Recycler fined for tyre bale incident

The Health and Safety Executive has prosecuted and fined tyre collection and recycling company Saltire Recovery Ltd following an incident at the company’s Burton-on-Trent facility last July. Saltire Recovery pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to protect its employees, and was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,722.

On 4 July 2012, 19-year old employee Lewis Peach was injured when he was struck by falling bale of compressed tyres at the Cascade Works in Wellington Road. He was airlifted to hospital when the bales, each weighing nearly a tonne, bounced on to him. One bale trapped him by the leg. The Health and Safety Executive launched an investigation and reported to Stafford Magistrates’ Court that Saltire Recovery, which grades and sorts tyres for resale, failed to ensure a safe system of work was in place for stacking the bales of shredded and compressed tyres.

As a result of the incident, Peach suffered a broken pelvis, left foot, ankle and leg, right arm, hand and wrist, and two bones in his neck were fractured. He also received deep cuts to his left leg. Peach was hospitalised for 11 days and is still off work.

The Health and Safety Executive found the bales had not been stacked safely and were unstable. There was no safe system of work for stacking them, which needed particular skill due to their irregular size and shape. Magistrates heard that there was no inspection regime to identify an unstable stack and the company had failed to prevent pedestrian access to the area.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Dr Marie-Louise Riley-Roberts said: “Mr Peach’s injuries were extensive and he was fortunate he was not killed in this incident. Saltire Recovery Limited failed to take the simple and effective measures that could have prevented this happening. Their failings had existed for a considerable time and it is a matter of luck that an incident such as this had not happened before.

“In addition to having no safe system for stacking these very heavy bales, there was no inspection procedure to identify any instability and close access to the stacks was not prohibited,” Dr Riley-Roberts added. “Employers who neglect their duty to protect workers will continue to be held to account where they fail to do so.”