NWRA calls for dedicated efforts to enhance safety in recycling sector

By Paul Ploumis (ScrapMonster Author)

November 19, 2015 07:44:26 AM

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): Washington-based National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) has called for more and improved efforts to enhance safety in waste and recycling sector. According to Sharon Kneiss, President and CEO of NWRA, the organization has decided to offer necessary tools and assistance to members of the Association in an effort to face the growing safety challenges.

The comments are further to the recent release of the ‘2014 Workplace Injury and Illness Data’ report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which suggests marginal rise in rate of workplace injury and illness in the waste and recycling sector. As per BLS data, the total recordable cases of workplace injury and illness had increased slightly from 4.7 per 100 in 2013 to 5.1 per 100 in 2014. The report had also stated that waste and recycling sector ranks fifth in fatalities.

The BLS data calls for new approaches and actions to boost safety standards. According to Kneiss, the nearly 50-member Safety Committee will continue to offer updated safety information. As part of ‘best practices’ initiatives, the Association will roll out a set of videos aimed at providing educational training to refuse drivers. In addition, the initiatives will also include recommendations for post-collection facilities and on-board camera technology. NWRA will organize an industry wide “Stand Down” to focus on hazards during the first quarter of 2016.

The association urged member companies to share their safety strategies with other companies, in order to promote best safety practices across the industry. NWRA plans to convene a summit during March next year to discuss and evaluate the industry’s safety performance, Kneiss stated. The summit is expected to propose finalized comprehensive strategies and initiatives to improve safety performance of companies.