Man Dies in Bin Outrage

A body found at a Newhaven industrial waste site was crushed to death, a post-mortem has revealed. One would have thought that two Brighton men having very recently narrowly escaped death by crushing in one of the town's refuse lorries would have served as ample warning to bin men to check each communal bin for human life. It would seem the warnings went unheeded. Outrageous and scandalous!

Courtesy of The Argus

Union bosses have renewed their calls for urgent action over the safety of Brighton and Hove’s new communal bins following the death of Scott Williams. The GMB raised concerns earlier this year following two cases in which rough sleepers escaped death after sleeping in communal or business wheelie bins.

Now, it appears Mr Williams, 35, was not so lucky, being crushed to death after having been in a communal bin when it was loaded onto a refuse lorry. It is calling for investment in safety checks and condemning cuts to the refuse budget which mean no loader is now employed to check nobody is inside the bins before they are automatically emptied into the crusher.

Robert Macey LLB, GMB Organiser said: “This was obviously a tragic accident and we would wish to express our condolences both to the family of the deceased and the employees who found him.

“Since the Conservative administration began cutting the budget for the refuse service and introducing communal bins we have been warning that that this was an accident waiting to happen. There had already been two near misses earlier this year before this latest tragic accident. Whether the bins are owned by the council or private contractors, measures now need to be taken to ensure that all communal bins in the city are made safe and secured in a way that prevents people entering them and putting their lives at risk

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said:

"This is a tragic incident. The council has warned people not to get into our bins and have put stickers on the 700 street bins. We are also putting them on the other 1,000 bins we have in bin stores to remind everyone of the dangers. In addition we have worked with groups across the city to raise the issue with vulnerable people. We really hope the message gets across so that this isn't repeated."

This sounds like a rather flowery way of saying, "This is not our fault. I mean, we put stickers on the bins, so it was his fault he got crushed to death. He should have read the sticker."

Let's be realistic here. This IS the Council's fault because two men nearly died and now one man has died, horrendously. As well as putting stickers on the bins warning people not to sleep in them, the Council should have sent round firm instructions to the employees to CHECK THE BINS before emptying them, to ensure nobody is sleeping in them. It might make the job a bit longer, but hey, at least no poor individual gets crushed to death. Just a thought.