Nine deaths in eight weeks sparks call for procedure review.
The Health and Safety Executive has called for the waste and recycling industry to rethink its procedures after the ninth fatal accident in eight weeks. In seven instances, people were killed by being hit by a moving vehicle.
Paul Harvey, Principal Inspector of HSE's Waste and Recycling Section said: "The tragedy of these incidents must act as a stimulus for the industry to review its procedures, making sure that vehicle risks are properly controlled."
He added that wherever possible pedestrians and vehicles should be segregated, and emphasised that using reversing aids such as mirrors, CCTV, detectors and beacons would reduce the risks.
"In most public access areas you will usually need to provide reversing assistants, their job being to help the driver and prevent or warn pedestrians entering manoeuvring areas when the risks cannot be controlled adequately by other means," he said.
Since December 21 three members of the public and six employees have been killed in incidents occuring in the waste and recyling industry. Of these, eight fatalities occurred between January 25 and February 21 this year. According to HSE statistics, the waste industry has an incident rate four to five times the national average.
