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

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

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

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

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