SOLID WASTE INDUSTRY

NIOSH Publications

NIOSH has conducted research that offers recommendations on how to reduce illnesses, injuries, and fatalities in the solid waste industry:

Hispanic Youth Dies in Densifier at a Plastics Recycling Plant - Tennessee
This Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report describes the death of a Hispanic youth who died after contact with a densifier blade in a recycling plant. Recommendations are made about equipment inspection, a written safety program, and energy lockout procedures.

NIOSH Alert: Preventing Deaths and Injuries While Compacting or Baling Refuse Material
In this Alert, NIOSH recommends safe work procedures, appropriate safety devices, and hazardous energy control programs designed to address the hazards of operating, maintaining, and servicing compacting and baling equipment.

NIOSH HHE Report Rumpke, Inc. Landfill, Colerain Township, Ohio
After part of a landfill slid into an adjacent area, NIOSH staff assisted a county health district with the assessment of airborne microbiologic aerosols and provided recommendations on retrofitting landfill compactors with air-cleaning devices, personal breathing zone air sampling, and respiratory protection.

Solid waste industry fact sheet
This document gives injury and fatality statistics for solid waste industry workers and explains how labor unions, worker organizations, government agencies, and industry associations can help implement the Services Sector goals of the National Occupational Research Agenda.