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The number of employees being killed or injured at work is at its lowest level since the inception of the modern health and safety system 35 years ago. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 was introduced on 1 October 1974, a year in which 651 people were killed in work related accidents.

Last year, statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) showed 180 people died as a result of work based activity. Since the legislation was introduced, there has been a steady decline in work related deaths, but HSE officials say that people are still dying as a result of preventable accidents at work. The Act was brought in by the then Secretary of State Michael Foot, and in the years since, the number of fatal injuries to employees has fallen by 73%, while the number of reported non-fatal injuries by 70%. The most recent statistics show Britain had the lowest rate of fatal injuries in the EU, averaging 2.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers.

Whilst the reduction in heavy industry is one of the factors that has affected the statistics, the introduction of a law to protect workers lives and safety at work has clearly helped to drive improvements and save lives. The HSE say its mission is an ongoing challenge, but one it relishes as much today as it did 35 years ago. The organisation launched a new strategy this year to co-ordinate the drive for those working in the health and safety system and continue to force down death and injury in the workplace.

Judith Hackitt, Chair of the HSE said, "Since the introduction of the Act, safety performance has improved by more than 70%. We now have one of the best combined health and safety records of any country in the world. While we can rightly be proud of this reduction, the sobering statistic is that 180 people who left for work last year did not return home to their families, and several more suffered early deaths caused by disease and illness which was linked to their work. Our aim has always been and will always be to keep reducing the amount of needless, work related deaths year on year."

A Friends of the Earth (FoE) report has this month revealed that the UK is currently throwing away over £650 million every year by dumping and incinerating waste which, if recycled, could save 19 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually - equivalent to taking around six million cars off the roads.

Research by the green campaign group has revealed that if material currently landfilled or incinerated was recycled, it would slash emissions, reduce the need to import materials from abroad and create new UK green jobs across the waste management industry. FoE is calling on the Government to ban the landfilling and incineration of recyclable material and to ensure that as much waste as possible from households and businesses is either reused or recycled.

FoE's Senior Resource Use Campaigner Dr. Michael Warhurst said, "The UK is woefully lagging behind much of Europe on recycling. Flanders in Belgium recycles over 70% of its waste - that's twice as much as we recycle here. Our low recycling rate means that we have to import more expensive resources like aluminium - this is economic madness when they could be recycled here and sold for profit instead. It's time we recognised the real value of the materials we throw away every day. We only have one Earth and its resources are finite - making better use of them would save money and help tackle climate change. The Government must scrap its plans for new incinerators and provide councils with the support they need to increase recycling instead. The money saved should then be reinvested in greening our economy."

The full FoE report, "Gone to waste: the valuable resources that European countries bury and burn" is available to download at www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/gone_to_waste.pdf.

For more information, see:

• Directive 2008/98/EC, on waste;
• Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2011/127;
• Waste Management Licensing (Scotland) Regulations SSI 2011/228;
• Waste (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2011/988.

It is understood that a depot near Londonderry where a fire burned for three days from Sunday 4 October, was storing tyres illegally. The site in Eglinton, which was sub-let, did not have the licence required by environmental law to store the large number of tyres, thought to be as many as half a million. Firefighters arriving to tackle the blaze found four separate fires across the one-acre site.

It is understood that before the fire broke out, a criminal investigation was already being held into why so many tyres were being stored there. A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland (DoE NI) said it was previously aware of the approximate quantity of tyres stored. They added that on 14 August, officials served the owners with a notice to clear the site, but only some tyres were removed. Normal procedure dictates that if large amounts of tyres are to be stored, the number is determined within the terms of the planning permission or waste management licence. The onus is on the operator of a site to have the correct licences in place.

The fire is believed to be 10 times the size of original estimates and the costs of dealing with it could run into tens of thousands of pounds. SDLP councillor Jim McKeever said, "I think it's an environmental disaster and it has to be followed up. There has to be some legislation brought into play and there has to be some recompense made."

Police have confirmed that forensic officers are now at the scene to try and establish the cause of the fire, which may have been started deliberately.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has published a consultation inviting views on the structure and content of draft environmental permitting guidance for exempt waste operations. The draft is the latest publication in DEFRA's ongoing review of waste exemptions from environmental permitting, which began in 2008.

Overall the review aims to create a proportionate system whereby waste recovery and disposal operations are assessed by the risk they pose to the environment. This concept ties in with an aim to encourage low risk waste recovery operations by granting exemptions from the existing Regulations. It is intended the new draft guidance will accompany the proposed Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010, which will include a new Schedule 2, 3 and 3A, and will provide further guidance in addition to the Environmental Permitting Core Guidance. It is therefore a stand-alone document, aimed solely at further explaining the requirements for exempt waste operations.

It will therefore particularly affect:

• those who are currently registered for an exemption from the need for an environmental permit;
• those who are currently operating under Environment Agency low risk positions;
• those who produce or take waste to sites operating under an exemption;
• and the wider waste management industry.

The consultation is open for 12 weeks, and depending on the responses received, the new scheme of exemptions from environmental permits is due to come into force in April 2010.

Northern Ireland Environment Minister Edwin Poots visited the Six Mile Water River last month to view an ongoing pollution prevention programme championed by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

Mr Poots said, "The Six Mile Water and the rivers which flow into it have been affected by pollution on a number of occasions over the past few years, some of which have had a devastating effect. However, I welcome that the ongoing actions by the NIEA have resulted in a reduction in the number of confirmed water pollution incidents in the Six Mile Water River catchment."

The NIEA has carried out a series of measures including pollution prevention inspections and site drainage examinations as part of its pollution prevention programme in the area. They have been working closely with anglers, industry and other local interest groups, to establish a River Trust on the Six Mile Water. This partnership approach to pollution prevention was welcomed by the Minister who said, "This responsible approach between the NIEA, local businesses and interest groups will help towards achieving the water quality we expect from the river."

Mr Poots appealed to people who work or live close to a river or lake to remain vigilant to ensure no polluting matter is allowed to escape and pollute waters. He said, "Water pollution is a crime and like any other crime, prevention is better than cure."

For more information, see:

• Water (Northern Ireland) Order SI 1999/662;
• Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry, and Agricultural Fuel Oil) Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2003/319;
• Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) Regulations (Northern Ireland) SI 2010/412.

With only 30-or so days before leaders meet to agree on a post-Kyoto climate deal in Copenhagen, there is an urgent need for nations to speed up negotiations and make political choices.

As talks continued last month in Bangkok to thrash out the details of the Kyoto Protocol’s successor, Danish Climate Change and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard said, “It is crucial that the negotiators start to diminish the text of the agreement substantially. It is much too long, much too complicated, there are too many points of disagreement. They must diminish the text and make the political choices much clearer.”

According to Hedegaard, who will play host in Copenhagen for the UN-led global climate conference in December, the summit needs to bring about change, “In the sense that the binding political decisions taken there put the world on the right track to keep temperature hikes below two degrees Celsius. We need to get an ambitious agreement that makes it likely that we can stick to what science tells us.”

Hedegaard believes the short to medium-term carbon dioxide emission reduction targets currently on the negotiating table are insufficient. She said, “The less the world does by 2020, the more we have to do in years to follow. And the longer we postpone action, the more expensive it’s going to be.”

The principal argument is about responsibility and fairness. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can remain for a century or more, and we are still feeling the effects from the last industrial revolution. However, most of the extra carbon dioxide that will go into the atmosphere in the future will be created by the developing nations, who are embarked on a period of unprecedented economic growth, much of it powered by burning coal.

The problem is compounded since agreement has to be reached by 192 countries whose representatives all have different domestic agendas and whose intransigence might render agreement on the colour of an orange difficult. Whilst commentators agree we have the technology to solve global warming, this is not about technology. This is about politics.