Is Working In A Scrap Yard Still Potentially Dangerous

For those of a certain age that includes myself can remember spending some time in scrap yards after purchasing our first car. Very little was shelved in those days and quite frankly we didn't want it to be, because all shaved stick was more expensive. We used to take our tool boxes, be pointed to a relevant vehicle and then climb under towers of rusty old vehicles to get at the part we wanted, great fun but not what you could call safe.

Controls Are Better

As each year passed more and more safety regulations have been passed to the point that many breaker yards no longer allow customers into their yard and everything is shelved and pre-priced. Or at worse a employee will go into the yard and remove the part for you. Well that is how it should work in theory. Here we regularly post on our social media, yard fires that seem to occur at an alarming rate.

But as an employee for most yards, life has changed massively over the last 30 years or so, with proper racking, hard hat areas and quality training. But for some, clearly there are still serious safety issues. An example is a Manchester firm where the Director has been sentenced to 6 months in prison following an accident where an employee hurt his arm. This is how serious the government and courts are taking uncontrolled working areas within the breaker yard industry.

Basics Through To Heavy Machinery

In some yards the basics such as fork lift maintenance, wearing hard hats and vests and having suitable fire fighting equipment are not being adhered too as regularly reported in the press. As soon as heavy machinery is factored in the safety factor gets even more serious. It is compounded sometimes by location, ie those businesses in farms or away from industrial areas, and many that do not have any indoor storage, so a lot of work is done outside in all weathers. So we wonder if working in a breakers yard could be classed as one the most dangerous jobs in Britain?