Waste Company Fined After Unsafe Skip Stockpiling and Poor Traffic Segregation

Brief Summary

HSE found multiple workplace health and safety failures at a waste and recycling site, including poor segregation between pedestrians and vehicle routes and skips stacked up to three high in areas regularly accessed by workers. The employer was previously subject to enforcement action related to stockpiling and risk of collapse. Following a prosecution, it pleaded guilty to offences and received a fine and costs.

What Was The Incident?

During an HSE inspection on 11 August 2022, inspectors observed vehicles, including tipper lorries and loading shovels, circulating freely around the site. The pedestrian entrance was chained and padlocked, so pedestrians had to use the same route as lorries and other vehicles. There was no effective segregation through 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 Although a visual traffic plan existed, it was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date after site changes, including not addressing pedestrian movements such as access across the yard to toilets. Inspectors also found skips stacked unsafely, with some deformed and stacked three high in places. The stacking created an increased likelihood of collapse or falling, and skips were located in an area regularly accessed by workers on foot or in vehicles.

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 also reported that prohibition notices had previously been served in 2019 regarding stockpiling and risks of collapse, and that improvement notices were issued after the later concerns to require remedial action within set timescales.

Key Points To Consider

Segregate pedestrians and vehicles with workable site controls. Ensure pedestrians have safe, designated routes and crossing points and do not end up sharing vehicle routes, especially where vehicles circulate freely around the yard.

Keep traffic management information visible and current. A traffic plan is not enough if it is not visible to people on site or if it has not been updated when the site layout or pedestrian movements change.

Manage reversing and complex vehicle movements. Where large vehicles reverse, you must consider additional precautions and implement them where needed to protect people working nearby.

Do not stockpile skips in a way that creates collapse and falling risk. Treat the size and weight of skips seriously, avoid over tall stacking such as three high in places, and remove or prevent use of deformed skips that add instability.

Learn from previous enforcement and act on improvement notices promptly. If you have previously been warned about stockpiling and collapse risks, do not repeat the same weaknesses and ensure actions required by improvement or prohibition notices are completed within the required timescales.

HSE Prosecution Link