Waste Company Fined After Unsafe Skip Stockpiling and Weak Traffic Segregation

Brief Summary

The HSE found multiple health and safety failures at a waste and recycling site, including skips stacked up to three high in areas regularly used by workers and inadequate separation between pedestrians and vehicles. The company had previously received enforcement action relating to stockpiling and collapse risk, and it was fined for putting people at risk of death or serious injury.

What Was The Incident?

During an HSE visit in August 2022, inspectors observed vehicles including tipper lorries and loading shovels being driven around the site with no effective pedestrian separation. A pedestrian entrance was chained and padlocked, forcing pedestrians to use the same route as lorries and other vehicles. There were no designated pedestrian routes or crossing points to manage safe movement. Although the company had a visual traffic plan, it was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date because site arrangements had changed, so it did not cover key pedestrian movements such as access across the yard to toilets. Inspectors also found skips stacked unsafely. Some skips were deformed, the stacks were three high in places, and the stacking increased the likelihood of collapse or items falling. The skips were located in areas regularly accessed by workers on foot or by vehicle, increasing the risk of falling.

What Was The Outcome?

The employer pleaded guilty to two offences under section 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act. It was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £16,195 in costs. The HSE had also served improvement notices requiring remedial action following a further visit 11 days later, and it found the company had previously been subject to prohibition notices in 2019 relating to stockpiling and collapse risk.

Key Points To Consider

Ensure pedestrians and vehicles are truly separated. Do not rely on general site assumptions or physical access changes; provide clear pedestrian routes and crossing points so people are not forced to share vehicle circulation areas.

Keep traffic management information current and visible. A traffic plan must be visible to those on site and updated when the site configuration changes, including routes for key pedestrian movements such as access to welfare facilities.

Control stockpiling to prevent collapse and falling. Large waste containers must not be stacked in a way that creates an unacceptable instability risk, especially where deformation is present and where stacks can collapse or fall.

Assess where hazards are placed, not only how they are stored. Even if containers are managed, placing them in areas regularly accessed by workers on foot or in vehicles increases exposure, so location and access patterns must drive the risk control design.

Respond decisively to previous enforcement and repeats of the same issue. If the regulator has already intervened due to stockpiling and collapse risk, the expectation is immediate and effective correction, supported by verifiable site arrangements rather than outdated or ineffective measures.

HSE Prosecution Link