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

Brief Summary

HSE found multiple health and safety failures at a waste and recycling site, including skips stacked three high in places and inadequate controls to keep pedestrians and vehicles apart. The case matters because skip stability and vehicle pedestrian arrangements are high risk areas in waste operations, and prior enforcement history increased the seriousness of the breaches.

What Was The Incident?

On an inspection in August 2022, HSE observed vehicles and plant being driven around the site, while pedestrian access was poorly controlled. The pedestrian entrance was padlocked and pedestrians were forced to use the vehicle entrance route used by 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 Although a visual traffic plan existed, it was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date because the site layout had changed, so it did not address key pedestrian movements such as access across the yard to toilets. HSE also found skips stacked unsafely, with some deformed, stacked three high in places, and placed in an area regularly accessed by workers on foot or in vehicles, increasing the likelihood of collapse or falling skips.

What Was The Outcome?

The employer pleaded guilty to two offences under section 33(1)(a). It was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £16,195 in costs. This followed improvement notices and an earlier enforcement history, including prohibition notices in 2019 relating to stockpiling and risks of collapse.

Key Points To Consider

Segregate people from vehicles using effective site layout controls. Ensure there are designated pedestrian routes and crossing points so pedestrians do not have to share vehicle routes, especially where large vehicles and reversing movements occur.

Keep traffic management arrangements visible and current. A traffic plan must be communicated to staff and visitors and reflect the current site configuration, including routes to key facilities such as toilets.

Control the stability of stored skips to prevent collapse. Avoid stacking that increases instability, and treat deformation and unsafe stacking locations as indicators that the storage arrangement needs redesign and control.

Assess and manage the risk of falling objects in pedestrian areas. Do not place skip stacks where workers regularly pass on foot or in vehicles, because falling skips can have potentially catastrophic consequences.

Act on enforcement history and legal duties to prevent repeat failures. If previous enforcement has already highlighted risks, the duty to improve is clear and immediate, with compliance measures needing to be implemented within the required timescales.

HSE Prosecution Link