City council fined £15k after litter picking employee hit by car on busy road

A city council has been fined £15,000 after a worker suffered serious injuries whilst litter picking on a city road.

Manchester City Council had pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was ordered to pay £3,380 in costs as well.

The 60-year-old litter picker had been attempting to cross Princess Parkway, a busy road with a 40mph speed limit, when he was struck by a car on 9 July 2013. 

He sustained serious injuries including four broken ribs, a punctured lung, a cut to the liver, a fractured right eye socket, fractures to his face and a broken pelvis. His injuries were so severe that he has still not been able to return to work. 

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that the local authority did not have a safe system of work in place. Nor had the council identified being struck by a car as a risk associated with litter picking work.

The HSE investigation also found that staff had not been given any information about controlling or informing traffic about them working on or near the road. 

After the incident the watchdog served an improvement notice on the council.

HSE Inspector Emily Osborne said: “A council worker suffered serious injuries that could easily have been prevented had suitable actions to reduce risk been taken. 

“Any work requiring people to be close to moving traffic needs to be properly assessed. Workers need to be protected and motorists need to be made aware that there may be people working in the road ahead.”

She added: “As a result of the incident and the improvement notice, the council has implemented further controls including updating health and safety training, providing more signs and implementing a new monitoring and review process.”