Waste Company Fined After Unsafe Skip Stockpiling and Poor Site Segregation

Brief Summary

The Health and Safety Executive found multiple safety failings at a waste and recycling site, including inadequate vehicle and pedestrian separation and skips stacked in a way that increased the risk of collapse. The company was fined following guilty pleas, with evidence that enforcement action had previously been taken for similar risks.

What Was The Incident?

HSE inspectors visited a waste and recycling site and observed vehicles including tipper lorries and loading shovels being driven around freely. The pedestrian entrance was chained and padlocked, forcing pedestrians to use the vehicle route. There was no effective segregation using designated pedestrian routes or crossing points. Although a visual traffic plan existed, it was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date because site changes meant it did not reflect key pedestrian movements such as access to toilets. Inspectors also found skips unsafely stacked, with some deformed and stacked three high in places. The stack height and deformation increased instability, and the skips were located in an area regularly accessed by workers on foot or in vehicles, creating a high risk of falling or collapse.

What Was The Outcome?

The company pleaded guilty to two offences. It was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £16,195 costs. HSE had previously served prohibition notices in 2019 relating to stockpiling and risks of collapse, and improvement notices were served after the initial visit requiring action within set timescales. A further HSE visit took place 11 days later to follow up the breaches.

Key Points To Consider

Provide effective pedestrian and vehicle segregation. Ensure pedestrians have safe designated routes and crossing points and do not rely on forcing them to share vehicle routes, especially where vehicles move around freely.

Keep traffic management plans visible and current. A traffic plan must be visible to those on site and updated when the site layout changes, so it accurately covers how people move, including access to facilities.

Control the risks from stored skips and stacking height. Treat skip storage as a collapse and falling hazard, particularly where skips are deformed or stacked to heights that increase instability.

Reduce exposure by managing where storage sits. Do not place high risk storage such as stacked skips in areas workers regularly access on foot or by vehicle unless risks are reduced to an appropriate level.

Act on enforcement history and improvement notices. If previous enforcement action has highlighted similar duties and risks, ensure corrective actions are completed effectively and within timescales rather than repeating known failures.

HSE Prosecution Link