Caerphilly County Borough Council operates a fleet of nearly 500 vehicles.

The council runs 12 refuse collection routes, nine recycling routes and five green waste routes.

In 2005, these routes were the subject of a review by the Health and Safety Executive. The review recommended that the Council should carry out more detailed route planning to minimise risks such as collection vehicles going past schools at pick up and drop off times.

The council carried out its own detailed review of the collection routes and produced a report for each route giving details of the specific safety issues. A copy of the report is placed in the vehicle undertaking a particular route and the reports are used to provide important route information to new drivers and to drivers who are unfamiliar with a route.

These reports are reviewed and updated after any incident along the route.

The drivers are also now given risk assessment training to help them take appropriate decisions about safety along the route, for example, if parked cars in a street leave little room for the refuse vehicle to pass then the driver might decide to come back at a different time.

The council’s has formalised the risk assessment process and believes it has improved safety along its refuse collection routes.

Source: Welsh Audit Office