North Tyneside criticised for “inadequate” safety management

The comments came after the council was bound over for sentencing at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday (September 5) after pleading guilty of breaching section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at North Tyneside Magistrates' Court.

On May 2, 2006, a member of the public, Brian Kindred, was killed after a refuse truck hit him near his home in Allanville, Camperdown, as it was reversing.

HSE inspector Stephen Britton said: “This is a tragic case where we found that the council's safety management procedures were not adequate. There was no supervision in place, training was cursory and did not cover guiding vehicles in any way.

“Had the council followed the simple and straight forward control measures that have been specifically designed for the waste and recycling industry such as, training for their operators to warn the driver about pedestrians walking close to the vehicle, Mr Kindred would not have died,” he added.

Duty 

Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act states: “It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonable practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health and safety.”

A spokeswoman for North Tyneside council said she could not comment on the case while it was still active.

According to the HSE, reversing causes a disproportionately large number of moving vehicle accidents in the waste and recycling industry, with injuries to collection workers or members of the public invariably severe or fatal.

Guidance entitled ‘Waste and recycling vehicles in street collection' provides advice on reducing the risks of reversing, such as reducing the practice as much as possible and explaining the use of reversing assistants. This was drawn up by the HSE in collaboration with the Waste Industry Health and Safety Forum (WISH).