Recycling firm fined after worker injured in fall

Priyank Malik, 22, from India, was working part-time at Country Waste Managements site on Beddington Lane on April 15 2011 when he was injured after falling through a chute into a waste-storage bay.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations, following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The HSE said that although Mr Malik only suffered minor injuries, the firm had failed to put measures in place to protect its employees and others working at height.

Westminster Magistrates Court heard last week (October 10) that One51 Recycling ES UK (South) Limited, trading as Country Waste Management, had received advice in 2010 from HSE about its responsibility to control the risks of working at height.

After Mr Maliks incident, HSE inspectors served an Improvement Notice on the company requiring it to take sufficient measures to safeguard workers from falls from height.

The HSE said that if the company had applied a risk-based approach, identifying hazards, assessing risks and implementing robust controls to protect employees and others at the site, Mr Malik’s accident could have been avoided and others at the site would not have been exposed to the risk of injury from falls.

One51 Recycling ES UK (South) Limited, of the Future Industrial Services Limited, Image Park, Acornfield Road, Kirby, Merseyside was fined 20,000 and ordered to pay 6,485 in costs.

Failure

After the hearing, HSE inspector Clare Hawkes said: The failure to take a systematic, risk-based approach to managing health and safety led to an employees fall of four metres that could have led to far more serious and even fatal injuries.

The company should have taken action to stamp out practices like crossing the openings of chutes and walking on top of loaded containers. If work at height cannot be avoided then physical low cost and simple measures should be taken, such as erecting barriers or suitable edge protection to prevent falls from open edges. Employers should have clear site rules and ensure that they are enforced.

When contacted by letsrecycle.com One51 Recycling ES UK (South) declined to comment.

HSE statistics show that more than 1,300 workers were injured in falls from height across London in 2010/11.