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Enva is a leading provider of recycling and resource recovery solutions with sustainability at the forefront of what they do. They support the life cycle of waste products to provide either a second life, such as the production of energy or, in many cases, closed-loop recycling solutions.
The Enva Tilbury site was formerly Hadfields and acquired by the Enva Group. The site processes approximately 160,000 tonnes of wood every year and recycle non-hazardous waste wood into sustainable products including feedstock for panel board, animal beddings, and biomass fuel. Steve Greenwood, Site Manager at Enva Tilbury joined Enva (when it was Hatfield) 14 years ago. With a background in the aggregates industry where safety is key, he was bought in to help with compliance.
Steve commented,
“At Enva Tilbury we operate under a bespoke permit with the largest permitted finished product stockpile in the UK at 19 metres high. With up to 60 lorries tipping on the site every day as well as 6 operational vehicles in the yard including loading shovels, an excavator, and telehandlers, there’s a lot of movements in a small area plus obstructions such as bay walls, wood piles, and shredders that can all block a driver’s view.
When I joined Hadfield, I implemented new processes and designed the site with segregation built in. There’s a walkway behind a concrete wall that goes round most of the site and pedestrians are kept separated where possible. Entrances to working areas are all gated and radios are used to notify of entry into an operational area. But I wanted to go further to enhance the safety of people working in the operational area.”
Steve met SiteZone at an organics event about 10 years ago and at the time there had been a few incidents in the industry putting the risk of plant pedestrian safety front of mind.
Steve worked with the Health & Safety team at Enva to implement SiteZone Proximity Warning Systems to manage the risk of plant pedestrian collisions at the three wood recycling sites in Manchester, Middlesborough, and his site in Tilbury docks.
They’ve been operating with SiteZone proximity warning systems for nearly 3 years, and it’s very much become a part of the culture at Enva Tilbury. It’s included in every Health & Safety meeting attended by company managers and site operational reps. And staff at the site are also empowered to challenge unsafe behaviours.
Acting on the data
Enva uses the data platform plus weekly reports provided by SiteZone to make safety improvements. One example Steve highlighted:
“As a site that operates day and night, we noticed a difference in the number of exclusion zone breaches for the same operation at night than they had in the day. When we observed the behaviour, we noticed that the crew member at night was standing just inside the exclusion zone. So, we were able to rectify the behaviour and bring their number of breaches down, making the night operation even safer.”
No tag, no access
Going one step further, Steve wanted to ensure staff were wearing and testing their tags before entering the operational area as well as warn drivers of a pedestrian crossing one of the three walkways they have on the site. They implemented the new Smart Site Tag Activated Gate System from SiteZone. The first area to be completed was the crossing by the weighbridge. Staff cannot get into the area without a tag and once they do activate and open the gate, a flashing warning sign alerts oncoming vehicles entering the site as well as the working plant in the yard. To further enhance this at night, the walkway is lit up.
Steve commented,
“The night crew have been very impressed with the visibility of the walkway at night. We’re assured that no one can get into the operational yard without a tag and drivers of the vehicles are given additional warnings of a pedestrian crossing via the flashing sign and walkway lights. We’ve also added data to our gate so we can monitor who has had access and when.
Being able to get additional value from the SiteZone System and Tags that we’ve already been using for nearly 3 years is ideal. I’m proud to be the first location in the UK to implement SiteZone Smart Site and further enhance the safety of our Enva Tilbury site.”