Waste Company Fined After Unsafe Skip Stockpiling and Poor Site Segregation

Brief Summary

The Health and Safety Executive found multiple workplace safety failures at a waste and recycling site, including skips piled up to three high and a lack of effective segregation between pedestrians and vehicles. Enforcement action followed, including improvement notices, and the company later pleaded guilty and was fined.

What Was The Incident?

During an HSE visit in August 2022, inspectors observed vehicles such as tipper lorries and loading shovels being driven around the site without effective separation from pedestrians. The pedestrian entrance was chained and padlocked, forcing people to use a vehicle route intended for lorries and other vehicles. No effective segregation existed through designated pedestrian routes or crossing points. Inspectors also found skips unsafely stacked. Some skips were deformed, reducing stability, and the stack height reached three high in places, increasing the risk of collapse or falling. Skips were located in an area regularly accessed by workers both on foot and in vehicles, heightening the risk to people if a skip fell. Although a visual traffic plan existed, it was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date after site changes, including not addressing key pedestrian movements such as access across the yard to toilets.

What Was The Outcome?

Following the initial inspection, improvement notices were served requiring actions within a specified timescale. A further investigation found the company had previously been subject to enforcement action, including prohibition notices in 2019 relating to stockpiling and collapse risks. The company pleaded guilty to two offences and was fined £167,000, with costs of £16,195 ordered.

Key Points To Consider

Separate pedestrians and vehicles effectively. Use designated pedestrian routes and crossing points so people are not forced to use vehicle circulation areas, and ensure segregation is actually effective in practice.

Keep traffic management plans current and visible. A traffic plan must be accessible and visible to staff and visitors and updated when site layouts and movements change, including pedestrian access to facilities.

Control risks from stockpiled plant and equipment. Where items such as skips are large and heavy, stacking arrangements must be safe and stable, taking account of any deformation and the effect of stack height on collapse risk.

Do not place hazards in areas people regularly access. Avoid locating potentially unstable stockpiles in zones frequently used by workers on foot or by vehicles, since this materially increases the consequences if items fall.

Act decisively after enforcement and previous prohibition. If enforcement has already been taken for similar issues, you must treat that as a clear warning and ensure corrective actions are implemented within required timescales and fully address the underlying risks.

HSE Prosecution Link