Disposal of Electrical Items at Work
Posted on 29th October 2024 at 15:34
The disposal and recycling of electrical waste is imperative given increased volumes of electrical waste generated in the UK in recent years with 2 million tonnes of WEEE items disposed of every year.
Therefore, these items must be handled with the appropriate regulations and procedures.
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013 distils electrical items into ten broad categories as outlined in Schedules 1 and 2:
• Large household appliances – fridges, cookers, microwaves, washing machines and dishwashers
• Small household appliances – vacuum cleaners, irons, toasters and clocks
• IT and telecommunications equipment – personal computers, copying equipment, telephones,
calculators
• Consumer equipment – this includes camcorders, hi-fi equipment, musical instruments, radio,
televisions
• Lighting equipment – this includes compact and straight fluorescent bulbs, high intensity discharge
lamps
• Electrical and electronic tools – drills, saws, sewing machines, electric lawnmowers
• Toys, leisure and sports equipment – these would include items such as electric trains, games consoles,
running machines
• Medical devices – these include analysers, cardiology equipment, dialysis machines, medical freezers
• Monitoring and control equipment – these include heating regulators, smoke detectors, thermostats
• Automatic dispensers – these include hot drinks dispensers, money dispensers

These WEEE items feature various materials that are considered hazardous, i.e. mercury, arsenic, cadmium, lead, asbestos. This is in addition to other risks such as cuts, abrasions, fires, electrical and machinery safety. As such, adequate control measures must be implemented to ensure the handling and disposal of WEEE items does not result in any harm, such as examining items to survey hazardous materials and to be disposed of separately from the overall items.
What Can We Learn From This?
• Managers must keep in mind the variety of electrical items
• All electrical items must be disposed via recycling
• Hazardous materials in WEEE items must be disposed of separately
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