Occupational Safety and Health in the Solid Waste Industry

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The high injury rate among workers in the solid waste management industry was discussed. Solid waste management issues in general were described, including the amount of waste produced in the United States, the costs of waste removal, incinerators, land disposal sites, litter, and abandoned vehicles. The accident rate in the solid waste industry was almost twice the rate of that in the underground coal mining industry. The severity of these accidents was 300 percent greater than for those occurring to industrial workers. A study conducted by the National Safety Council suggested that in cities with a population of over 100,000 the frequency rate for these accidents was nine times that of the average industrial worker. Back strains were the leading single type of injury, accounting for 25 percent of those reported. Sprained ankles accounted for 7 percent. Some of the contributing factors were narrow streets and alleys, inadequate, old or poorly maintained equipment, faulty design, and variation in requirements for size, weight, type, and contents of refuse containers and bundles. Cuts, lacerations, and punctures accounted for 14 percent of the lost time injuries to refuse collectors. Some accidents result from human lack of preparedness, insufficient rest, poor physical conditioning, and personal problems.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  NIOSH-Author; NIOSH-Testimony; Thelen-D-S; Worker-health; Sanitation; Sanitation-engineering; Waste-disposal; Industrial-wastes; Incineration; Environmental-pollution; Accident-prevention; Accident-analysis;
• Document Type:
  Text
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00189604
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB90-103375
• Citation:
  NIOSH, 7 pages
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1973
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  NIOSH 1972 Nov; :1-7
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/250966/cdc_250966_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]