Being a garbage truck worker or driver may not have quite the prestige of being a police officer or firefighter, but are the lives of those workers worth any less than folks who get to go work wearing spiffy uniforms instead of grimy vests? That’s a central question begged by a push for garbage truck workers and snow plow operations to have the same protection as cops, firefighters — and just recently tow truck operators — in terms of making it mandatory for drivers to slow down and move over when they’re at the side of the road with lights flashing.
Paul Harvey, safety co-ordinator for Emterra, the Region’s curbside garbage and recycling collection contractor, said the 110 waste collection truck drivers and lifters are in constant danger in Niagara from dangerous and distracted drivers. Collectively, they pile on upwards of 13,000 kilometres a day on 65 to 70 trucks, hopping in and out of, on and off of, rigs some 1,200 times. They do so with drivers constantly whizzing by them in their lanes, often sideswiping trucks that by the very nature of job means stopped at every driveway on collection routes.
Back in June, regional politicians jumped on board with the call for move-over and slow-down legislation to be extended to garbage trucks and snow plows. Regional statistics show that since 2011, Emterra trucks have been involved in 68 accidents that their drivers weren’t at fault in, including 12 rear-end collisions and 56 other collisions where drivers trying to pass the trucks collided with the sides of the trucks.
At Walker Industries last Friday, the Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA), Walker’s executive vice-president Mike Watt and Regional Chair Alan Caslin were on hand with Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris to support a private member’s bill by Harris to have provincial legislation changed to extend the protection to the garbage trucks and plows when those vehicles’ lights are flashing.
Acting OWMA chief executive officer Peter Hargreave said waste collection workers have one of the most dangerous jobs in this country, and that the risk they face daily is very real. Numerous U.S. states have already adopted such legislation, and British Columbia recently changed its legislation to make it safer for all roadside workers including waste/recycling collection vehicles.
To read the full story, visit http://www.niagarathisweek.com/opinion-story/6919046-editorial-drivers-lifters-lives-worth-no-less/.