Inga-Lill Engkvist

Working conditions at recycling centres in Sweden – Physical and psychosocial work environment

The number of jobs at recycling centres are increasing, at the same time as there are indications of work environment problems. The aim of this paper was to investigate physical and psychosocial working conditions for employees at recycling centres in Sweden, to describe how they were perceived, to compare differences between subgroups, and further to identify proposals for improvement. Employees at 42 recycling centres (n=122) responded a postal questionnaire. Of these 32 employees from 16 recycling centres were interviewed, as also their employer (n=16). The work at recycling centres was reported to be a meaningful service job comprising many social interactions with users, but also substantial physical strain. There was a high frequency of injuries and minor injuries. Several risks were identified. There is a need for several preventive actions, e.g. better planning when building recycling centres, including better machines and equipment and more training, especially in handling hazardous waste.

The accident process preceding back injuries among Australian nurses

A prospective dynamic-population-based study was conducted to investigate factors involved in the accident process preceding over-exertion back injuries among nursing personnel. All reported occupational over-exertion back injuries due to accidents among nurses in hospitals included in one network in Melbourne during 13 months were investigated. The assumption was that several factors interact in the accident process causing a back injury, and therefore detailed information was obtained for each injury by interviews with the injured person. Risks in the physical environment were identified using an ergonomic checklist. During the study period 127 nurses who had reported accidents leading to over-exertion back injury were interviewed. Cluster analysis yielded five well-defined clusters and their pattern of contributing factors for the accident process. The most frequent over-exertion back injury occurred during patient transfer in the bed or to/from the bed. Transfer devices were rarely used, most often due to lack of devices. Risks in the environment, most often lack of space, and/or lack of transfer devices often compelled the nurse to work in an awkward position. The nurse often felt rushed/stressed. The clusters showed the complexity of these kinds of accidents, and indicated that the measures for prevention must be of different kinds and at several different levels in the organization.

Improving the layout of recycling centres by use of lean production principles

There has been increased focus on recycling in Sweden during recent years. This focus can be attributed to external environmental factors such as tougher legislation, but also to the potential gains for raw materials suppliers. Recycling centres are important components in the Swedish total recycling system. Recycling centres are manned facilities for waste collection where visitors can bring, sort and discard worn products as well as large-sized, hazardous, and electrical waste. The aim of this paper was to identify and describe the main flows and layout types at Swedish recycling centres. The aim was also to adapt and apply production theory for designing and managing recycling centre operations. More specifically, this means using lean production principles to help develop guidelines for recycling centre design and efficient control. Empirical data for this research was primarily collected through interviews and questionnaires among both visitors and employees at 16 Swedish recycling centres. Furthermore, adapted observation protocols have been used in order to explore visitor activities. There was also close collaboration with a local recycling centre company, which shared their layout experiences with the researchers in this project. The recycling centres studied had a variety of problems such as queues of visitors, overloading of material and improper sorting. The study shows that in order to decrease the problems, the recycling centres should be designed and managed according to lean production principles, i.e. through choosing more suitable layout choices with visible and linear flows, providing better visitor information, and providing suitable technical equipment. Improvements can be achieved through proper planning of the layout and control of the flow of vehicles, with the result of increased efficiency and capacity, shorter visits, and cleaner waste fractions. The benefits of a lean production mindset include increased visitor capacity, waste flexibility, improved sorting quality, shorter time for visits and improved working conditions.

Improving meat cutters' work : Changes and effects following an intervention

Meat cutters face higher risks of injury and musculoskeletal problems than most other occupational groups. The aims of this paper were to describe ergonomics changes implemented in three meat cutting plants and to evaluate effects related to ergonomics on the individual meat cutters and their work. Data was collected by interviews, observations, document studies and a questionnaire (n = 247), as a post intervention study. The changes implemented consisted of reducing knife work to a maximum of 6 h per day and introducing a job rotation scheme with work periods of equal length. Tasks other than traditional meat cutting were added. A competence development plan for each meat cutter and easy adjustment of workplace height were introduced. The questionnaire showed a reduction in perceived physical work load. In general, the changes were perceived positively. Figures from the company showed a positive trend for injuries and sick leave.

Reported occupational injuries at Swedish recycling centres - based on official statistics.

Swedish recycling centres are manned facilities for waste collection. There is no special category in the official injury statistics for employees at recycling centres, which precludes a straightforward analysis of reported occupational injuries. This study aimed at identifying the frequency of reported accidents and diseases and the type of events that contribute to such injuries at recycling centres, based on official injury statistics. The employees were identified as being affected by more than three to five times as many accidents compared with the total workforce in Sweden. The reported accidents had occurred during a wide range of situations, but most frequently during manual handling of waste. Reported work-related diseases were mostly associated with musculoskeletal disorders, mainly due to heavy lifting. A more detailed classification of sanitation professions and workplaces in the official injury statistics would facilitate future studies of injuries in a specific professional category, e.g. employees at recycling centres. Suggestions for prevention are given. Statement of Relevance: The present article describes all reported work accidents and diseases among employees at recycling centres from 1992 to February 2005. It also highlights the problem of identifying new working groups in the official statistics and gives advice for a detailed classification to facilitate such future studies of injuries.

Perspectives on recycling centres and future developments.

The overall aim of this paper is to draw combined, all-embracing conclusions based on a long-term multidisciplinary research programme on recycling centres in Sweden, focussing on working conditions, environment and system performance. A second aim is to give recommendations for their development of new and existing recycling centres and to discuss implications for the future design and organisation. Several opportunities for improvement of recycling centres were identified, such as design, layout, ease with which users could sort their waste, the work environment, conflicting needs and goals within the industry, and industrialisation. Combining all results from the research, which consisted of different disciplinary aspects, made it possible to analyse and elucidate their interrelations. Waste sorting quality was recognized as the most prominent improvement field in the recycling centre system. The research identified the importance of involving stakeholders with different perspectives when planning a recycling centre in order to get functionality and high performance. Practical proposals of how to plan and build recycling centres are given in a detailed checklist.

Identified Risks at Swedish Recycling Centres during Handling of Waste from Electric and Electronic Equipment

Waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) is the most rapidly growing waste stream. Further, producer responsibility was enforced in EU member countries during 2005. Most of the WEEE in Sweden is collected at manned recycling centres, which have a key role for the downstream handling in order to ensure high collection rates of WEEE and a proper initial sorting. The Swedish concept for collection of WEEE is based on manual work which creates risks for the employees. This paper have identified a number of risks in the work environment at recycling centres during handling of WEEE, particularly frequent heavy manual lifting of televisions, white goods and net cages. The personnel especially suffer from ache or pain from the back, and they show a high number of occupational accidents