High sickness absence rates among bin lorry crews are the norm across local authorities, councillors have been told.
The physical nature of the work leads to often double-digit percentages of staff absence compared to other areas of council work.
And the sickness absence rate across all council services in West Lothian is broadly similar to national trends
A meeting of Corporate Policy and Resources PDSP heard that musculoskeletal injury was the second most common reason for sickness absence between April and September this year- most of those in Operational Services staff- the majority of which are manual workers.
And at a recent meeting of the Performance Committee Scott Anderson the Waste and Recycling Manager said: “Sickness absence remains high. It is because it is such a manually orientated service.”
Mr Anderson was outlining the performance of the waste collection service.
Bin crews lift 1.6 million bins a quarter across West Lothian. The county’s recycling rate is 50.8% and climbing, and customer satisfaction is 80%. Average response time to customer enquiries is two days.
Councillor Tony Boyle asked about the levels of sickness absence in the service which sits above 10% most months.
“Is this purely down to the physical nature of the job and how do we compare to other local authorities?”
Mr Anderson said: “This is my fourth local authority working in the waste industry. I’ve worked in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Stirling. I can honestly put my hand heart and say this across the industry. It is not solely related to West Lothian.”
He added that in percentage terms absences in other local authorities were similar “in double digits”.
Mr Anderson told the committee: “We do robustly manage sickness absence from a support point of view. We work to support our staff to get them fit for work and get them back to work,”
The main reason for sickness absence across all council services is mental/behavioural. A report to the Corporate Policy and Resources PDSP detailed mental/ behavioural reasons for 35% of all staff absences between April and September. This was a decrease from the same period last year.
The report added: “This is reflective of the wider picture in the UK, with mental ill health reported to be the top cause of long-term absence in the context of an on-going increase in sickness absence across sectors.
“Stress continues to be the highest contributor to levels of sickness absence across the council and action continues to focus on support for services reporting high levels of stress related absence, with guidance on identifying early signs of stress and how to develop action plans to effectively address those.
“The Supporting Attendance at Work policy remains part of a wider framework of support for employee wellbeing.”
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
