Waste Company Fined After Dangerous Skip Stockpiling

Brief Summary

An HSE inspection found serious safety failings at a waste and recycling site, including skips piled three high in areas used by workers and inadequate segregation between pedestrians and vehicles. Enforcement action followed improvement notices and the company later pleaded guilty to offences, resulting in a substantial fine.

What Was The Incident?

Inspectors visited a waste and recycling site and found multiple traffic management and stacking failures. Vehicles such as tipper lorries and loading shovels were driven around the site without effective control. The pedestrian entrance was chained and padlocked, forcing pedestrians to use the vehicle entrance route used by lorries and other vehicles. There were no effective designated pedestrian routes or crossing points, and there was no adequate segregation between vehicles and pedestrians. A visual traffic plan existed but was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date because the site layout had changed, including not covering key pedestrian movements such as access across the yard to toilets. The inspection also found skips unsafely stacked, with some deformed. Skips were piled three high in places, increasing the risk of collapse or falling. Skips were also stacked in an area regularly accessed by workers on foot or in vehicles, creating a serious risk to people if a skip fell.

What Was The Outcome?

Following further investigation after improvement notices were served, the company pleaded guilty to two offences under s33(1)(a). The company was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £16,195 in costs. HSE noted that the company had previously been subject to enforcement action, including prohibition notices in 2019 related to stockpiling and the risk of collapse.

Key Points To Consider

Separate pedestrians and vehicles effectively. Provide designated pedestrian routes and crossing points so people are not forced onto vehicle routes, and ensure segregation arrangements are effective across the whole site layout.

Keep traffic plans current and visible. A traffic plan is only useful if it is visible to staff and visitors and updated when site arrangements change, including routes to welfare facilities.

Control reversing and vehicle movements near people. Where large vehicles operate and reversing is involved, assess the risks to people nearby and implement additional precautions to protect those working and passing through the area.

Prevent unsafe stacking of heavy waste containers. Do not stockpile skips in a way that increases instability, such as piling to excessive heights or using deformed skips, and ensure stacking arrangements account for the consequences of collapse or falling objects.

Learn from previous enforcement and improve promptly. If enforcement action has previously been taken, treat it as a clear warning and ensure corrective actions address the underlying hazards, not just the immediate issues.

HSE Prosecution Link