Bristol Waste staff faced increased aggression during pandemic

Binmen in Bristol have faced a rise in aggressive behaviour from members of the public during the pandemic, a meeting is told

Cases of aggressive behaviour towards binmen in a city have more than tripled in a year.

In response, workers at waste tips in Bristol have been given body cameras and video cameras have been fitted to all Bristol Waste vehicles.

A meeting heard cases of aggression towards employees of the city council-owned firm rose by 340 per cent.

It mirrors a nationwide rise in aggression against waste staff during the pandemic, councillors were told.

The issue came to light when scrutiny councillors were quizzing managing director Tony Lawless about Bristol's Waste annual business plan, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Violence and aggression

The document said health and safety had been a central focus in 2021-22 and the company's priorities for the next 12 months focused on preventing harm to people and the environment.

"Despite the positive effort around improvements, the amount of change has had a negative effect on our health and safety results. 

"With Covid-19 restrictions, congested city streets and increased tonnages, we have seen an increase in accidents and incidents," the report stated.

It said those included injuries in the workforce from slips, trips and falls, manual handling, vehicle accidents and the huge rise in aggressive behaviour towards employees.

"This is UK-wide with a marked increase in incidents of violence and aggression since the onset of the pandemic," the business plan said.

Some binmen will now wear body cameras

Green councillor David Wilcox asked Mr Lawless at Bristol City Council overview and scrutiny management board on 9 February: "As a person who makes a coffee for our street cleaner  - milky, two sugars - every time he comes through, I'm appalled by the 340 per cent increase in reported aggressive behaviour towards your staff.

"What steps are you taking to mitigate this?"

Mr Lawless said: "We've put video on all our vehicles now. 

"Any of the incidents that are captured on camera we report to the police.

"We've put body cams on some of our staff who work in the household reuse and recycling centres as well, so there is a lot of video evidence that will be recorded, reported and hopefully prosecuted."

A Bristol Waste spokesperson said: "We take the safety of our staff seriously and have a zero-tolerance approach to abuse.

"Any evidence of abuse is shared with the police, which has previously resulted in successful prosecutions.

"We have support systems in place to look after any staff who experience abuse, including access to mental health first aiders and employee assistance programmes to support wellbeing."