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

Brief Summary

HSE found multiple health and safety management failings at a waste and recycling site, including skips stacked three high with signs of deformation, inadequate pedestrian routes, and a traffic plan that was not accessible or kept up to date. The employer also had a history of enforcement for similar issues, leading to a fine and enforcement action following improvement notices.

What Was The Incident?

During an HSE visit in August 2022, inspectors observed vehicles and loading equipment moving around the yard with no effective segregation between vehicles and pedestrians. The pedestrian entrance was locked, forcing pedestrians to use the vehicle route. There were no designated pedestrian routes or crossing points. Although a visual traffic plan existed, it was not visible to staff or visitors and did not reflect changes to the site layout, including how people moved across the yard to toilets. Inspectors also found skips stacked unsafely, with some deformed and therefore more unstable, and in places used regularly by workers on foot or in vehicles. In some areas the stacks were three high, increasing the likelihood of collapse or a falling skip, with potentially serious consequences.

What Was The Outcome?

The employer pleaded guilty to two offences. It was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £16,195 in costs. HSE had served improvement notices requiring corrective action within a specified timescale, and the later investigation found the employer had previously faced enforcement, including prohibition notices in 2019 relating to stockpiling and risks of collapse.

Key Points To Consider

Provide effective separation between pedestrians and vehicles. Plan and implement designated pedestrian routes and crossing points so people do not have to use vehicle routes, and ensure segregation arrangements remain effective across the whole site, not just on paper.

Keep traffic management plans visible and current. A traffic plan must be accessible to staff and visitors and updated when the site layout or movements change, including key pedestrian movements such as routes to welfare facilities.

Control risks from stockpiled materials with a realistic stability assessment. Check how stored skips and similar items are stacked and whether they show deformation or other signs of instability, since these factors increase the risk of collapse and falling loads, particularly where stacks are near regular work areas.

Do not leave high risk storage next to normal access routes. Keep potentially unstable stockpiles out of areas that workers routinely access on foot or as part of vehicle movements, and ensure arrangements prevent people being in the fall zone if items were to topple.

Respond properly to previous enforcement and improvement notices. Where earlier enforcement has highlighted legal duties, treat it as a clear warning to embed compliant arrangements and prevent recurrence, rather than relying on temporary measures or outdated planning.

HSE Prosecution Link