NSWMA Partners with NIOSH, Releases Safety Flyer/Bill Stuffer

NSWMA Also Launches SDTGA Facebook Fan Page

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2011
Contact: Thom Metzger, 202-364-3751

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) recently partnered  with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a component of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Workplace Safety and Health program (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), to develop a driver safety flyer and bill stuffer. The flyer can be shared with the customers of solid waste industry companies and others. It is intended to inform people about the inherent dangers that garbage collectors (drivers and helpers) face from other drivers when collecting trash and recyclables on American streets. The bill stuffer is designed to allow solid waste companies to personalize it with a picture of one of their company’s trucks.

The flyer is a part of NSWMA’s Slow Down to Get Around (SDTGA) program. SDTGA is a national safety campaign that reminds motorists to drive more carefully near solid waste collection vehicles. Motorists often are distracted while driving and frequently crash into collection employees or vehicles—sometimes with fatal consequences. In fact, dozens of solid waste employees were injured by careless drivers during the last year, and six of these workers were killed in such incidents.

NSWMA Safety Director David Biderman stressed the importance of these efforts.  "We’ve all been in rush-traffic where we get impatient and make bad decisions," Biderman said.  "It's vital that Americans become aware of the dangers that such situations cause to the men and women working on and around the nearly 135,000 garbage trucks operating on U.S. streets. We must prevent the resulting accidents and injuries."

In addition to this flyer, NSWMA recently partnered with Veolia Solid Waste to create a SDTGA Facebook fan page. This Facebook page includes testimonials from solid waste companies, including Veolia, Republic Services and Waste Management, Inc. The page highlights news about incidents where garbage men have been injured on their routes.

The SDTGA program initially was developed by Rumpke Consolidated, an NSWMA member in the Midwest, and the McNeilus Companies, a company that manufactures garbage trucks, after two tragic accidents that resulted in the death of one Rumpke employee and severe injuries to a second. Both accidents were due to carelessness by motorists. SDTGA resources have included television and radio public service announcements, decals for garbage trucks, a website and different brochures and flyers.

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NSWMA – a sub-association of the Environmental Industry Associations (EIA) – represents for-profit companies in North America that provide solid, hazardous and medical waste collection, recycling and disposal services, and companies that provide professional and consulting services to the waste services industry. NSWMA members conduct business in all 50 states.

To see a copy of the new SDTGA flyer, visit environmentalistseveryday.org/docs/SDTGA/flyer.pdf.

For more information about SDTGA, to request copies of SDTGA materials and to learn how all drivers can help keep garbage collectors safe on their routes, visit environmentalistseveryday.org/safety.

For more information about the SDTGA Facebook page, visit environmentalistseveryday.org/SDTGA-facebook.