A Herts-based waste and recycling company has been fined £30,000 after an employee’s leg was amputated following an accident with a telehandler.
Eco Waste and Recycling, which holds a licence authorising eight HGVs out of its Baldock operating centre, pleaded guilty to breaching both the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations when it appeared at St Albans Magistrates’ Court earlier this month. The company was also ordered to pay £3,102.50 in costs.
The employee, who was 51 at the time of the incident in March 2022, was at the company’s waste transfer site in Newnham, sorting recyclable materials by hand, when he was struck from behind by the reversing telehandler.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the incident led to the man’s right leg being amputated from above the knee. An HSE investigation found Eco Waste and Recycling failed to adequately segregate vehicles and pedestrians at its site and failed to act quickly on the findings of risk assessments. HSE inspector Adam Johnson said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided. Segregation measures should have been in place between vehicles and pedestrians.”
