Lincolnshire recycling firm Environcom was prosecuted for health and safety failings on Monday (2 February), following an incident in which an agency employee suffered a broken back.

Lincolnshire Crown Court heard that, on 22 April 2013, Desmond Adlington was passing a trailer being loaded with scrap metal at Environcom England Ltd’s site in Grantham, Lincolnshire, when a washing machine (weighing between 65 and 80 kilogrammes) came loose from the claw of a 360-degree rotating grabber machine several metres away, fell over the top of the trailer, and hit him as he passed.

He suffered fractures to three vertebrae and a broken rib as a result and was fitted with a back brace, which he had to wear for more than a year. Adlington later underwent an operation to repair the damaged parts of his spine, however he is still on medication, and reportedly suffers from impaired mobility and will require medical attention for the rest of his life.

Health and safety failings

Following the incident, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the firm; HSE officers found that although there were designated pedestrian walkways and entrances on site (which had been installed following previous HSE enforcement regarding workplace transport), two of these had fallen into disrepair and were not being used due to overspill from the firm’s recycling activities.

As such, Adlington had entered the building using the goods-in door and walked down the side of the trailer whilst it was being loaded. Despite believing that the driver of the grabber had seen him walking by, it was later found that the driver hadn’t, and had therefore continued the loading operations while Adlington was nearby.

HSE therefore served Environcom with two Improvement Notices: one in relation to a safe system of work for the grabber machine, and the other for ‘effective control, monitoring and review of measures’ to prevent risks to pedestrians from vehicle movements.

In court on Monday, Environcom pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (failing to ensure the safety of its workers as well as those not employed by the company).

The court fined the firm £100,000 for these failings and ordered it to pay £16,286 in costs.

Adlington has “needlessly been left with serious injuries”

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Dr David Lefever commented: “This incident, which could easily have resulted in Mr. Adlington’s death, was entirely preventable had the company maintained the pedestrian walkways previously required by HSE.

“It is vital that pedestrians are separated from the dangers posed by vehicles. The company let the walkways become blocked so pedestrians had to use other routes, including the main vehicle entrance to factory.

“As a result of this, Mr. Adlington has needlessly been left with serious injuries which will no doubt affect him for the rest of his life.”

A spokesperson for Environcom commented: “The accident involved a third-party contractor we employed for their specialist expertise and shortly after the incident we ceased using this system of grabber, after consultation with the Health and Safety Executive. We have worked with the Health and Safety Executive to implement new procedures for the safe operation of this area of the business. In addition, we have introduced tighter supervision to prevent people walking in restricted areas and to reduce risks to pedestrians from vehicle movements.

"We of course are extremely sorry for Mr. Adlington's position and understand he has received significant injuries. Since the incident we have supported him extensively in every way available to us and worked with his agency employer to do the best to help him."

The company added that it has also “strengthened” its health and safety team, ensured that health and safety briefings “form a key part of all team communications from the shop floor to the Board”, and seen that all of Environcom’s site managers are NEBSOH level 3 qualified.

Waste sector ‘one of the most dangerous’

Injuries and deaths in the waste sector are not uncommon, and the HSE has branded the industry as ‘one of the most dangerous’ sectors to work in after finding that 10 workers and three members of the public suffered fatal injuries in the waste and recycling sector in 2012/13, compared with an average of six deaths in the past five years.

Further, the executive has found that vehicles at work are a major cause of serious and fatal injuries, with more than 5,000 incidents involving transport in the workplace occurring each year. About 50 of these incidents result in deaths.

To reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured in the waste and recycling industry, HSE has published the ‘Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) blueprint 2012-15’, which outlines 24 ‘immediate action points’ that companies dealing with waste and recycling need to take to provide clearer training and safer workplaces.

Find out more about the WISH blueprint