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

Brief Summary

HSE found multiple health and safety failures at a waste and recycling site, including skips piled three high, unstable storage, and inadequate separation of pedestrians from vehicles. The employer had improvement notices issued and had previously received enforcement action for similar risks.

What Was The Incident?

HSE visited the site and observed vehicles such as tipper lorries and loading shovels moving around the yard, with no effective segregation between pedestrians and vehicles. The pedestrian entrance was chained and padlocked, forcing pedestrians to use the same route as lorries and other vehicles. Although a visual traffic plan existed, it was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date after site changes, so it did not cover key pedestrian movements. HSE also found skips unsafely stacked in places, with some deformed skips, a three high stack height in some areas, and skips positioned in an area regularly accessed by workers on foot or in vehicles. This created a high risk of a collapse or falling objects.

What Was The Outcome?

The employer pleaded guilty to two offences. It was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £16,195 in costs. Enforcement action included improvement notices requiring action within a specified timescale following the initial concerns. HSE also noted the employer had previously been subject to prohibition notices in 2019 relating to stockpiling and collapse risks.

Key Points To Consider

Maintain safe segregation of pedestrians and vehicles. Ensure workplaces are organised so pedestrians can circulate safely, with designated pedestrian routes and crossing points that are actually used and controlled, especially where vehicles operate frequently.

Keep traffic management current and accessible. A traffic plan must be visible to those who need it, kept up to date when site layouts or movements change, and it must reflect real pedestrian routes such as access to welfare facilities.

Control stacking and stability of heavy stored items. Review storage arrangements for heavy items such as skips, including stack height, condition of skips, and whether the area is regularly accessed, because instability can lead to potentially catastrophic outcomes.

Act promptly on HSE notices and previous enforcement. Treat improvement and prohibition notice themes as recurring hazards that require sustained control measures, not one off fixes, particularly where enforcement history shows the issue is not new.

Improve risk controls for reversing and vehicle operations. Where large vehicles must reverse or share space with other site users, implement additional precautions to protect people nearby and prevent vehicles and pedestrians from using the same routes.

HSE Prosecution Link