Materials recovery and waste recycling operations, engineered end to end.
The complete NSW compliance and process safety master suite across your entire recycling plant — tipping floors, sorting cabins, trommels, optical sorters, extrusion balers, and external commodity yards.
7 documents — about $421 each.
Secure checkout via Stripe. Instant download of all 7 documents after payment.
The documented system, not just the method
Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF), commingled sorting plants, and commercial recycling operations represent some of the most dynamic, high-hazard operational environments in Australia. The continuous interaction between multi-tonne mobile plant and sorting workers on tipping floors, explosive thermal runaway fires from rogue lithium-ion batteries, severe bio-aerosol exposure in sorting cabins, and high-energy machinery entanglement risks in trommels and balers demand uncompromising safety governance.
SafeWork NSW and the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) are actively targeting waste management and resource recovery facilities with unannounced inspections. Regulators have zero tolerance for inadequate mobile plant-pedestrian separation, unmanaged battery fire hazards, missing needle-stick protections, or bypassed interlocks during conveyor de-roping. Operators facing compliance audits without verified engineering barriers, a tested lithium battery emergency plan, or positive-pressure HEPA ventilation in sorting cabins risk immediate Stop-Work Prohibition Notices, licence suspensions, and prosecution.
This Turnkey Compliance Suite delivers seven production-grade, engineering-backed compliance documents designed specifically for MRF operators, recycling facilities, and transfer stations. It provides whole-of-facility governance, heavy plant segregation standards, lithium battery thermal runaway emergency protocols, bio-aerosol hygiene management, trommel zero-energy LOTO, and sharps protection. Authored directly against NSW statutory law, it equips facility managers with an audit-ready, legally defensible compliance foundation.
- ✗The engineered 100 kN physical segregation barriers separating heavy loaders from walking staff
- ✗The emergency protocol for explosive lithium-ion battery thermal runaway and toxic gas containment
- ✗The ISO 10648 positive-pressure HEPA filtration and bio-aerosol health monitoring standards
- ✗The positive 4-stage LOTO and mechanical ram drop-pins for hydraulic balers and trommel unjamming
SafeWork NSW and the NSW EPA are actively conducting unannounced blitz inspections across recycling depots and MRFs. Operating without physical pedestrian barriers, verified battery emergency dive bunkers, and positive-pressure sorting cabins invites immediate Stop-Work Prohibition Notices and serious statutory penalties.
The 7 documents, in detail
Every document is authored for NSW, supplied as an editable, unbranded Microsoft Word file, and ready to complete for your specific assets. No blind purchase — here is exactly what you receive.
Master SOP
MRF Operations, Sorting Lines & Process Safety Governance: executive plant governance, compliance calendar, tipping floor receival, infeed metering, sorting cabin environmental controls, baler operations, finished bale yard storage, contractor permit interfaces, and management of change (MOC).
Heavy Mobile Plant & Pedestrian Segregation Standard (Traffic Plan)
traffic and pedestrian segregation standard under WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW) — physical separation of front-end wheel loaders, telehandlers, and collection side-loaders from ground sorting staff; 100 kN crash barrier specifications, interlocked tipping floor gates, optical worker-sensing zones, and mandatory radio positive communication protocols.
Battery Fire, Lithium Runaway & Explosive Waste Emergency Plan
emergency containment and response protocol for rogue lithium-ion batteries and explosive waste — automated thermal imaging (FLIR) hot-spot detection on infeed conveyors, quarantine water-immersion dive bunkers, fire-rated loader isolation buckets, hazardous toxic fluoride smoke ventilation, and Fire and Rescue NSW emergency interfaces (WHS Reg s 43 & s 359).
Bio-aerosol, Airborne Contaminant & Dust Suppression Protocol
occupational hygiene protocol for airborne bio-aerosols, mould spores, endotoxins, and respirable dust — manual sorting cabin positive-pressure HEPA filtration (ISO 10648), infeed hopper misting spray-bars, Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) verification (AS 1668.2), and 30-year occupational respiratory surveillance registers.
Trommel, Shredder & Baler De-jamming Zero-Energy LOTO Procedure
compliant with AS 4024.1 and AS 2865 — safe de-roping, de-jamming, and maintenance procedure for trommels, disc screens, optical sorters, and hydraulic balers; positive 4-stage lockout/tagout, hydraulic ram mechanical lock-pins, trapped-key interlock sequencing, and confined space entry permits.
Sharps, Needle-Stick & Biological Contaminant Screening Protocol
hazardous waste screening and exposure standard — needle-stick injury prevention on manual sort lines, ANSI Level A9 cut/puncture-resistant gauntlets, point-of-use sharps disposal canisters, compressed gas cylinder quarantine, and immediate post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) protocols.
Process Safety & Recycling Operations Risk Assessment
quantitative 5x5 process safety risk assessment covering 82 pre-identified hazards across eight process nodes — tipping floor receival, bag splitter drum, manual pre-sort cabin, trommel/disc screens, optical polymer sorters, eddy current separators, horizontal extrusion balers, and external bale storage yards.
✓All seven documents supplied as editable Microsoft Word (.docx) files in a single ZIP bundle (or available individually), licensed for single-site use. NSW orders receive instant download; interstate orders (VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, ACT, NT, Commonwealth) are customized by our process safety engineering team and delivered within 5–7 business days.
Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) & Waste Recycling Compliance Suite, ready to use
Turnkey seven-document compliance and process safety suite for commingled materials recovery facilities (MRF), municipal waste sorting plants, and commercial recycling depots in New South Wales. Includes the Master Standard Operating Procedure governing all tipping and processing lines; the Heavy Mobile Plant & Pedestrian Segregation Standard (Traffic Management Plan); the Battery Fire, Lithium Thermal Runaway & Hazardous Waste Emergency Response Plan; the Bio-aerosol, Airborne Contaminant & Dust Suppression Protocol; the Trommel, Optical Sorter, Shredder & Baler Clearing and Zero-Energy LOTO Procedure (AS 4024.1 & AS 2865); the Sharps, Needle-Stick & Hazardous Contaminant Screening Protocol; and the Process Safety & Recycling Operations Risk Assessment with 82 pre-identified hazards. Authored against the WHS Act 2011 (NSW) and WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW).
- ✓All 7 documents, authored to NSW law
- ✓Editable, unbranded Microsoft Word (.docx)
- ✓Single-site licence · use across your ABN
- ✓Instant download after payment
- ✓12 months of regulatory updates included
7 documents — about $421 each.
Secure checkout via Stripe. Instant download of all 7 documents after payment.
10 hazards, identified and controlled
These are the hazards the documents are built around — each with the consequence that makes it matter, rated by priority. This is the depth a regulator expects and a generic template does not carry.
Front-end wheel loader or telehandler with loaded bucket strikes ground worker in blind spot; fatal crush injury or traumatic polytrauma.
E-bike or power tool lithium battery crushed in shredder or baler; violent thermal runaway ejects flames, toxic hydrofluoric acid gas, and causes deep warehouse fires.
Worker entering rotating trommel or baler compaction chamber without positive mechanical isolation; catastrophic limb amputation or fatal crushing.
Prolonged exposure to fungal spores (Aspergillus) and bacterial endotoxins from contaminated recyclables; causes allergic alveolitis, occupational asthma, and chronic pulmonary disease.
Concealed hypodermic needle or broken glass penetrates glove during high-speed manual picking; transmission of blood-borne pathogens or deep wound infection.
Undetected LPG or butane cylinder compressed in extrusion baler; violent mechanical vessel rupture, shrapnel projection, and catastrophic deflagration.
Internal biological self-heating in stored paper/plastic bales leads to deep smouldering and rapid external flame escalation in bale storage yards.
Decomposition of organic residues inside unventilated trommel drum depletes oxygen (O2 <19.5%) and generates carbon monoxide; entrant collapses from acute asphyxiation.
Continuous acoustic emission (>92 dB(A)) causing permanent bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus.
Commercial cleaning chemical or pesticide container breached on infeed conveyor; toxic fumes enter sort cabin requiring emergency facility evacuation.
Where holding only a SWMS goes wrong
A commercial materials recovery facility processes 60,000 tonnes of commingled municipal recyclables annually using front-end wheel loaders, metering bag splitters, optical polymer sorters, trommels, and automated horizontal balers. The facility deploys the Materials Recovery Facility Compliance Suite: Document 00 establishes executive safety oversight and the plant compliance calendar. Under Document 01, the tipping floor is re-engineered with 100 kN rated steel crash barriers and interlocked boom gates, strictly isolating pedestrian workers from loader operating envelopes and enforcing radio positive contact. To address battery fire risks, the engineering team adopts Document 02, installing overhead thermal imaging cameras that automatically trigger water mist deluges upon detecting elevated surface temperatures (>65°C), while equipping the floor with a water-immersion dive bunker for burning e-bike packs. Inside the manual picking cabins, Document 03 enforces positive-pressure HEPA filtration (ISO 10648) and schedules 6-monthly AIOH bio-aerosol sampling. Maintenance crews follow Document 04 for all trommel de-roping, utilizing trapped-key interlocks and hydraulic ram safety pins. Document 05 supplies pickers with ANSI Level A9 puncture-resistant gauntlets and point-of-use sharps bins. The entire facility operates under an audit-tested, defensible compliance framework.
The control measures in every document
Not generic advice — the specific, hierarchy-of-controls measures written into the pack, matched to how these assets actually fail.
Built for the people who do this work
If you operate, maintain or contract to these assets in NSW, this pack is written for your duties.
- ✓Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) operators and commingled recycling centers.
- ✓Municipal and commercial waste management contractors.
- ✓Scrap metal, e-waste, and plastic recycling processing facilities.
- ✓Plant managers, sorting line superintendents, and operations directors.
- ✓WHS professionals and environmental compliance managers in the resource recovery sector.
Authored to the codes and the law
The Codes of Practice and Australian Standards these documents are measured against, and the legislation behind them.
Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Part 4.3 (Confined Spaces) & Part 5.1 (Plant)
Binding 1 Jul 2026Statutory mandates for confined space entry, positive plant isolation, machinery guarding, and emergency fire equipment.
SafeWork NSW — Code of Practice: Managing the Risks of Plant in the Workplace
Binding 1 Jul 2026Engineering standards for conveyor guarding, nip point isolation, and powered mobile plant traffic management.
AS 4024.1:2019 — Safety of Machinery
Binding 1 Jul 2026National standard governing fixed guards, interlocked access gates, emergency pull-wires, and zero-energy state isolation.
AS 2865:2009 — Confined Spaces
Binding 1 Jul 2026Mandatory standards for atmospheric testing, entry permits, standby sentries, and rescue plans for trommels and deep baler pits.
Fire and Rescue NSW — Guidelines for Bulk Waste and Recycling Storage
Fire safety standards governing maximum bale stack heights, external separation distances, water supplies, and thermal monitoring.
AS/NZS 1715 & AS/NZS 1716 — Respiratory Protective Equipment
Selection, fit-testing, and maintenance of certified P2/P3 respiratory protection against bio-aerosols and fine airborne particulates.
- §Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) — primary PCBU duty to provide a work environment without risks to health and safety.
- §Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — ss 43 (Emergency plans), 51–53 (Atmospheric risks & housekeeping), 62–77 (Confined spaces), and 203–226 (Plant guarding).
- §Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act) — environmental protection licences, waste classification, and stockpile fire pollution controls.
- §Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001 (NSW) — resource recovery operational standards and statutory recycling obligations.
- §Dangerous Goods (Road and Rail Transport) Act 2008 (NSW) — regulation of dangerous goods and lithium batteries presented in municipal recycling streams.
Frequently asked questions
The documented system, ready to complete.
7 NSW documents, instant download, editable and unbranded, yours to own — authored to the WHS Act 2011 (NSW) and WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW).
All prices AUD incl. GST · Instant download · Single-site licence · 12 months of updates
This pack is a documentation set to support due diligence — it is not compliance in itself. You must complete the documents for your specific assets, have trained and competent workers, hold calibrated equipment, drill any rescue plan on your actual assets, and — where exposure is uncertain — obtain personal exposure monitoring data from a competent person. See the full Disclaimer & Terms of Use within each downloaded document.