Waste Company Fined After Unsafe Skip Stockpiling and Weak Vehicle Pedestrian Segregation

Brief Summary

HSE found multiple health and safety failings at a waste and recycling site, including skips stacked up to three high and driven through areas where staff and vehicles routinely operated. Weak pedestrian and vehicle segregation and an ineffective, out of date traffic management plan compounded the risk. The employer pleaded guilty to offences and was fined with additional costs.

What Was The Incident?

During an HSE visit, inspectors saw vehicles and loading equipment moving freely around the site and found that pedestrian arrangements were inadequate. The pedestrian entrance was secured so pedestrians had to use the vehicle route, with no effective designated pedestrian routes or crossing points. The employer had a visual traffic plan but it was not available to staff or visitors and had not been updated after the site layout changed, so it did not cover key pedestrian movements. Inspectors also found skips stacked unsafely, with some deformed and with stacks up to three high in places. The skips were located in an area regularly accessed by workers on foot or in vehicles, increasing the likelihood of a collapse or falling objects.

What Was The Outcome?

The employer pleaded guilty to two offences and was fined £167,000, with costs of £16,195 ordered. HSE had previously served improvement notices requiring action within specified timescales, following earlier enforcement activity including prohibition notices in 2019 related to stockpiling and collapse risks.

Key Points To Consider

Control skip storage to prevent collapse. Do not stack skips in a way that increases the chance of collapse, especially where stacks are three high and where skips are deformed or unstable.

Keep pedestrians and vehicles safely separated. Ensure there are effective designated pedestrian routes and crossing points rather than forcing pedestrians to use vehicle routes, particularly where large vehicles operate and reversing is involved.

Make traffic plans visible and kept up to date. Traffic and site management plans must be visible to staff and visitors and updated when site configurations change so they reflect how pedestrians move across the yard.

Assess risks in areas workers regularly access. Do not place potentially unstable stored items such as skips in locations routinely used by workers on foot or in vehicles, because this increases the risk of falling or collapse during normal operations.

Act on enforcement history and legal duties. Where previous enforcement has highlighted stockpiling and collapse risks, corrective action must be effective and timely to protect employees, agency workers, and other people on site.

HSE Prosecution Link