The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a stark warning about the danger of vehicles at recycling sites after Smurfit Kappa was fined £5,000 following an incident in September 2009.
The incident in question saw a 60-year-old employee, who wished to remain anonymous, pushing waste cardboard onto a metal conveyor belt at the Preston site when he was forced onto it by a reversing van.
In a case brought by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), the court heard how Smurfit Kappa should have made sure pedestrians were kept away from moving vehicles by providing barriers or marked areas. In addition to the £5,000 fine, the company was also ordered to pay £4,202 in costs.
Smurfit Kappa, which has headquarters in Yate, Bristol, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 17 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, which states: “Every workplace shall be organised in such a way that pedestrians and vehicles can circulate in a safe manner.”
Commenting after the verdict, Imran Siddiqui, the investigating inspector at HSE, said: “One of Smurfit's employees suffered broken ribs as a result of the company's failings. But if he had been hit harder by the vehicle, or forced into the machine which baled the cardboard, then his injuries may have been a lot more severe.”
And, Mr Siddiqui pointed to the fact that, each year, an average of 61 deaths and 60,000 injuries are caused by vehicles in workplaces.
He added: “The company failed to control the movement of vehicles in the warehouse, despite waste materials regularly being delivered to the site. There should also have been a segregated area for pedestrians so there was no chance of anyone being injured by reversing vans.”
A spokesman for Smurfit Kappa told letsrecycle.com that it had no comment regarding the issue.
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