In December 2025, the HSE published comprehensive guidance on preventing people from getting into large waste and recycling bins, developed in partnership with the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum. This guidance sets out simple, practical measures that can save lives.
We have the same weather year on year: around October, the temperature starts to drop and does not improve much until March. This leaves individuals who find themselves rough sleeping trying to find a sheltered area to huddle up. Rough sleepers view the interior of a waste bin as a sheltered, enclosed space out of the wind and other weather elements, which could and does appear to be a place of refuge. They definitely do not envisage the bin becoming a death trap.
A case study
In May 2024, a person seeking such shelter climbed into the cardboard recycling bin behind a kitchen store. Just hours later, the bin was collected and tipped into a waste lorry. Despite the driver following proper checking procedures, the sleeper was not discovered until the body was found on a conveyor belt at a recycling depot in Flintshire. The coroner concluded that the person died from severe head and neck injuries, likely caused by being crushed.
This should be viewed as a stark reminder that the risk of a person being put into the back of a refuse lorry is not just theoretical; it happens. It is a real threat to people, and this requires business managers and waste collection services to be more alert to the situation.
HM Principal Inspector of Health and Safety for Waste and Recycling said: “No one should die because they sought shelter from the cold. Businesses and waste collectors have a clear responsibility to implement simple checks that can prevent these entirely avoidable tragedies.”
What should you do?
There are two basic ways to approach this:
- Preventing access to bins in the first place; and
- Checking bins before they are emptied.
Neither of these measures requires significant investment or complex procedures. What they require is simply put – vigilance, particularly during the colder months when rough sleepers are most likely to seek shelter.
Businesses managing bin storage areas should review their waste-storage arrangements. These are the risk factors that increase the likelihood of tragedy:
- Bin areas that are isolated, dark, and easily accessible;
- Bin lids that are unsecured and easy to open;
- Storage containing dry materials like cardboard and textiles that might attract those seeking comfortable shelter.
- Areas stored for long periods, unemptied and undisturbed.
The Waste Industry Safety and Health Forum’s guidance makes clear that waste producers and businesses managing bin storage areas have the primary responsibility for ensuring people do not get into bins. This means locating bins in secure areas, ensuring proper lighting, and training staff to watch for and report signs of people attempting to access bins.
This video from the Environmental Services Association gives waste operatives an overview of how to check if someone may be sleeping inside or around a waste container and what to do if you do find someone.
Where there are signs of people getting or trying to get into bins, businesses should use appropriate bin types to minimise risks. For example, those with lid locks, lid-opening restrictors, fixed or lockable grilles, or other access-restrictors. These security devices must be properly maintained and used at all times. During periods of cold or wet weather, these checks become even more critical.
Managing your safety
Employees who discover someone in a bin need to understand how people in such vulnerable circumstances are likely to behave and how to manage the situation and their own safety.
There is potential for aggression or violence, and workers should not attempt to restrain anyone, especially if they try to flee. The priority is helping people get out safely and reporting the incident appropriately (including under RIDDOR regulations if there are fatalities or serious injuries requiring hospital treatment).
In summary
As we move through the coldest time of the year, every business that manages commercial waste bins should review its procedures. Recording incidents where people are found in or near bins (even when no injury occurs) and sharing this information between waste producers and collectors can help all parties assess whether their control measures are adequate and identify where improvements are needed.