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Cold Snap Warning to Nation's Homeless

1st March 2006

Homeless people are continuing to put their lives at risk by climbing into waste containers.

Waste containers found on industrial estates and at the back of supermarkets, pubs, restaurants and shops may seem like a tempting shelter from cold weather, but those that ignore warnings could be dicing with death.

The fall from a bin into the back of a waste vehicle is around 8ft onto a solid steel floor. Anyone who survives this drop risks compaction equivalent to being hit by a car travelling at 30mph!

In the winter of 2005 Biffa Waste Services – the UK's leading waste firm - recorded 47 near misses, where alert drivers found people in bins at the last minute and prevented severe injury or death.

Ray Hipkin, the company's divisional health & safety manager said 'Containers can seem like a warm place to sleep for homeless people, especially in the winter months. But these people are risking their lives by doing so.'

'There is a clear checking procedure for our operatives and this is laid down in our instructions to them. Many bins also carry warnings, but anyone who is asleep, intoxicated or determined to remain hidden, may not realise the danger they are in and can often remain undiscovered despite our best efforts.'

One homeless man in Bristol recently suffered broken limbs after being tipped into the back of a waste lorry. Another man in the West Midlands was killed when he suffered the same fate.

Biffa is asking warehouse and factory managers, supermarkets, shopkeepers, landlords and restaurant owners who know that their bins are being used by homeless people to lock them up when not in use, if possible, and to report it to their waste contractor so they can be especially vigilant.