By David Biderman
There are several universal issues in the solid waste and recycling industry: 1) it is tough to recruit and retain high quality employees, 2) no one wants to live near any type of facility handling waste, and 3) keeping workers and the communities we serve safe is an ongoing challenge.
When I entered the solid waste industry in 1997 at the Environmental Industry Associations (EIA), we had a small 鈥淒river of the Year鈥� program and an ANSI Committee that established voluntary safety guidelines for trucks and facilities. The ANSI standard that is perhaps best known is the fundamental guidance that a worker should not be on the riding step of a waste collection vehicle if the truck is backing, or if it is moving forward at more than one fifth of a mile or at a speed of more than 10 miles per hour.
Safety Resources
Over the past 28 years, EIA, its successor the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), and the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) established robust safety programs to serve their members and the industry. These programs include:
- Safety training for managers and front-line employees.
- Weekly safety communications such as Safety Monday and Safety First.
- A chapter-based Safety Ambassador program to embed safety at the state, provincial, and local levels.
- Data collection and analysis.
- Participation in OSHA programs (e.g., voluntary Alliances to reduce worker injuries and illnesses).
- Advocacy for Slow Down to Get Around and Move Over laws.
- Joint action on the increasing fire risks posed by lithum-ion batteries.
- New and expanded safety awards.
Over the same time period, more than 1,000 small and medium-sized solid waste companies were purchased by larger companies or private equity funds, which presumably have broader resources to devote to safety and reducing fatal collisions and injuries. In addition, automated side loaders (ASLs) have been replacing manual rear loading trucks throughout the U.S., reducing fatality and injury risks. Finally, a variety of new technologies have been introduced on the collection side of the industry over the past two decades that should foster better safety performance. These include innovative ways to monitor the trucks and collection personnel, such as cameras in the cabs, alley cameras, and telematics.
With all of these new association safety initiatives, continued consolidation, and technological advances, surely the safety performance of the solid waste industry improved over the past few decades, right?
It has not.
A High Fatality Rate
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently issued data identifying waste collection workers as having the 4th highest worker fatality rate in the U.S. BLS has maintained a database of the 鈥渢op 10鈥� most dangerous jobs for nearly 20 years, and waste collection fluctuated between fifth and ninth, until 2023, when it rose to fourth on this list of dubious distinction. This is the highest the industry has ever been on this list, and not something to be proud of. In addition, other databases suggest collection vehicles are involved in collisions resulting in about 100 other fatalities each year (other drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, wheelchairs).
Each of these fatalities is a tragedy. The deceased is someone鈥檚 father, son, husband, mother, daughter, or wife. When a solid waste employee is killed on the job, a manager or supervisor has to make the most difficult telephone call imaginable to a family member. I hope that none of you reading this article will ever have to make that call.
Since I left SWANA in 2023, I have provided safety training to hundreds of employees at local governments and waste companies and performed several safety audits. Based on these recent activities, and as someone who has reviewed and analyzed most of the reported incidents in which a solid waste industry employee was killed or our trucks or equipment was involved in a fatality between 2003 and 2022, several themes have emerged:
Workers at smaller companies and municipal sanitation departments have a much higher risk of an occupational fatality than their brethren at larger companies.
A handful of collection workers continue to be struck and killed every year by other drivers, despite all of the attention paid to 鈥淪low Down to Get Around鈥�. While we should seek to eliminate these collisions and the distracted driving that likely contributes to some of them, they are not a leading cause of a collection worker deaths (struck by own vehicle is #1).
Safety leadership starts at the top and when a company president or a department directly prioritizes safety, and holds both themselves and their employees accountable, meaningful improvements result.
Reminding front-line employees to make smart and safe decisions needs to be a constant, including driving at or below the speed limit, wearing a safety belt in the cab, and complying with the ANSI riding step rules.
All of the new technology and ASL trucks do not matter if front-line workers are told, or believe, that management considers productivity to be more important than safety. If a supervisor holds periodic safety meetings emphasizing working more slowly, but the daily routes are 12 hours long and require cutting corners, what message do you think the drivers and helpers are hearing?
Culture Matters
Collecting and disposing of waste and recyclables is dangerous work. We need to provide front-line workers, supervisors, and managers with the skills, tools, and resources to reduce the likelihood of an injury or collision. In the industry鈥檚 ongoing effort to be more 鈥渆fficient鈥� and lean into technology, it is essential to remember that culture matters. Having a company or departmental culture in which safety culture trumps 鈥渇inishing quickly鈥� is essential if we are going to be successful in reducing accidents and injuries and getting waste collection workers off the BLS 鈥渢op 10鈥� list.
Waste Advantage is holding a free Virtual Safety Summit on March 20th from 1:00 鈥� 3:30pm ET. Attendees will hear from industry leaders, associations, and technology providers about ways to improve safety in the solid waste and recycling industry, including how to improve your safety culture. The Safety Summit is free. If someone from your company or municipal agency does not register and participate, what does that say about your commitment to improving safety outcomes at your employer? I look forward to seeing you on March 20th. | WA
David Biderman is the President of Biderman Consulting, LLC, a Virginia-based solid waste consulting firm. David is the former Executive Director of SWANA and a former Safety Director/General Counsel at NWRA. He can be reached at (703) 967-2616 or e-mail [email protected].