Premier Waste adopts remotely monitored CCTV

Premier Waste (UK)’s waste management operation in Hyde, which employs 35 people, hit the headlines nationwide last September when CCTV images taken from one of the on-site cameras were shown on TV. The startling images highlighted a teenager aiming what appeared to be an AK47 rifle at the site from the adjacent Newton Railway Station.

It was David Wood – a crane driver from Premier Waste (UK) – who first saw something amiss on the platform when he spotted two youths acting suspiciously. One of them seemed to be pointing a gun at him!

The shocked Wood immediately radioed Frank Ridley, one of Premier Waste’s directors, who was able to control the CCTV footage locally – using NetVu’s Observer viewing software supplied with RemGuard’s RemVu Aquila transmission equipment – and take a closer look at the scene before contacting Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

Footage leads to arrests

RemGuard was then able to e-mail images of the youths to be presented to the police on their arrival. “David Wood and I were interviewed about the event,” states Ridley, “as we were concerned about some indecision between GMP and the British Transport Police (BPT) over who should deal with the incident. Thankfully, this confusion was sorted out and the footage helped to bring about the arrest of the suspects. A 15-year-old was given a final warning, and his 17-year-old counterpart a community service order.”

Event-driven surveillance

Away from that high profile incident (thankfully the AK47 turned out to be a replica), event-driven CCTV is critical for the smooth running of Premier Waste’s day-to-day operation.

“There’s an ongoing requirement for effective out-of-hours monitoring of our high value plant and equipment,” stresses Ridley. “We have a 20-strong fleet of bio-fuelled vehicles parked up on site which need round-the-clock protection. If the trucks are damaged they may have to be taken out of service, leading to unplanned downtime and a knock-on effect for customers waiting on skips to be delivered or for their waste to be collected.”

The CCTV solution adopted by Premier Waste (UK) includes Dennard 260 domes and detectors placed at strategic points around the site, all linked by specialist RemVu Aquila transmission systems to the RemGuard BS 8418-compliant Remote Video Response Centre (RVRC). Here, operators can visually confirm what’s happening, call up on-screen plans of the site and even issue verbal warnings – via dedicated speakers – to any intruders who encroach on Premier Waste’s premises.

Preventing vehicle attacks

Premier Waste (UK) used to have a big problem with youths breaking into the site and ‘hotwiring’ vehicles. “They couldn’t actually move them as we have an air immobilising system in place,” explains Ridley, “but coming in time and again, morning after morning to find most of the lorries running was extremely frustrating. Never mind the cost of the fuel. Remote monitoring means that this kind of occurrence has stopped completely.”

Health and Safety monitoring

Ridley’s also keen to stress the role played by the surveillance system in keeping employees safe on site. “With their agreement, we can now monitor members of staff purely for Health and Safety reasons. We are also able to prevent local children from using the site as a ‘playground’, which is particularly dangerous given the heavy equipment on display.”

Ridley’s most happy about the fact that the remote monitoring system is pro-active, with weekly updates to identify any problems and a swift response should there be questions or specific issues raised by the end user.