Waste Industry Fatality Rate Surged 18% in 2017, Says SWANA Report

The maximum number of 13 fatalities was reported from Texas, closely followed by California and New York with 10 and 9 fatalities respectively.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Silver Spring, Maryland- based Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) has released the solid waste industry fatality data for 2017. The industry data report states that the recorded fatalities during the year totaled 132, significantly higher by nearly 18% when compared with 2016. Also, majority of these fatalities were reported from the US, the report said. Private sector companies accounted for more than three-fourth of the incidents.

According to SWANA, 94 members of the public were killed during the previous year. Most of these deaths occurred on the roadways. Nearly 60% of these incidents involved a solid waste vehicle and at least one other vehicle. Out of the total 94 fatalities, drivers/passengers of other vehicles totaled 57. Also, 23 were pedestrians, 8 were bicyclists and 4 were motor cyclists. In addition, 2 fatalities happened at disposal facilities itself.

The report indicates that 38 workers died on the job in 2017. Out of this, 23 were killed during collection and 8 in the landfill. The remaining 7 fatalities occurred in MRFs, Transfer Stations and other locations. A total of 17 fatalities were reported during the month of October, the highest in any month during the year. Also, no month had fewer than 8 fatalities, SWANA report noted.

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The maximum number of 13 fatalities was reported from Texas, closely followed by California and New York with 10 and 9 fatalities respectively. Florida and Pennsylvania reported 8 fatalities each. 7 fatalities each was reported by Maryland and Georgia.

David Biderman, SWANA’s executive director and CEO stated that the association is immensely disappointed with the solid waste industry’s safety performance during the previous year. He pointed out that there were a lot of preventable fatal incidents involving trucks and equipment. The data in the report reminds of the need to better communicate the importance of practising safety rules at workplace, in order to mitigate the risk of preventable accidents.