Moray Council has become the first resource management team in Scotland to sign up to a national commitment to prioritise health and safety it was announced on 14 December.
The Scottish Resource Sector Commitment, managed by Zero Waste Scotland, is a ‘kite mark’ for quality in the waste and resources sector, backed by the Scottish Government. It is a voluntary agreement, open to both local authorities and private resource management firms, with over 20 committed businesses already signed up to the first phase, a commitment to good customer service.
Earlier this year the scheme was expanded to include excellence in health and safety. It’s open to any organisation involved in providing waste or resource management services to commercial customers in Scotland.
What the commitment means for Moray
Moray Council has shown it goes beyond simply meeting its own health and safety requirements, taking a proactive approach to identifying any potential problems, updating corporate information developing an employee and driver guide, and arranging health checks for all staff with the local NHS.
Earlier this year Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, visited Moray to congratulate the council on signing up to the customer service commitment. “I’d like to congratulate Moray Council, my own local authority, on being the first commercial resource management team in Scotland to sign up to the Scottish Resource Sector Commitment health and safety standard, having already taken the positive step of signing up to the customer service element earlier this year.
“Health and safety is clearly an essential issue for the resource management industry and I’m delighted to see Moray taking such a proactive approach.
“In addition, over half of Scotland’s waste comes from businesses. In order to continue to increase recycling in Scotland, and support business in dealing responsibly with its waste, we need to drive up standards in the resource management industry to ensure customer confidence and the accessibility of high-quality services. A commitment to excellence in health and safety is a particularly important step to take.”
Commitment goes above and beyond conventional health & safety
Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland, said: “The Scottish Resource Sector Commitment’s health and safety standard shows a commitment above and beyond the health and safety policies which all organisations should have. It highlights the issue’s particular importance to the resource management industry and to help the team demonstrate that it sees compliance with good practice in health and safety as more than a tick box exercise.
“Moray Council is aiming to be an excellent example of this, with its resource management team getting onto the front foot with regard to the critical issue of health and safety, identifying potential issues and aiming to prevent them, including taking action to monitor the health of employees. I commend the team for their work and look forward to other resource management businesses making the commitment.”
