Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 10th October 2024 Issue no. 1133

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Waste & recycling company fined more than £100,000 after worker loses leg

A Manchester-based waste & recycling company has been fined more than £100,000 after an employee lost his leg after being struck by an excavator.

The 41-year-old man had been sorting refuse with two other colleagues at the Levenshulme site of Pink Skips (NW) in October 2022 when the incident happened.

As the trio were working, a 360-excavator was being used to move waste in the same area. CCTV footage showed that the excavator was being used close to the workers on the ground.

As one of the men was standing behind the vehicle, it suddenly reversed, striking him, and running over his leg. The injury was so severe that the leg had to be amputated above the knee. The Romanian father and grandfather has been left unable to work and still suffers from considerable pain.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that Pink Skips (NW) of Printworks Lane, Manchester, had failed to adequately segregate pedestrians and vehicles for which detailed guidance is available.

The investigation also found that hand picking regularly occurred around the excavator operating. There was a written safe system of work which stated that operatives were not to work within the swing reach area of the excavator, that barriers should be placed between operatives and machines at all times, and that banksmen should be used. However, these precautions were not being used in practice.

There was also no monitoring of the alleged systems in place, had there been, this would have highlighted that the control measures were not being used.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. This month it was fined £106,700 and ordered to pay £5,744 costs at a hearing at Manchester Magistrates' Court.

The prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Matthew Reynolds and paralegal officer Rebecca Withell.

After the hearing HSE inspector Lisa Bailey said: "The company failed to segregate pedestrians and vehicles or put in place a safe system of work for its hand sorting and picking activities, thereby exposing employees, to the risk of being struck by workplace vehicles.

"The injuries sustained here have been truly life-changing."

Guidance for working safely with vehicles is available at: www.hse.gov.uk

19th September 2024