Skip firm fined after worker crushed by telehandler

A waste and recycling company has been fined after an employee suffered life-changing injuries when he was crushed by a reversing telehandler.

Jordan Campion, 21, had been hand-sorting waste alongside three colleagues at Sheridan Skips Burnley Limited's yard on 12 March 2024 when the vehicle reversed into him, pinning him against a brick wall.

He sustained multiple fractures, internal injuries, nerve damage to his right arm, partial hearing loss and permanent sight loss in his right eye.

Mr Campion, from Burnley, who spent nearly two weeks in hospital, said the incident had caused "great distress" to his family, who "never thought that I wouldn't be safe in work".

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found workers regularly operated on foot in the same yard on Clifton Street as moving vehicles, with no physical separation or safe refuges put in place.

Inspectors said the company had failed to carry out a suitable risk assessment and had not addressed poor visibility on the telehandler, which was missing reversing mirrors.

Sheridan Skips Burnley Limited, of Cathedral Gates, Manchester, admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the HSE said.

The firm was fined £24,000 and ordered to pay £4,770 and £2,070 in court fees and a victim surcharge respectively at Blackburn Magistrates' Court on 11 March.

HSE inspector Anthony Banks said the injuries "could so easily have been avoided" with basic controls such as segregating pedestrians and vehicles.

"This should serve as a reminder to businesses in the waste industry," he added.

The BBC contacted Sheridan Skips Burnley Limited for a comment.

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