Waste Company Fined After Unsafe Skip Stockpiling and Poor Site Traffic Control

Brief Summary

HSE found multiple health and safety failures at a waste and recycling site, including skips stockpiled three high in areas where people regularly worked or moved, and poor traffic and pedestrian arrangements that left workers exposed to vehicle movements. The employer had already received enforcement action for similar risks, making the repeat failures a key feature of the case.

What Was The Incident?

On an inspection in August 2022, HSE observed vehicles including tipper lorries and loading shovels moving around the site without effective pedestrian separation. The pedestrian entrance was chained and padlocked, so pedestrians had to use a route intended for vehicles. There were no clearly 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 Although a visual traffic plan existed, it was not visible to staff or visitors and was out of date because the site layout had changed since it was produced, and it did not cover key pedestrian movements such as access across the yard to toilets. HSE also found skips stacked unsafely, with some deformed, increasing instability. In places the skips were stacked three high, raising the likelihood of collapse or falling. The skips were positioned in an area regularly accessed by workers, either on foot or in vehicles, placing them at significant risk of injury if a stack fell.

What Was The Outcome?

The employer 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. HSE also previously served prohibition notices in 2019 relating to stockpiling and risks of collapse, and following further improvement notices in 2022 requiring specific actions within set timescales, HSE continued investigation and enforcement.

Key Points To Consider

Separate people from vehicle routes. Make sure pedestrians have safe designated routes and crossing points so they are not forced onto vehicle routes, particularly where vehicles circulate freely around the site.

Treat unstable storage as a collapse risk. Control how skips and similar items are stored, especially where items can become deformed, stacked too high, or placed where they can fall onto people on foot or in vehicles.

Keep traffic plans current and visible. A visual traffic plan must be accessible to staff and visitors and updated when the site layout changes so it still reflects real pedestrian movements and vehicle movements.

Plan reversing and vehicle movement safeguards. Where large vehicles reverse or need complex movement, assess the risk to those nearby and implement additional precautions to reduce the chance of serious harm.

Act on previous enforcement without delay. Repeat enforcement matters, so improvement notices and prior prohibition notices must result in effective, sustained changes rather than short term fixes that leave workers exposed.

HSE Prosecution Link