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

Brief Summary

HSE found multiple health and safety failures at a waste and recycling site, including poor segregation between vehicles and pedestrians and skips stacked in a way that increased the risk of collapse and falling. The employer previously faced enforcement for similar issues, yet risks continued.

What Was The Incident?

During an HSE inspection, inspectors observed vehicles including tipper lorries and loading shovels being driven around the site, with no effective segregation between pedestrians and vehicles. The pedestrian entrance was chained and padlocked, forcing pedestrians to use a route also used by lorries and other vehicles. A visual traffic plan was present but was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date after changes to site layout, including access across the yard to toilets. HSE also found skips unsafely stacked, with some deformed and stacked up to three high in places. The height and deformation increased instability. Skips were positioned in an area regularly accessed by workers, on foot or in vehicles, exposing people to the risk of skips falling and potentially collapsing.

What Was The Outcome?

The employer pleaded guilty to two offences for failing to fulfil duties to put employees and other people on site at risk of death and serious personal injury. The company was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £16,195 costs. Improvement notices were served with required actions within specified timescales, followed by a further HSE visit. HSE also found the company had previously been subject to enforcement, including prohibition notices in 2019 relating to skip stockpiling and risks of collapse.

Key Points To Consider

Segregate pedestrians and vehicles effectively. Plan and control safe circulation so pedestrians do not have to use routes shared with lorries and other vehicles, and ensure designated pedestrian routes and crossings are actually effective on site.

Keep site traffic arrangements visible and current. A traffic plan is not enough if people cannot see it and if it does not reflect current site layout, including key movement routes such as access to toilets across the yard.

Control reversing and vehicle movement risks. Where large vehicles reverse or manoeuvre near people, consider additional precautions beyond basic planning and implement them to protect those working nearby.

Prevent unsafe stacking and collapse of stored items. Do not allow stockpiled skips to become unstable through unsafe stacking height or deformation, and take account of the consequences should collapse occur.

Act on previous enforcement and close out known hazards. If enforcement action has previously identified similar risks, treat this as a clear warning and ensure corrective measures are implemented and sustained, not just addressed temporarily.

HSE Prosecution Link