such as newspapers and plastic bottles and vehicles have even been banned from reversing.
One nearby resident Derek Hollings told The Skip he was unable to recycle a bag full of magazines. “It’s a joke” he said, ‘there are cars everywhere, people shouting at one another and no real sense of organisation. Something needs to done.”
Other sites in Cumbria have received complaints as well. A tip in Ulverston has introduced a new one-way coned system which has caused motorists long delays and Redhills Quarry tip has received complaints regarding the difficulty in manoeuvring around the site.
The county council decided to cancel CAW contracts to run rubbish dumps at Ambleside, Barrow, Grange, Kendal, Kirkby Stephen, Millom and Ulverston following the launch of a fraud probe by police and trading standards officers just before Christmas.
The county stated that it had used emergency powers to cancel contracts on the grounds they have committed breaches which are incapable of being remedied.
But many Cumbrian residents fear the service now in place is failing and are eager to know what is going to be done to rectify the situation.
This article originally appeared in Issue 20 of The Skip magazine

Crushing Blow

Dave — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 08:59:51 +0000

A 25 year old worker at a skip hire and recycling centre in Midland Road Nuneaton had to be airlifted to hospital after becoming trapped in a waste paper crusher at work.
The Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance was sent to the scene along with ambulances and paramedics.
The as yet unnamed worker was trapped by his chest in the paper crusher and was airlifted to hospital in Coventry only after scores of firefighters were called to set him free.
The man is said to have suffered sustained chest and pelvic injuries but a spokesperson for the West Midland Ambulance Service said that he was recovering well.
This article originally appeared in Issue 20 of The Skip magazine

Crap Story

Dave — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:57:30 +0000

Rumours are circling in Preston that Red Scar Industrial Estate has been chosen as the new site for a human waste incineration plant.
United Utilities have recently inspected the land and are known to be looking for a site somewhere in Lancashire. So it does seem a case of, ‘you do the math’.
Any day now the company will begin drilling bore holes and taking samples of the ground to see whether or not the site is suitable for ‘development’. And if the samples are suitable it seems only a matter of time until United Utilities declare their interest.
The company have also admitted that the Red Scar site is the only site where tests are taking place but would not confirm whether or not the site was their preferred choice or not.
The plant would consist of a building about 30ft tall with a chimney stack on top and would be close to housing based in the Ribbleton area.
The development would also cover about 20 acres of land, take approximately two years to build and create around 20 new jobs.
Councillors and residents are already voicing their concerns and it seems likely, that if Red Scar is chosen as the ideal site, protests will be made.
Watch this space. It could cause quite a stink!
This article originally appeared in Issue 20 of The Skip magazine

Britvic-tory!

Dave — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 09:54:32 +0000

A skip-hire company has won its 14-month fight against local residents in Blackrod, to extend their operating hours to include Saturday afternoons and Sundays.
The ruling is centred on one centre owned by local company J Dickinson and Sons, which currently lies empty but which they want to sell off to soft-drink manufacturer, Britvic.
The main issue of the dispute was the effect of the increased levels of traffic noise would have on residents living in the area. Locals were complaining of the fact that they would be woken up by heavy duty vehicles at early hours in the morning.
No matter how hard the residents campaigned, it was likely that these increased hours would have gone ahead anyway as Eileen Jackson, chairman of the Crown Station residents Association, said, “I think this result was a foregone conclusion. There was no concern for the residents. Our biggest fear is that the other units will want the same opening hours.”
Government planning inspector Karen Ridge says that they hours were revised for the residents convenience, “Starting at 5am would have had a significant impact on the lives of residents, but 6 am is an acceptable hour to start.”
Managing Director, James Dickinson said, “We are very pleased. This result will increase opportunities for employment in the area particularly the towns of Horwich and Blackrod.”
This article originally appeared in Issue 20 of The Skip magazine

The Garbage Guru

Dave — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 09:38:00 +0000

Tip 1
Make sure all waste transfer stations are fitted throughout with fully fuctioning and regularly CHECKED fire extinguishers. Get all relevant yard staff trained to deal with fire and consider having a fire drill one Saturday morning to upgrade staff training. Also make sure signs are posted indicating where fire points, hoses and extinguishers are located. Do it now ready for the busy times ahead at Easter!
Tip 2
Mess Rooms are often very messy rooms. Staff working in waste transfer stations will work a lot better if the changing rooms and canteen/eating area are separate from each other and kept clean. A wall mounted water heater to make tea ect
is cheaper to run and easier to use by several men than one kettle! And if you’ve only got 15 minutes to have a break – time is of the essence!
Tip 3
Regularly update and check all training certificates for staff operating plant equipment, skip-trucks and hooklifts, for insurance purposes. If there is an accident the first thing the investigators will ask is for is evidence of staff training. Keep records in employee files, counter signed by the employee.
Tip 4
It may seem like an obvious piece of advice but on these frosty mornings be aware that if your vehicle is stolen and the keys are in it, your insurance is unlikely to pay out. Insurance companies have case law on this in their favour, as well as policy wordings and many years experience refusing such claims. So, be careful when de-misting and de-frosting your vehicles!
This article originally apppeared in Issue 20 of The Skip magazine

Health & Safety with Nigel Mair – Coughs and sneezes spread……..

Dave — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:28:29 +0000

At this time of year you and your staff are probably suffering from niggly illnesses that female colleagues will call colds, but male colleagues will no doubt call the flu!
Although this can result in time off work and the resulting operational disruption, it is not the only health issue that can have impact on your business (and staff).
In the waste industry we tend to focus on the safety side of health and safety. This is understandable, but we shouldn’t forget that there are also health issues that are just as important.
Leptospirosis
Most of you will no doubt have heard about this bacterial disease that is transmitted to humans by contact with the urine of rats (and also cattle, foxes and other wild animals), generally through contamination of soil or water.
The bacteria can enter the body through cuts to the skin, or via the nose, mouth or other mucous membranes. In most cases the infection causes a flu-like illness and severe headaches. A more severe form of the disease occurs in about 15% of cases and is known as Weil’s disease. This causes jaundice, liver damage and even death in up to 40 per cent of infected people.
Infections are actually quite rare in the UK, with Weil‘s disease being extremely rare. Nevertheless, the disease is still a very serious illness, and must be swiftly diagnosed and treated.
Diagnosis
Leptospirosis starts about ten days after infection and may be so mild as to be unsuspected. In more severe cases it starts suddenly with headache, fever, chills, severe muscle aches and tenderness, redness of the eyes, loss of appetite, vomiting and sometimes a skin rash.
Formal diagnosis is difficult as blood tests rarely confirm the infection quickly enough to make a difference to the treatment, but may help to confirm that you have had the disease. To decide whether someone is infected is therefore based on matching the symptoms to the work situation…..if someone has the right symptoms and they work in the right environment, then it might be most appropriate to treat the person with antibiotics as if they have the disease.
Prevention
There are a number of levels of prevention that you should consider. These follow good standards of health and safety management, with avoidance being the most desirable. Therefore think about the work that your staff are doing and the tasks that may bring them into contact with infected material. Is this work really necessary and if it is could it be carried out in another way? For example, by the use of mechanical plant.
Make your staff aware of the disease, how they can prevent it and the specific symptoms so that they can let their Doctor know if relevant- this could be through an information sheet. From an individual point of view one of the key issues is simply basic personal hygiene- wearing gloves and washing hands are the primary measures that staff can take to minimise their risks.
For your part, do you provide hand washing facilities, a clean place to eat and also (importantly) time for them to use these facilities? Don’t forget to think about all your staff, to include those off site. If the answers to any of these are “no”, then you may not be fulfilling your duties under the various Acts and Regulations.
Blood borne diseases
There are many examples of diseases that can be spread by infections from contaminated blood. The most relevant and high profile for the waste industry are HIV and Hepatitis.
Your staff can be exposed to needles in the material they handle during the course of their work. Needles can be found in a wide variety of places, some obvious, whilst others may be less so.
Needles have been found in many locations, to include:
- Rubbish bags
- Bedding, clothing, soft furnishings, car seats and green waste
- Public toilets
- Recreation areas
- Discarded litter/litter bins (inside cigarette packets, sweet packaging, drinks cans)
- Sink U bends/drains
- Door locks/floorboards/walls
- End of Life vehicles
If you consider that your staff are at risk then it is probably worth introducing a needles reporting system. This will help you gain a proper picture of the issue and identify the places where the risks are highest and where additional precautions and controls may be required. You then need to think about who could be harmed, how this could happen and whether the existing precautions are enough.
Preventing or controlling the risk
It is important to take the view that all needles could be potentially infected and ensure that your employees understand the risks.
Make sure that you provide appropriate equipment for handling and disposal of sharps e.g.
- Tools for picking up needles safely.
- Sharps boxes capable of safely containing needles.
- Suitable gloves.
Also think about the way that staff work- arms can be particularly vulnerable when throwing bags into collection vehicles, and needles in black bags when being carried can bang against legs, causing injuries. Suitable puncture/cut resistant clothing to help protect legs is now routinely provided, but do staff really follow the safe working practices that you have in place to protect them?
Tetanus
Tetanus is a bacterial infection that develops when spores found naturally in soils contaminate a wound. The wound may not seem that serious, but the bacteria release a poison called a neurotoxin that attacks the nervous system and causes problems such as muscle spasm.
The incubation period varies from a few days to a few weeks. Then there’s general tiredness or weakness followed by the classic spasms of the jaw muscles, called lockjaw. Other symptoms include:
- problems with swallowing or breathing
- arching of the back and neck
- inability to pass urine
- sweating
- abnormal heart rate and blood pressure
In severe cases tetanus left untreated can be fatal.
Diagnosis and treatment
As with leptospirosis the diagnosis is usually based on the symptoms and history of the individual, with treatment generally started straight away. If you think you (or someone else) has tetanus then medical assistance should be sought immediately.
What about the immunisation?
Most of us will probably have been immunised at school (a routine programme was introduced in 1961)- there is a programme of 5 doses to ensure full immunity for life.
If you are not immunised or did not complete the full programme then an injection of vaccine is usually advised.
This information should again be provided to your staff so that they are fully informed of how best to protect themselves whilst at work.
In this article we have tried to cover some of the main points with each disease, but as with all medical conditions this is no substitute for information provided on an individual basis by a medical practitioner.
Nigel Mair is a WAMITAB assessor and verifier and runs the North West Regional Assessment Centre, delivering WAMITAB qualifications and other H&S, waste and environmental training. If you have any questions for Nigel, please email them to nigel@theskip.net.
This article was orginally published in Issue 20 of TheSkip magazine