Waste Company Fined After Unsafe Skip Stockpiling and Poor Vehicle Pedestrian Separation

Brief Summary

HSE found multiple health and safety failures at a waste and recycling site, including skips piled up to three high in areas where workers could be exposed, and ineffective segregation between vehicles and pedestrians. The company was fined and ordered to pay costs, and this followed earlier enforcement action for similar risks.

What Was The Incident?

When HSE inspectors visited, vehicles and plant were driven around the site with no effective arrangement to keep pedestrians separate. The pedestrian entrance was chained and padlocked, forcing pedestrians to use the same route used by lorries and other vehicles. Although a visual traffic plan existed, it was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date after changes to the site layout, so it did not address key pedestrian movements. Inspectors also found skips stacked unsafely, with some deformed and piled three high in places. The instability and increased height raised the likelihood of collapse or skips falling, and the stacking was in an area that workers regularly accessed on foot or in vehicles.

What Was The Outcome?

The company pleaded guilty to two offences under section 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £16,195 in costs.

Key Points To Consider

Separate pedestrians and vehicles effectively. Relying on a shared route is not enough; provide clear pedestrian routes and crossing points and ensure people can move around the site without being exposed to moving vehicles and reversing vehicles.

Keep traffic management plans visible and current. If site configurations change, update traffic plans and ensure they are visible to staff and visitors so that pedestrian and vehicle movements are controlled based on the current layout.

Control skip storage to prevent collapse and falling loads. Do not allow skips to be stacked in a way that increases instability or fall risk, especially where skips are deformed or stacked to excessive heights.

Do not store high risk items in areas workers regularly access. Keep unstable or heavy materials out of routine pedestrian and vehicle paths so that workers are not exposed if stock collapses or a skip falls.

Act promptly on enforcement history and improvement notices. Where enforcement action has already been taken for the same type of hazard, treat subsequent notices as a clear requirement to implement lasting control measures rather than revisiting the same unsafe arrangements.

HSE Prosecution Link