Recycling firm prosecuted after lorry crushes man

A Cheshire recycling company has been fined £10,000 after a worker lost part of his leg when he was hit by an 18-tonne truck.

WSR Recycling of Ditton Road in Widnes was prosecuted by the Health & Safety Executive after the incident, which led to the worker's left leg being amputated below the knee.

The 46-year-old man, who asked not to be named, was working in a tipping bay on 14 September 2009 when he was struck by a Volvo L110E articulated shovel loader.

WSR Recycling admitted it did not ensure pedestrians and vehicles could move around the bay safely when it appeared before Halton Magistrates' Court in Runcorn on 21 June 2010.

Chris Goddard, the investigating inspector for HSE, said: "This worker has suffered a life-long injury as a result of a tragic incident and was very fortunate not to have been killed. He was run over by a very heavy vehicle, so his injuries could easily have been much worse.

"It was foreseeable that pedestrians would be working in the same area as trucks, and so measures should have been taken to manage the risks. The site should have been properly supervised so that workers were kept away from moving vehicles.

"Waste companies cannot afford to relax about safety, and risk developing bad habits as a result."

WSR Recycling pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 17 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. The company was ordered to pay £6,338 towards the cost of the prosecution in addition to the fine.

Figures show that employees in the waste industry are ten times more likely to be killed at work, and four times as likely to be involved in an accident than the average.