Environmentalists. Every Day. America's Solid Waste Industry

OSHA Region IV recently launched a regional emphasis program (REP) to reduce workplace exposures to health hazards in scrap and waste material recycling operations. Although the primary focus of the REP appears to be facilities that process scrap metal, all facilities in SIC Code 5093 are potential targets. A copy of the REP is here.

Republic Services has published a new sustainability report. “The sustainability report was an opportunity to identify and discuss what we already do to protect the environment and to set a course to do more,” CEO James E. O’Connor said. “Being green is not just a philosophy at Republic. We’ve been doing it for years.” The report is available at www.republicservices.com/sustainability.

Three workers died at a transfer station in Queens last week in a confined space accident. The disposal facility hired a company to clean out a dry well. The company did not test the atmosphere in the 18 foot deep well before an employee went into it, and he did not have respiratory protection. This employee passed out, his father went into the well to save him, and then a transfer station employee tried to save them. All three men died. NSWMA sends condolences to the family and colleagues of the three victims of this horrible accident.

NSWMA members and others are strongly urged to make sure their employees receive proper training on confined space hazards. Learn more about this particular accident.

For more information about safety and OSHA compliance issues affecting
the solid waste and recycling industries, contact me.

NSWMA member – Steven Horowitz – named one of the “Top 100 Labor Lawyers in the US” for the second time. The Top 100 Labor Attorneys are determined each year based on the prior 5-year record of the number of National Labor Relations Board election cases in which the attorney represented clients (as determined by notices of appearance filed with the NLRB) and the successful outcome of those cases (as determined by either an election win by a company or union withdrawal as reported by the NLRB).