Waste firm fined after worker run over by excavator

Photo: HSE

Farm XS (Northern) Limited, based in Barnard Castle, County Durham, was sentenced following an incident on 29 January 2024 at its Staindrop Road site.

The 24-year-old employee was struck from behind by an excavator and run over, suffering fractures to both feet.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Farm XS (Northern) Limited had failed to establish a safe system of work.

The employee was working on a waste pile near moving vehicles without any physical separation or segregation between pedestrians and machinery. There was no risk assessment or system of work to protect workers from vehicle movements.

HSE guidance states clearly that pedestrians and vehicles should be segregated when waste is manually sorted, and by law, employers must ensure that traffic routes can be used without risking worker safety. Guidance is available at hse.gov.uk under “Transport movements.”

The case was heard at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on 5 August 2025, where Farm XS (Northern) Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £4,285 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Richard McMullen said: “The outcome could have been much worse. But the failures that day meant a worker received serious injuries.

“This incident was easily avoidable by implementing control measures and safe practices to ensure that workers were not put at risk from moving vehicles, including clear segregation and safe refuges.

“This should be a reminder to the waste industry of the need to consider workplace transport risks and to introduce appropriate control measures to separate vehicles and pedestrians.”