Safety Matters

SWANA Welcomes New Safety Ambassador to New York Chapter

SWANA welcomes Michael Hughes, Corporate Vice President of Safety at Casella Waste Systems, as a new SWANA New York Chapter Safety Ambassador. Hughes joins current Safety Ambassador Paul Zambrotta of Mr. T Carting Corp. to help improve industry safety in New York State. The Chapter is one of 9 that have multiple Ambassadors serving, including Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota Northern New England, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

“Safety is always a vital priority in our industry and, as we’ve seen over the last year, absolutely crucial to the health of our essential workforce and our ability to protect environmental and public health and safety,” said Hughes. “I look forward to serving and advancing existing and innovative safety practices.”

SWANA  Safety Ambassadors serve as safety leaders in all 47 chapters in the U.S. and Canada. They organize and speak at chapter events about how to reduce accidents and injuries and are the go-to person for safety resources within their region. A growing number of chapters are taking advantage of their ability to appoint multiple Ambassadors in order to cover different geographic regions and expand their safety programming.

SWANA would like to thank all of the Safety Ambassadors for their hard work and dedication over the years and also the program sponsors for their support,  Caterpillar and  PRECO Electronics.

Accidents in the News

Through 4/30/21 

Whitesboro, TX – Several vehicles were stopped for a school bus dropping off students when a garbage truck travelling over a hill was unable to stop in time, causing a crash involving at least five other vehicles. A 33-year-old man and his 6-year-old daughter were killed in the collision. MORE

Montreal, QC – A 26-year-old pedestrian was struck and killed by a backing garbage truck at a gas station. MORE

Bath, NY – A customer at a landfill was securing the tailgate of a rollback dumpster when he was struck and killed by a backing truck. MORE 

Brooklyn, NY – A 52-year-old collection employee was assisting his co-worker reverse a garbage truck down the block when a minivan driver attempted to go around the truck and hit him. MORE

Las Vegas, NV – A garbage truck collided with a vehicle at a “T” intersection, killing the 84-year-old driver of the vehicle. MORE 

Wantagh, NY – A female pedestrian was struck and killed by a collection vehicle that had just turned out of a parking lot. MORE

Baltimore, MD – Two Baltimore DPW collection workers were operating a sanitation vehicle when two people approached and shot them. One employee was killed and the other was critically injured. MORE

Auburn, IN – A vehicle struck the rear of a front-end loader garbage truck, killing the 34-year-old vehicle driver. MORE

Kearny, NJ – At around 1:50 a.m. a car collided into the rear of a garbage truck, killing the driver of the car MORE

OSHA Continues Work on Emergency Standard; Reviews Recommendations for Those Vaccinated

SWANA continues to monitor the status of OSHA’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). The White House Office of Management and Budget has been conducting listening sessions with stakeholders and it is expected to be issue at any time.

OSHA has also announced it is reviewing recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance for people who are fully vaccinated. OSHA will update its recommendations accordingly, but until then has directed the public to refer to the CDC guidance for information on measures appropriate to protect fully vaccinated workers. 

Upcoming Safety Events

Ohio SWACO Hauler Outreach Event
June 22 – 24, 2021
Ohio
Click here for more info>>

Safe+Sound Week
August 9-13, 2021
U.S.
Click here for more info>>

Safety Summit @ WASTECON 2021
November 1 – 4, 2021
Orlando, Florida
Click here for more info>>