THE company at the centre of the hazardous waste scandal has confirmed it has ceased operations with all 400 workers told they are redundant.
Healthcare Environmental Services’ (HES) announcement was made after redundancy notices were handed out to 150 staff at its North Lanarkshire headquarters.
The devastated workers say they have not been paid their wages – which included overtime – that were due on Friday. Bosses sent a text to staff on Christmas Eve claiming their bank had refused to release the funds.
HES claims it cannot pay any redundancy money but that workers may be eligible for compensation under the Redundancy Payment Service, a national scheme for employees of firms that have gone bust.
The company also says staff should be able to transfer to other waste operators who have taken over HES’s contracts.
Health trusts removed the company’s clinical waste disposal contracts in England after it was found to be in breach of storage limits. Earlier this month, it was also informed it had lost its Scottish health service contract, on the same day its banking arrangements were suspended.
“We have tried so hard over the last few months to keep going but we’ve now reached the position where this is no longer tenable,” said HES managing director Garry Pettigrew.
“We hope that the staff will have the opportunity to transfer to the new contractors appointed by NHS National Services Scotland. The contracts in England also fall within TUPE and Mitie and the other appointed contractors should allow this process to be implemented immediately to secure staff and customer services.”
HES’s problems began earlier this year when it claims a lack of high-temperature incineration capacity in the UK led to it breaching storage permits at some of its sites in England. It was reported that the hazardous waste included body parts, a claim that the company denies.
Pettigrew maintains he has been warning the authorities since 2015 that the lack of high temperature incineration facilities in the UK was causing problems but officials did nothing until the situation reached crisis point. He says a government plan to permit the excess to be stored at unlicensed sites would have cost the company £1.4 million.
Mitie has taken over some health service contracts in England previously held by HES while the NHS in Scotland is now dealing with clinical waste under contingency plans until a new contract starts in April.
Some HES employees claim that large quantities of waste have built up at the Shotts depot and this week the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said it was monitoring conditions in North Lanarkshire and at the firm’s other Scottish site in Dundee.
Sepa served enforcement notices on the company on September 12 and December 11, and on Friday said it was investigating whether criminal offences had been committed.
The Scottish Government said it was working closely to ensure waste collection and disposal services are maintained.
“The contingency plans include the provision of waste management services until the new national healthcare waste management contract commences on April 1, 2019,” said a spokesperson.
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