NWRA shares three-year safety strategy

As part of its 2016-2018 Strategic Plan, the Washington-based National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) says it is committed to moving the needle on industry safety by driving measurable improvement that saves lives and prevents injuries.

“Safety is a vital priority for the waste and recycling industry –our focus is to significantly improve our safety performance and reduce injuries, accidents and fatalities on the job,” the association states.

At its March 2016 Safety Summit, a forum of industry safety experts held an intense two-day session, including hearing from safety experts outside of the waste and recyclin gindustry, and developed a three-year plan to significantly improve the industry’s overall safety performance. Its long-term objective is to eliminate industry fatalities with a three-year objective of reducing fatalities by 50 percent, not only for NWRA members but across all sectors of the industry at large. 

“We emerged from this summit with a strong plan, established workgroups of industry experts along with work plans, timelines and measures of success to achieve this,” the NWRA reports.

Together with its members and external partners, NWRA says it is working to improve safety within the waste and recycling industry nationwide over the course of the next three years through the following strategic initiatives:

• Move collection off top 10 most dangerous list. To improve safety performance, NWRA will provide comprehensive education, information sharing, tools and engagement in key areas to reduce incidents and hazards positioning for strong safety performance. Efforts will include:
  • providing information and education to the industry on establishing a strong safety culture;
  • collecting and using information to develop data-driven solutions to safety challenges;
  • establishing minimum training guidelines by line of business;
  • sharing guidelines, best practices and data and leveraging its work as secretariat for ANSI standards for the waste and recycling industry;
  • improving safety engagement at the state and local level by bringing training and resources to the chapter level; and
  • increasing adoption and use of existing and new NWRA safety materials and education by delivering content in useful formats (podcasts, videos, etc.) and making materials more accessible. 
• Take/join actions that will significantly reduce distracted driving. NWRA will work with groups who have already created awareness and tools to address distracted driving. Further, NWRA will work with chapters and agencies to promote knowledge of and compliance Slow Down to Get Around legislation, including:
  • joining coalitions and actively participate on distracted driving (Together for Safer Roads, AT&T’s It Can Wait campaign); and
  • continuing to expand Slow Down to Get Around efforts.
• Create/find collaboration opportunities to leverage our efforts. NWRA will amplify its efforts and resources to improve industry safety collaborating with regional associations, the Solid Waste Association of North America and Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries on safety initiatives, including:
  • continuing bringing industry together regularly on safety issues; and
  • agreeing on general themes and approaches that we all adopt.