CEO Column

June is a month for weddings, graduations, and for some, the start of summer vacations.

It’s also a month in which there is a big increase in the number of solid waste worker fatalities. According to monthly data collected by SWANA over the past three years, in each year, during June the number of worker fatalities has more than doubled compared to May.

The reasons for this annual increase is not entirely clear, but warmer weather and increased traffic are likely contributors.

SWANA highlighted this annual increase in a recent issue of Safety Matters, our weekly safety newsletter, and I have mentioned it in recent presentations at chapter conferences. We also intend to remind the industry about it through various communications throughout the month (including via this column)!

SWANA continues to add to its growing menu of safety resources and initiatives. By now, I hope many of you are familiar with Safety Matters, our 5 to Stay Alive posters, the Slow Down to Get Around stickers, our Safety Ambassadors program in the chapters, the Safety Pledge. I hope you are using these resources and will deploy them to help prevent collisions, injuries, and fatalities.

In addition, I want to remind you about two important SWANA safety programs. First, SWANA provides annual safety awards to solid waste employers to recognize the best safety programs in North America. For 2022, there are three categories:

1. COVID-19 Pandemic Resiliency
2. Best Safety Innovation
3. Biggest Safety Improvement

The winners will be announced in September and awards will be given at WASTECON^® in San Diego on December 5–8. Please consider applying for one or more of these prestigious awards.

Second, several chapters have held or are planning Hauler Safety Outreach events this year. At these events, members distribute written safety information to collection crews at landfills, transfer stations, recycling facilities, and waste-to-energy facilities. These events provide an opportunity to thank front line drivers and helpers for the hard work they do and provide needed safety info to workers at small companies and local governments that likely are not SWANA members and do not have robust safety programs. It’s also the right thing to do. If your chapter has held one of these events recently—thank you. If your chapter has not done so, please consider scheduling one (or more?) later this year. SWANA staff will support the effort, they are easy to plan, the cost is low, and it provides a fun opportunity for chapter members to come together for a common cause that improves the safety record of this great industry. What’s not to like?

Collecting solid waste is currently listed by the US government as the sixth most deadly occupation in the United States (Canada does not maintain an equivalent list.) SWANA has identified June as a month when these tragic incidents occur with greater frequency. Please help us make June 2022 an exception, and let’s get waste collection workers off the list of “top 10” most dangerous jobs in the US.