When the temptation and motivation to save a few seconds time, by it seems everyone, cost a life – an extreme case of powerful human factors
What happened?
A sort line operative was working at Biffa Waste Services Ltd in Bradford, a waste transfer site, in August 2023. He was walking to the site office. Instead of walking on the designated pedestrian route, he took a shortcut across the weighbridge. He was struck from behind by a reversing skip wagon. The impact caused him to fall, and he died from crush injuries from the rear wheels.
The company had a system in place for segregating members of staff from moving vehicles. There was a fixed barrier around the perimeter of the vehicles’ movement and parking zone. As members of staff left the office, they were required to exit left and walk around the barrier, thus leaving them at no risk of being hit.
So far so good, but the trouble was, many, and possibly none, of the staff complied with this requirement. By leaving the office to the right, they could walk through an open gate and cross the designated vehicle area – a short cut across, quicker and easier. And likewise, members of staff crossed the area to go to the office.
Also the barrier, while fixed and robust, could be climbed through or over.
CCTV coverage of the area revealed that on 95 occasions in the week before the accident, staff walked across the vehicle area. There was also footage of a worker dodging a moving vehicle to avoid contact, and another of a worker kicking a football as though the area was a playground.
Legal Outcome
Biffa Waste Services Ltd in Bradford pleaded guilty to breaching MHSW 5(1), and were fined £2.48 million plus costs of £5,768.06 in October 2025.
What can we learn from what happened?
While the man who lost his life clearly was not technically complying with the rules, it is hard to suggest that he was at fault or indeed there were any ‘rules’ in place, given that the custom and practice was to break them.
This is a very extreme case of the power of human factors – the temptation and motivation to save a few seconds time, coupled with a disregard for what was a sensible arrangement, further coupled with an apparent complete absence of enforcement by senior staff.
The open gate by the office that lead to the vehicle area could have been closed to dissuade use, and it could have been restricted to authorised personnel only with controlled access. Signage could have been installed to make the designated route as clear as clear can be. These and lots more measures would have been cheap and easy to implement. What would have been, and always is, more difficult to change, however, is the culture of an organisation evidenced by its beliefs, behaviours, customs and practices. And in this tragic case, this was seriously lacking.
Source of Information
Bridget Leathley – from her ‘The Safer Choice’ website
HSE website video on You Tube