Supporting the goal of promoting safety within the solid waste industry, SWANA has developed a new installment to its “Five to Stay Alive” series that features safety tips for Material Recovery Facility (MRF) employees. The number of MRF worker fatalities increased over the previous year, and the multitude of injury hazards at recycling facilities remain high. The complex and fast-paced environment of a modern MRF requires well-trained and educated employees and employers. The “Five to Stay Alive” safety campaign includes flyers and posters that provide a useful set of guidelines for employees to follow in order to reduce accidents and injuries on the job. “The safety performance of the waste industry is not acceptable, and at least two MRF workers were killed earlier this year” stated David Biderman, SWANA’s Executive Director and CEO. “With volatile commodity prices, we urge companies and local governments to not reduce their focus on worker safety. SWANA will continue to provide useful safety resources and training to public and private sector employers and employees in both the United States and Canada. Nothing we do is more important.”
SWANA encourages waste industry professionals to use this tool, in addition to its other safety resources, to continue efforts in creating a positive workplace safety culture, in order to move the solid-waste industry off of the federal government’s list of most dangerous jobs. “Our industry is relying more and more on MRFs to remove materials from the waste stream, which makes this new “Five to Stay Alive” installment particularly relevant,” said Tom Parker, SWANA’s Safety Committee Chair. “It is imperative that we work safely every minute of every day, and integrating these five basic principles at MRFs can help us achieve this goal.”
For more information, visit www.swana.org.