Waste Company Fined After Unsafe Skip Stockpiling and Poor Traffic Control

Brief Summary

The HSE found multiple failures at a waste and recycling site, including dangerously stockpiled skips and poor traffic management that forced pedestrians to use the same route as large vehicles. The employer had previously been subject to enforcement action, making the breaches more serious.

What Was The Incident?

On an HSE visit in August 2022, inspectors observed vehicles and loading shovels being driven around the site, with the pedestrian entrance chained and padlocked. Pedestrians were therefore required to use the vehicle route used by tipper lorries and other vehicles. There was no effective segregation using designated pedestrian routes or crossing points. The employer had a visual traffic plan, but it was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date because site arrangements had changed. Inspectors also found skips unsafely stacked, with some deformed. In places the stack height was three high, increasing the likelihood of collapse or a skip falling. Skips were stored 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. This followed improvement notices requiring action within specified timescales, and a further investigation found the employer had previously received prohibition notices in 2019 relating to stockpiling and risks of collapse.

Key Points To Consider

Separate pedestrians and vehicles effectively. Ensure pedestrians have designated routes and crossing points so they do not share the same circulation space as lorries and other vehicles, especially where vehicles need to move freely around the site.

Keep traffic management plans current and accessible. A traffic plan is only useful if it is visible to staff and visitors and reflects the current site layout, including pedestrian movements such as access to welfare facilities.

Control skip storage to prevent collapse and falls. Do not stack skips in a way that makes collapse or falling likely, and treat any deformed skips as a sign that stability cannot be relied upon.

Match precautions to the seriousness of the hazard. Where vehicles and heavy items are involved and the consequence of collapse could be catastrophic, add proportionate safeguards to protect people working nearby.

Learn from previous enforcement and improvement notices. If you have previously received enforcement action for similar risks, address the underlying legal duties and make sustained changes, not just short term responses to notices.

HSE Prosecution Link