Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Recycling company fined after a litter picker suffers life changing injuries
A recycling company has been fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £17,641.62, following a Health & Safety Executive investigation into a work incident in December 2014, in which a litter picker was struck by a shovel loader and suffered life changing injuries as a result.
Those attending the hearing at Shrewsbury Crown Court last week, heard that the loading shovel driver initially thought he had just hit the wall and had not realised he had struck someone. The driver climbed down from the cab to check for damage and found the employee badly injured on the floor.
The worker was airlifted to hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery. He was released from hospital on Christmas Eve, having lost both legs just below the knees.
James Moody Recycling of Hollybush Farm, Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector David Kivlin said: "This is a heartbreaking story where a worker suffered horrendous injuries.
"It is vital that organisations have proper risk management in place when pedestrians and large industrial machinery are working closely together.
"The waste and recycling sector, which is made up of around 120,000 workers, has a statistically higher rate of workplace injury and work-related ill health than other sectors.
"In trying to address this issue, HSE is currently the sector with an inspection initiative that will look at certain activities to ensure effective management and control of risk.
"We are calling on anyone working in the industry to take the time to refresh their knowledge of our advice and guidance, available for free on our website. Every worker has the right to return from work, safe in the knowledge that their employer takes their health & safety seriously."
HSE information and advice on waste and recycling can be found at:
26th October 2017