Councils in Kent have this week been involved in a social media campaign to raise awareness of the dangers faced by refuse collection crews on their rounds.

By necessity, bin lorries take up a lot of space on the road – and can be frustrating for drivers on their way to work. But some impatient drivers refuse to wait for the refuse collectors to do their job, driving on pavements and through tight spaces in their rush to get past – putting workers in danger.

Earlier in January, a refuse collector suffered a near miss in Ashford, Kent as a van mounted the pavement to get past, knocking a bin from his hands. The incident was captured by 360-degree CCTV cameras that have been placed on all Biffa bin lorries, something that more councils are doing in order catch offenders in action and effectively prosecute them.

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Now, the Kent Resource Partnership (KRP), which coordinates waste management services for Kent’s 13 councils, has been raising awareness of the problem with a week-long social media campaign that started on Monday 18 February. The ‘Driving Recklessly on Pavements’ (DROPs) campaign provides a look at the day-to-day dangers faced by refuse collectors, with councils using the hashtag #stopDROPs to share videos of the shocking incidents where waste collectors have been hit by cars.

The DROPs campaign was initially launched by Biffa in 2016 and has now spread to various locations across England, including Staffordshire, South Cambridgeshire and Hampshire. Dave West, safety, health, environment and quality coach at Biffa, said: “The waste industry puts up with more than 30,000 incidents of recklessly driving on pavements every month, seriously threatening the safety of both our staff and the general public. This is unacceptable and we are dedicated to making sure the DROPs message is pushed nationwide to bring concrete improvements to people’s safety. We applaud the KRP and Kent Police for taking action on this serious issue and we urge other waste companies, councils and local police to follow in their footsteps.”

The waste and recycling sector is one of the most dangerous to work in, with 14 fatalities in 2016/17 – nine of which were the result of someone being struck by a moving vehicle. From 2012/13 to 2016/17, the rate of fatalities in the sector was 15 times higher than the average rate across all other industries – so health and safety campaigns are extremely important to try and reduce this figure.

Councillor Rory Love OBE, Chairman of the Kent Resource Partnership, commented: “The 13 Kent councils are pleased to promote this safety awareness campaign to highlight the dangers our collection crews are facing every single day. Seeing CCTV footage from our collection vehicles should encourage all drivers to think again before considering reckless and life-threatening manoeuvres. We welcome the involvement of Kent Police and thank them for taking enforcement action whenever possible.”

David Currie, Head of Traffic Prosecutions for Kent Police, added: “When the 13 Kent councils came to us to highlight this serious issue we were only too happy to get involved. Rule 145 of the Highway Code states: ‘you must not drive on or over a pavement, footpath or bridleway except to gain lawful access to property, or in the case of an emergency.’ Therefore, it is unacceptable to drive on the pavement to pass a recycling & waste vehicle to save just a few seconds off your journey.

“People need to think about the consequences of their actions – if they chose to drive on the pavement they not only risk prosecution but more importantly they put themselves and others at risk of serious injury or worse.”