Veolia and West Berkshire council are launching a campaign to raise awareness of the abuse the waste management company’s crew receive in their day-to-day work.
Once unveiled in West Berkshire, the campaign, called Expect Respect, is to be rolled out nationwide. An internal staff training programme helping crews manage the issue, complementing the campaign, has already begun.
(L-R) Richard Hulland, chief risk and assurance officer at Veolia, Sara Perry, general manager of Veolia’s West Berkshire PFI, Kofi Adu-Gyamfi, waste manager, and councillor Steve Ardagh-Walter
Richard Hulland, chief risk and assurance officer at Veolia UK & Ireland, said: “This training programme shows the commitment Veolia has, not only to learning and people development, but for the wellbeing of employees too.
“With safety as the first strategic objective of our company, the need for employees to be given the knowledge and training required to protect themselves from incidents of abuse by members of the public is very important.
“We welcome the support West Berkshire have given this initiative and look forward to continuing to work in partnership with them.”
Having been designed by French-owned waste management company Veolia, the training programme is taught by the firm’s own dedicated People Development team.
Veolia’s internal training programme was was awarded a Princess Royal Training Award in October 2019, presented by Princess Anne at a ceremony held at St James’s Palace in London (see letsrecycle.com story).
Recognition
The waste management company says it chose to unveil its public campaign in West Berkshire because of the company’s longstanding good relationship with the council.
Princess Anne presents Veolia’s executive vice-president for the UK and Ireland Gavin Graveson with a Princess Royal Training Award
Councillor Steve Ardagh-Walter, West Berkshire council’s executive member for environment, said: “We are pleased to support this new initiative with Veolia as everyone should be able to go to work without the fear of abuse, and it is important to remind people to be patient and drive carefully around collection vehicles as people are working in the roads.
“The work Veolia’s employees do in our area is key to helping us to keep our area tidy, and protect our environment, and I wholeheartedly support their right to expect respect.”
Abuse
Abuse directed towards those in the waste industry has featured heavily in recent news coverage.
Serco launched its own campaign tackling abuse in March 2019
Last week (19 February), the Health and Safety Executive warned threatening behaviour would not be tolerated after an incident during an inspection of a Teesside waste and recycling site in August 2019 (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, in January the Greater Manchester Combined Authority called attention to the dangers its staff face at recycling centres following a serious assault which left an employee with a broken jaw (see letsrecycle.com story).
In March 2019, services firm Serco launched a campaign in partnership with trade unions, similar to Veolia’s new scheme and titled Respect and Protect, aiming to clamp down on violence, aggression and abuse directed at its staff (see letsrecycle.com story).
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
