Health and safety considerations for all WEEE operators

It is important that health and safety risks associated with waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are identified and minimised.

There are risks associated with the appliances themselves and with the tools, equipment and vehicles used when collecting, transporting, remanufacturing and recycling WEEE.

Dismantling, crushing, remanufacturing and recycling WEEE, if poorly managed, has the potential to release toxic substances that can endanger human health.

Risk assessments should be carried out, and should consider the full range of hazards.

The key health and safety considerations for each stage are summarised below.

Changeable worksites

Not all waste management and minimisation sites are static worksites. Therefore, the health and safety risk assessments may need to be reviewed daily.

Collecting WEEE

Guidance on developing health and safety measures can be found in the Code of Practice for Manual Handling (ACC and OSH, 2001). The Code introduces assessment tools to identify, evaluate and control manual handling of hazards to reduce the risk of injury.

Reuse and recycling

Reuse operators do not shred, crush or use heat to treat waste. Therefore, the risk of releasing hazardous substances when repairing and upgrading equipment is lower than when preparing equipment for recycling which does use destructive processes.

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The main health and safety risks associated with the reuse and recycling of PCs and the areas requiring attention are outlined in table 13. By following this advice a reuse operator/recycler would meet all the requirements of the OECD.

Table 13:  Health and safety areas of attention
Types of risk Areas of attention
Hazardous substances Use of a vacuum cleaner to remove dust before working on a computer

Use of computer cleaning substances

Separation of the cathode ray tube (CRT) panel glass from the funnel glass

Removal of the fluorescent powder from the panel glass

Shredding of plastics

Heating circuit boards and other materials that create fumes

Protective equipment such as gloves, face masks and safety boots
Noise Baling machines and shredding machines

Equipment for hearing protection

Postures, repetitive movements and loads

Repetitive processes throughout the refurbishment and dismantling operations

Manual handling of heavy equipment and appliances
Storage Stacking of equipment in the facility and use of vehicles
Accidents:
  • glass and sharp edges
  • implosion
  • stored voltage
  • fire
  • electrocution
 Electrical safety

Portable appliance testing

Handling electrical equipment to minimise the risk of electrocution

Mechanical disabling of hard drives

Display screen assessment

Source: Anderson 2001, Olsen 2007, Olsen Unpublished, Save Waste and Prosper 2003.

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Last updated:15 March 2011