UPDATE: |Worker ‘lucky to be alive’ after horror on his first day captured on CCTV News

The company was fined £250,000

A man who was run over by a shovel loader on his first day of a new job is ‘lucky to be alive’, the Health and Safety Executive has said after a prosecution.

CCTV images of the horror at a recycling plant in Bury have been released by the HSE.

They show the man, wearing orange-coloured high-vis trousers, walking beside a pile of waste in a yard at the depot when the truck approaches him from behind.

He’s struck by the loader’s shovel and disappears under the vehicle.

The HSE said the then 40-year-old, who hasn’t been named, was hand picking waste when he was hit from behind.

“The digger drove over the man and had to reverse when the alarm was raised by nearby colleagues,” said the national regulator for workplace health and safety.

Waste and recycling company Wheeldon Brothers Waste Limited has now been fined £250,000 after the incident at its site off Mossdown Road in Royton, Oldham.

The HSE added: “The man, now 44, suffered a bone fracture, as well as muscle and nerve damage to his leg, after being struck by the vehicle in the yard on 28 July, 2021.

“The incident happened on his first day in employment as a waste picker.

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“An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that he had been hand picking waste after the conveyor belt they used had been removed from use after it was significantly damaged in a fire a few months earlier.

“Employees were therefore required to work directly on the ground, near moving vehicles with no separation between them, putting the workers in considerable danger. There was no risk assessment and a lack of supervision for picking and sorting waste on the ground.

“HSE guidance states that pedestrians and moving vehicles should be segregated when waste is being manually sorted. A safety bulletin was also issued a few months after this incident with specific guidance on the use of wheeled loading shovels.”

The man spent a week in hospital. He now works with a different company. The HSE said its investigation also found the company had failed to ensure there were adequate measures in place for the safe segregation of vehicles and pedestrians.

“There was no risk assessment for this altered work activity after the fire and supervision and monitoring was inadequate,” added the statement.

Wheeldon Brothers Waste Limited, based in Bury, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. At Manchester magistrates court, the company was fined £250,000 and ordered to pay £4102.32 costs.

After the hearing, HSE principal inspector Lisa Bailey said: “This man is lucky to be alive. Vehicles such as shovel loaders require plenty of space due to the number of blind spots and poor visibility.

“This incident was easily avoidable by implementing control measures and safe practises. Measures should have been implemented to ensure that workers present in the yard were not put at risk from moving vehicles in and around where they were working, including rigorous pedestrian and vehicle segregation and safe refuge for workers whilst vehicles are operating.

“This should be a reminder to the waste industry of the need to ensure that workplace transport is appropriately considered, with control measures introduced to ensure the appropriate separation of vehicles and pedestrians.”