Waste Company Fined After Skips Stockpiled Three High and Poor Pedestrian Vehicle Control

Brief Summary

HSE found multiple health and safety failures at a waste and recycling site, including skips stacked three high in areas used by workers and poor segregation between pedestrians and vehicles. The employer had enforcement history related to stockpiling and collapse risks, making the failings more serious.

What Was The Incident?

HSE visited the site and observed vehicles moving freely around the yard, with the pedestrian entrance chained and padlocked. Pedestrians were forced to use the vehicle route without any 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 Although a visual traffic plan existed, it was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date after changes to site layout, including pedestrian movements to toilets. HSE also found skips stacked unsafely, with some deformed and therefore less stable. In places the stack height was three high, which increased the likelihood of a collapse or falling skips. The skips were located in an area regularly accessed by workers on foot and by vehicles, creating a serious risk of people being struck or harmed if skips fell.

What Was The Outcome?

The employer was prosecuted for failing to meet its duties to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of employees, agency workers and other persons on site. It pleaded guilty to two offences under s33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £16,195 in costs. Improvement notices were served and a later investigation found previous enforcement action including prohibition notices in 2019 relating to stockpiling and risks of collapse.

Key Points To Consider

Keep vehicles and pedestrians properly separated. Organise site traffic so pedestrians have designated routes and crossing points, and ensure vehicle movements do not force people onto the same paths without safe segregation arrangements.

Maintain a traffic management plan that people can actually use. A plan must be current and visible to staff and visitors, and it must reflect real site layout and key pedestrian movements such as access routes within the yard.

Control skip storage to prevent collapse and falling loads. Avoid stacking skips in ways that increase instability, especially where deformed skips are present or where stack height increases the likelihood of collapse or falling.

Do not place storage hazards where people pass. Assess whether stored skips are positioned in areas regularly accessed on foot or by vehicles, and remove or redesign storage locations to reduce exposure to falling objects.

Act quickly when enforcement is issued and learn from past action. When improvement notices and prior enforcement have already highlighted legal duties and risks of stockpiling, ensure changes are implemented within required timescales and verify they effectively reduce risk in practice.

HSE Prosecution Link