Recycling Association declares week-long National Safety Stand Down

By Paul Ploumis

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) has announced that the first National Safety Stand Down event of 2017 will be held during the week of January 23-27. The week-long awareness and training initiative on Vehicle Backing, sponsored by 3rd Eye, will focus on reducing accidents, fatalities and injuries related to truck backing incidents. Incidentally, recent research study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had highlighted that large trucks were responsible for 98% of backing crash facilities involving cars. In an attempt to make recycling industry safer, NWRA hosts three different Safety Stand Downs annually.

According to NWRA, companies participating in the Stand Down will join hundreds of waste and recycling companies across the country, in carrying out risk assessment at job sites and review of safety procedures for backing. The companies will focus on providing necessary training to employees on any changes further to review of existing policies. In addition, the participating companies will ensure that relevant Stand Down materials are posted to company websites, social media sites and company meeting rooms. The event will share with company employees, a series of five editions of Safety Monday. The participating companies will be provided valuable resources to distribute and use to train employees. The campaign aims to create awareness about safe truck backing throughout the industry, in collaboration with other organizations.

The NWRA press release noted that participants of any of the 2016 Safety Stand Downs will be automatically enrolled to this Safety Stand Down on Vehicle Backing. Until now, over 100 companies and municipalities have registered for the stand down event.

The Safety Stand Down events organized by NWRA in 2016 was marked by overwhelming participation by waste and recycling companies.

The first event held during January 2016 had focused around reducing accidents, fatalities and injuries related to truck backing incidents that represents a common challenge for the industry.

The second Safety Stand Down event was held from May 16th to 20th, 2016. The Stand Down on Water, Rest and Shade had focused on health of recycling industry workers during extremely hot weather conditions during summer months. The event had helped to raise awareness, prevent, and teach waste and recycling industry workers and employers about the dangers of working in hot weather and provide valuable resources to address these concerns.

The third and final Safety Stand Down held 22-26, August 2016, had focused on reducing the incidents and fatalities during the back to school season. As per NWRA, 133 companies and 190 participants were part of the event. The participation rates had witnessed 5% jump, with participations from various organizations including the California Refuse and Recycling Council, the Oregon Refuse and Recycling Association, the Washington Refuse and Recycling Association, the International Scrap Recycling Institute (ISRI) and the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA).

About NWRA

The National Waste & Recycling Association is the leading organization providing leadership, advocacy, research, education and safety expertise for the waste and recycling industries. NWRA is the ANSI accredited standards developer and organizational member representing waste and recycling companies throughout the United States involved in the collection of waste, recyclables, organics and composting, and the production of waste-based energy.