REPORT
A selection of recent plantrelated
investigations by the
Health and Safety Executive
conveyor belt on an automated waste
picking line at, when it became damaged
and needed repair. While the operative
was working to repair the conveyor line,
it started moving and his arm became
entangled, which caused muscle and
tissue damage.
The HSE investigation found that
AWM site supervisor Andrew Hughes,
who had control of the site in the
absence of the site manager, was
responsible for completing a permit
for the repair work and isolating the
line. However, on his way to complete
the permit he became distracted with
another matter, and the permit to work
and isolation were not completed. This
meant that the conveyor belt restarted
during the repair work, injuring the
employee. As a result, Hughes pleaded
guilty, was given a four-month prison
sentence suspended for 12 months and
ordered to pay costs
of £1,000.
Adirector of a former car salvage
company has been jailed for failing
to comply with HSE enforcement
notices. Newport Crown Court heard
that between 2018 and 2021, Tahir Karim
was in control of activities and persons
working at the site known as Long Life
Spares (pictured below), at Graddfa
Industrial Estate, Llanbradach and failed
to comply with four enforcement notices.
The notices had been served in relation
to structural safety and the use of unsafe
forklift truck vehicles.
An investigation by the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) found that Karim
had failed to comply with all of the
prohibition notices served. However,
he was aware of the risks and directed
workers to act in a way that contravened
the prohibitions and risked their own
safety.
Tahir Karim was sentenced to 12
months imprisonment. Speaking after
the hearing, HSE inspector Sian Donne,
Wheeled loading shovels in waste
and recycling: HSE safety notice However, says HSE,
The Health and Safety Executive
reminds operators of wheeled loading
shovels of the need to fully assess and
actively manage the risk of vehiclepedestrian
collisions (see also pp28-9).
There have been nine fatal vehiclepedestrian
collisions in the past four
years involving wheeled loading shovels.
Six of these were in the waste and
recycling sector, while the remainder
involved wood chip. Some were due
to poor forward visibility, while others
resulted from reversing. Larger-capacity
buckets had been tted to some
machines, further reducing forward
visibility.
Wheeled loading shovels (not
pictured) are versatile machines, widely
said “We do not tolerate disregard for
health and safety and consider the noncompliance
of HSE enforcement notices
as a serious o ence.”
Also given a prison sentence
was Andrew Hughes of Heathmoor
Park Road, Illingworth, Halifax,
West Yorkshire, a site supervisor at
Associated Waste Management (AWM)
Ltd in Canal Road, Bradford. Leeds
Crown Court heard that, on 20 October
2016, an operative
was working on a
this is likely to make
forward visibility worse.
Some manufacturers add
‘visibility slots’ or mesh
at the top of the buckets
to mitigate this problem, but evidence
from investigations suggests these are
ine ective when the bucket is in the
carry position or obscured by the load.
Manufacturers and other specialist
suppliers have been developing camera
systems for some time to address the
forward visibility problems with these
vehicles. However, until these are
proven and widely available, the only
e ective control measure currently
is strict segregation of vehicles and
pedestrians, according to the HSE.
For more information, see the full
notice via www.is.gd/idotim.
used in the waste
and recycling
sector. However, driver visibility is
a ected by various blind spots caused
by the bucket (and load), the engine at
the rear and the cab pillars. These can
signi cantly reduce the driver’s ability to
see pedestrians and, to a lesser extent,
other vehicles, reports the HSE.
In recent years, tting larger capacity
buckets has become common practice
where low-density material is being
moved. It allows more to be carried in
each load while remaining within the
design capacity of the machine. These
are available from the original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs), as well as from
the aftermarket supply chain.
Winter 2021 www.operationsengineer.org.uk 99
/idotim
/www.operationsengineer.org.uk