Three people died in incidents related to the waste and recycling sector in three consecutive days last month, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has revealed.
This brings the total number of deaths for the 2011/12 financial year -all occurring within a three months period -to five.
The first incident took place less than one month after the HSE, the body responsible for encouraging and enforcing health and safety legislation in England, Scotland and Wales, revealed to letsrecycle.com that there had been no deaths in the sector for the financial year so far (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, it is likely that, with just three months left of 2011/2, the number of fatalities is this financial year may be lower than the nine recorded for the sector in 2010/11. The provisional figure of nine deaths for the previous year was revealed in June (see letsrecycle.com story).
The first fatality of 2011/12 occurred on October 12 in which William Ward a 55-year-old employee of European Metal Recycling was fatally injured at Tamworth, Warwickshire, when the side of the steel barge he was dismantling fell on him.
The second fatality of 2011/2012 happened on November 14 56-year-old Susan Brooks, an employee of Armstrongs Environmental Services Ltd died when she was struck by a vehicle at its Horwich Recycling Centre, Bolton.
In December three people died in three consecutive days in the sector.
Alex Corrie
The first of the three December fatalities happened in Kilmarnock, Scotland, on December 12 which saw 71-year-old Malcolm Kennedy, an employee of Alex Corrie Skip Hire, die when a large steel gate fell on him.
SITA UK
On December 13 Zayni Yousef, a 23-year-old member of the public, was struck by a waste vehicle operated by SITA UK in Brent, London. The incident took place at approximately 9:30am.
SITA UK today (January 4) confirmed that its vehicle was involved and the incident was still being “investigated by ourselves, the police and the HSE and it would therefore be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time”.
The scene was attended by the Metropolitan Police and the London Ambulance Service. Detective Sergeant Chris Osborne, the senior investigating officer, said: “We are continuing to appeal for witnesses. This collision happened at a busy time and although this is a private trading estate we know a lot of people use it as a cut through to Willesden High Road.
The driver of the vehicle was arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving but has since been bailed and is due to return in April 2012 pending further enquiries. The collision is being investigated by the Road Death Investigation Unit at Alperton Traffic Garage.
James Environmental Management
The most recent fatality was that of Jason Griffin, a 31-year-old recycling supervisor for James Environmental Management Ltd (JEM), based in Merseyside.
JEM provides waste management and recycling solutions to the industry such as consultancy as well as the provision of recycling equipment such as balers, compactors and composting equipment.
Mr Griffin was working at the facility at Harper Lodge Farm, in Radlett, Hertfordshire, when he was fatally injured in an incident involving recycling machinery. The incident took place at approximately 4:30pm on December 14.
It is understood that Mr Griffin was working on a compactor when the incident occurred.
Ambulance crews from Berkhamstead, St Albans and Watford as well as the hazardous area response team attended the scene. Ambulance service spokesman Gary Sanderson said: This was a very delicate and difficult incident for all the emergency services to deal with and sadly after everyones best efforts, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
JEM provides packaging recycling services to the Expert Logistics whosesite in Radlettit operates from. Expert Logistics, and its parent company white goods retailerDRL Limited,are not under investigation in connection with the incident.
The HSE has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the accident. The compactor manufacturer, which has yet to be named, is also under investigation in connection with the incident, according to the HSE.
A spokeswoman for the HSE said: The HSE are investigating the case. The police are not involved. Hertfordshire police confirmed that the investigation had immediately been referred to the HSE.
A spokesman for JEM told letsrecycle.com: We have expressed our condolences to Mr Griffin’s family. We are assisting the Health and Safety Executive with its investigation.
Subscribe for free