Public Safety When Visiting Work Spaces

As members of the public, we are always going into shops, railway stations, restaurants and other areas where workers are going about their daily duties.

Many of these are specifically intended for this purpose and are usually organised with visitors in mind. Problems arise when the premises are primarily a work space with visitors an afterthought – think about delivery areas at the back of the store, with its HGVs, forklifts and goods vans coming and going, with the occasional member of the public popping in for that heavy item of furniture they've just bought.

On 1 September 2026, Grimsby magistrates court fined PPS Recycling Limited £40,000 for health and safety breaches after a father and son both sustained injuries at their premises in Scunthorpe.

PPS Recycling operate a scrap metal yard. In February 2025, they had an excavator on site, shifting items of scrap around the site. At the same time, they allowed 2 members of the public onto the site to unload some scrap.

As a result of the excavator moving items, a large pile of scrap collapsed onto both father and son. Both needed hospital treatment.

As well as the fine, the company will almost certainly have to pay compensation to the injured parties, an expensive day.

With a little thought and guidance, and without much cost, the company now has a separate area for public unloading, installed signage, has implemented a supervised unloading system and developed a traffic management plan incorporating barriered walkways.

It is a sobering thought that injuries had to occur before safety measures were put in place. The same excavator had been involved in an earlier incident only a couple of weeks prior to this accident when the excavator hit the car of a member of the public who was there unloading scrap. Despite this warning, it took a serious incident to instigate change.

If you have been injured in an accident on someone else's premises, call our friendly team at Malcolm C Foy and Co for a no-obligation chat about a potential claim.

Solicitor - Personal Injury

Diane Parker

Blog Author

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