Potentially fatal risks are posed by rough sleepers who seek shelter in large commercial or communal waste bins and may be inadvertently tipped into waste-collection trucks, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned.

Simple control measures for organisations who manage large commercial bins and storage areas on housing estates, and those who collect the waste, are set out in HSE’s guidance on preventing people getting into large waste and recycling bins.

The guidance includes:

• increased risk factors, such as unsafe storage areas and bins being too accessible
• duties of waste producers and/or businesses managing bin storage areas
• what waste collectors need to do
• what you should do if people are found in bins.

HSE says businesses should focus on reducing the likelihood of people getting inside the bins in the first place. Equally, collection services should check that nobody is inside the bin before it is emptied.

It is strongly recommended that organisations:

• review their waste-storage arrangements
• confirm that contractors have appropriate checking procedures
• incorporate bin inspection into their health and safety risk assessments – especially during colder months when rough sleepers are more likely to seek shelter.

More details are available in the HSE Waste Industry Safety and Health Forum (WISH) guidance on managing access to large waste and recycling bins (scroll down to ref no WASTE 25).

HSE is also supporting industry awareness campaigns on this topic, including the following video: Situational Awareness: People in Bins.