Prosecutions

The firm was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a 44-year-old employee fell four metres to the ground while trying to remove waste that had become stuck on the roof of a collection vehicle.

Blackburn Magistrates' Court heard the worker from Blackburn, who has asked not to be named, had been helping to empty a skip at an industrial park in Blackburn on 7 September 2010 when the incident happened.

The employee climbed up some metal bars on the truck to reach the stuck waste and fell when the access fixings gave way. He suffered a broken right elbow and damage to his left foot.

The HSE investigation found the company, which handles more than 270 tonnes of waste every year, had allowed workers to use the metal bars to reach the top of the vehicle, despite them not being designed for this purpose.

The court was told waste often became stuck on the roofs of vehicles while the contents of overfilled skips were being emptied. But the firm did not have an acceptable health and safety procedure in place for removing the stuck waste.

The firm admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of employees. The company was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £11,661 in prosecution costs on 29 November 2011.

Speaking after the hearing, a HSE Inspector said:

"The employee was lucky he wasn't more seriously injured in the fall. He could easily have suffered life-changing injuries as a result.

"Unfortunately, the company wrongly assumed the metal bars on the front of the vehicle could be used as a ladder to climb up to the roof. They were not designed to be used in this way and this practice should not have been allowed to continue.

"Instead it should have provided an alternative way for waste to be safely removed."