Toppling waste bale fatally injured passing worker

A recycling firm must pay penalties of more than £157,000 after a worker died when a bale of waste fell off a stack and crushed him. Kenneth Swaby was hit by the bale as he walked past a five-metre-high stack at R&S Recycling’s site near Redditch three years ago. Three of the bales toppled over and one landed directly on top of him, killing him instantly. When the HSE investigated, inspectors discovered that R&S had not stored and stacked waste materials safely at the site. Worcester Crown Court was told on Tuesday (4 February) that stacks of unstable material, such as baled paper and plastic, should slope backwards towards the top, and the bales should be interlocked for stability. Employers should also check the stack regularly, and where bales can fall, workers on the ground should be kept well clear. At R&S, the stacks of bales were uneven and too high, and there were no measures to prevent employees approaching them on foot. “The risks from materials falling from storage at height are clear, and there are necessary procedures for the safe management of bales in stacks,” said HSE inspector Jan Willets. “Yet on this occasion, Mr Swaby was able to walk right next to these unstable bales, with devastating consequences.” The judge fined R&S Recycling £100,000 and ordered it to pay £57,927 in costs after it admitted breaching Regulation 10(4) of the Work at Height Regulations.