When if there is one work activity when you need to wash your hands, it’s handling waste
What happened?
Workers at World Care (Wales) Limited, a waste and recycling company, were tasked with sorting waste and recyclable materials by hand, but they had no facilities to wash and dry themselves afterwards.
It was identified through a routine inspection that the company had failed to make warm running water and soap available to employees as well as a means to dry themselves.
In addition, there had been at least one occasion where asbestos had been brought onto the site, yet they continued to not provide asbestos awareness training to employees.
An investigation by the HSE found that the company had received previous enforcement notices on several occasions over an eleven year period. On each occasion, inspectors found that the company failed to maintain the minimum health and safety standards required. These enforcement notices were in relation to welfare provisions and training.
Legal Outcome
In the July 2026 court case, World Care (Wales) Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £36,000 and £8,867 in costs.
What can we learn from what happened?
A reminder of the legal requirement for employers to provide their employees with welfare facilities, the principal ones being a clean toilet, clean drinking water and warm/hot water for hand washing.
The introduction of asbestos into the working environment made the breach that much more serious, and the eleven year serial offending will have done nothing to dissuade the HSE from taking the prosecution option. Hopefully this time, the penny will drop and the company will look after their workers better and in compliance with the law.
Source of Information
HSE Press Release