Wheelie Bin Emptying and Health and Safety

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eracode

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#286036 1-Jun-2021 09:19

We have a contract with Waste Management to empty a kerb-side household wheelie bin every fortnight. We have had this arrangement for six years.

Yesterday the bin wasn’t emptied - this happens about once every six months. In the past I’ve rung them and they send a truck back to empty it.

I rang this morning and the conversation went like this:

WM: The driver couldn’t access the bin - it was obstructed.

Me: You mean by something like a parked car?

WM: Yes, if there’s a car in the way, the driver has to leave the bin because he’s not permitted to leave the cab for health and safety reasons.

Me: So this means that, all over the city where the streets are full of parked cars, you just leave bins unemptied. That must mean you don’t actually empty something like 25-50% of bins that people have paid you to empty.

WM: Yes the driver has to leave the bin unemptied because he’s not permitted to leave the cab for health and safety reasons.

FFS. Am I being unreasonable in thinking this is ridiculous? We are now in the position that we will never be sure whether our bin will be emptied - what's the point of having a contract with them?

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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#2716563 1-Jun-2021 09:22

Interesting. Where are you located? In Wellington the driver does leave the cab - he literally just cleared our bin like he has done for several years now. The trunks in Wellington from Waste Management require the driver to grab the bin and connect it to the hoist and its then emptied and he places (sometimes throws) the bin back into the location he got it from!

-- opinions expressed by me are solely my own. ie - personal

eracode

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#2716565 1-Jun-2021 09:24

Auckland East Coast Bays.

I have asked to speak to a manager and someone is allegedly going to call me back.

There was no car in the way when I placed the bin - but seems that someone parked there later.

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1101

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#2716568 1-Jun-2021 09:34

So ...where are the H&S concerns re rubbish BAG collections ?

My guess.
It takes time for drivers to exit the truck & move bins . The company is simply trying to speed up the collection process buy not stopping
to move bins .
Perhaps they want you to put the bin on your driveway entrance, where cars cant legally park ?

Where are the H&S concerns when these trucks block traffic , making car drivers do dangerous things to try & get past them ?

xpd

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#2716572 1-Jun-2021 09:40

Most of the trucks I have seen, have dual controls anyway, so the driver can be on the left hand side, and is completely safe to exit the vehicle to move a bin.

Sounds more like CSR covering for lazy staff practice.

XPD / Gavin

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eracode

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#2716574 1-Jun-2021 09:43

xpd:

Most of the trucks I have seen, have dual controls anyway, so the driver can be on the left hand side, and is completely safe to exit the vehicle to move a bin.

Sounds more like CSR covering for lazy staff practice.

I wondered about that but the the nature of the response and the repetition sounded scripted and institutionalised to me. I haven't encountered this from them before.

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frankv

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#2716577 1-Jun-2021 09:53

1101:

It takes time for drivers to exit the truck & move bins . The company is simply trying to speed up the collection process buy not stopping
to move bins .
Where are the H&S concerns when these trucks block traffic , making car drivers do dangerous things to try & get past them ?

I guess that a truck that is stopped for three times as long while the driver gets out, manoeuvres the bin to the truck & back again, then gets back in the truck, is three times the hazard of a truck that only picks up bins that are immediately accessible.

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#2716592 1-Jun-2021 09:59

couldn't they just do this to the parked car?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipkjVnK26w8

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#2716595 1-Jun-2021 10:02

Bizarre. Our collection is by Econowaste, and they do both bins & bags, so they have 2 staff per truck - driver never hops out, the helper does.

Bung

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#2716603 1-Jun-2021 10:23

Where it's just bags it's quite common for the helper to run ahead assembling piles of bags that the driver loads. That reduces the number of times the truck has to stop.

H&S is often used as an excuse without any justification. That said there have been cases where the driver has jumped out and the truck has carried on. I think the dual control trucks have a dead man switch on the left they stand on but obviously not foolproof. Our neighbour in Wgtn once clipped a traffic island and fell out of his truck and it carried on. Luckily it wasn't going very fast and he was a rep rugby player who could sprint fast enough to catch it 😀

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2716606 1-Jun-2021 10:28

It is absolutely ridiculous. You pay for a service, you expect to receive it. If they won't send a truck back, demand two weeks credit. You can't use it next week if it's full.

When you mentioned health and safety with regard to wheelie bins, my immediate thought was the practice of picking up bins, driving forward with them in the air, and depositing them in the most inconsiderate locations possible - on the road and/or in the middle of driveways. This practice is dangerous and drivers should be fined for doing it.

I regularly see Waste Management (contracted to the Council) drivers getting out of their vehicle to empty bins at the end of our cul-de-sac and I would expect them to do the same if a vehicle prevented them from lifting the bin.

Roads are for cars, footpaths are for people, berms are nice to have but not everywhere. The bin collection service makes use of public infrastructure, so they need to work around that.

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#2716620 1-Jun-2021 11:31

With the bad light shone on a few with runaway trucks recently.. possibly related

(Like, not trusting others safety to their drivers who may forget to put on the brake?..)

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grayskull

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#2716622 1-Jun-2021 11:35

Interesting, our bin didn't get emptied yesterday either and we are in East Coast Bays, Auckland as well.

I hope this is not seriously a thing going forward. Do we have to put our bins on the road and block car parks from now on?

eracode

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#2716701 1-Jun-2021 13:45

grayskull:

Interesting, our bin didn't get emptied yesterday either and we are in East Coast Bays, Auckland as well.

I hope this is not seriously a thing going forward. Do we have to put our bins on the road and block car parks from now on?

@grayskull Are you with Waste Management too?

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#2716702 1-Jun-2021 13:47

I would not be surprised if some health and safety numpty has demanded that whenever a driver is not in the cab the wheels must be chocked, slope or no slope.

plenty of contactors have this exact problem.

Matthew

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#2716703 1-Jun-2021 13:50

Maybe it depends on whether the truck has left and right side driving ability, or just right. I'd see an argument that if the driver is having to get out from the right side regularly that increases their risk for being hit by a passing car. A lot of the trucks in my area can be driven on both sides, and i notice them sitting in the drivers seat closest to the curb side most of the time.

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