Environment & Sustainable Communities

Transcription

1 Standard Operating Procedure Collection and Disposal of Dead Animals from the Highway Environment & Sustainable Communities February 2014 Environmental Services February

2 Title: Owner: Author: Agreed by: Date: Collection and Disposal of Dead Animals Environmental Services A.Ivatt Head of Service Environment (revised) Version Number: 1.0 Status: FINAL Next review date: February 2016 Environmental Services February

3 CONTENTS Page 1. Introduction 4 2. Notification / Report of a Dead Animal 5 3. Collection of Dead Animals 5 4. Delivery back to Depot 5 5. Identification and Disposal of Dead Animal 6 6. Customer Contact 7 7. Emergency removals from Highways 7 8. Ownership of Data 7 9. Training Complaints Procedure 7 Environmental Services February

4 1. Introduction Bedford Borough Council's Street Cleansing section, as part of their duties, are responsible for the collection of certain dead animals from the highway and other public open places notified to them. (Large farm animals and horses are the subject of a separate procedure.) The local authority, and therefore the Street Cleansing section, are not responsible for collection or disposal of dead animals from private land. We will collect dogs, cats and anything larger than a cat. We do not remove rabbits or other small wild animals unless they are on a residential street and are causing offence or distress. Smaller dead wild animals are left for nature to take its course. We aim to remove a dead animal within four hours of receiving a report. For the purposes of this procedure, Highway is defined as any: Road (not major routes and must be safe to stop on); footpath; channel; or grassed area; that Bedford Borough s Street cleansing team are required to maintain. The council will not remove dead animals from houses. When such a service is required, customers are advised to contact a vet or recognised pet undertaker. Environmental Services February

5 2. Notification / Report of a Dead Animal The normal route that a report of a dead animal is received is via the call centre being notified by members of the public. This is entered as an open job on the report database known as APP. This job is raised for collection and is allocated to the Cleansing team (DS4). A Street Cleansing supervisor will allocate the job, and notify the allocated crew giving the location and a description if this has been recorded. The APP job text will be appended by the supervisor with the crew allocated. If a Street Cleansing team notice a dead animal in the highway as part of their normal routine, they will stop, place the body in a black sack, and deliver the animal to Brunel Road depot as detailed below (Section 3). Procedures to organise the removal of dead animals are normally started within a couple of hours of notification, or the next working day, depending on the time of day and workloads. If the animal is causing an obstruction on a highway and could cause an accident, then this will be dealt with as an emergency. (See Emergency clearance Section 7) 3. Collection of Dead Animals Upon receipt of a job for collection of a dead animal, either directly or by telephone or radio, the crew will proceed to the address given. Upon arrival at the site, the collection crew will positively identify the animal, lift it into a black sack, and place it in the body of the vehicle. If they cannot positively identify the animal, or if there is doubt that the animal found is the subject of the job, the crew will contact the supervisor for guidance. (It would be usual under these circumstances for the animal found to be placed in a black sack, and for the search to continue for the animal referred to in the job, and only after an exhaustive search is carried out would it be abandoned.) 4. Delivery back to Depot Upon arrival at Brunel Road depot, the crew will place the black sack containing the animal in a large yellow clinical sack, they will label the bag with details of : Environmental Services February

6 Type / Breed of animal Colour Location Found The bag is then placed in the Clinical bin provided in the Controlled Waste Storage Area. The crew will notify their supervisor that they have found the dead animal and delivered it to the depot. The supervisor will ensure that the details of the animal, including the APP reference, are entered in the Register of dead animals found on the Highway (CM Ref 77 iss 01). The supervisor will also close the APP job. If there is no APP job for the animal because the crew found it as part of their normal routine, the Street Cleansing supervisor will contact the call centre and arrange for an APP Dead Animal job to be raised and closed. 5. Identification and Disposal of Dead Animals 5.1 Identification After being notified that a dead animal has been delivered, the Cleansing supervisor will arrange for the animal to be scanned using the pet scanner provided, and then notify the Administration section of the scan results, ( Scan negative or Scan positive Serial No *** ). If Scan negative, the animal will be retained in the Controlled Waste Storage Area until the next clinical waste collection from the depot, and the body will be disposed of via that route. The APP job and the Animal Register will be updated accordingly. If Scan positive, the animal will be retained until disposal instructions are given by Refuse Administration section. (See Section 6). 5.2 Disposal Dead animals will be stored in the Controlled Waste Storage Area for no longer than 72 hours and in any case Scan Negative animals will be disposed of via the next available Clinical Waste collection by the Council s approved contractor. Environmental Services February

7 6. Customer Contact Once given a Scan positive result, the Refuse Administration section will contact Petscan and obtain contact details for the owner of the animal. If these are forthcoming, it is the responsibility of the Refuse Administration section to contact the owner and make arrangements for them to collect the animal if required, or obtain permission for final disposal. Refuse Administration will then inform Street Cleansing section in order that the APP job and Animal Register can be amended with details of final disposal. 7. Emergency removals from Highways If it is identified that due to the nature of either the size of the animal or the location the animal falls outside the scope of this procedure, the incident will be referred to the Police / Highways Agency for removal. 8. Ownership of Data Ownership of date recorded on APP or in the Register of dead animals found on the Highway will be maintained by Bedford Borough Council. 9. Training All relevant staff will be trained in managing this process according to the Standard Operating Procedure and in line with any applicable risk assessment. 10. Complaints Procedure Complaints regarding this process will be directed in the first instance to the Customer Contact Centre, Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford MK42 9AP ( CallCentre@bedford.gov.uk Tel: (01234) ) Environmental Services February