Waste Management Facility in Oceanside Achieves Safety Milestone of 500 Days Without Lost-Time Injury
OCEANSIDE, Dec. 8, 2005 - Waste Management of North County in Oceanside this week celebrated the achievement of 500 days without a lost-time injury, meaning its 105 employees have worked safely for more than 400,000 total hours without any injuries that prevent employees from returning to work for at least one full shift.
The end of the day Tuesday marked the 500th day. The facility’s previous long-term period without a lost-time injury lasted 392 days.
“Going 500 days and counting without a lost-time injury is a testament to our employees’ careful actions and commitment to safety in performing their jobs,” said Ken Ryan, District Manager of Waste Management of North County. “Everyone benefits from our safe work environment – the employees, their co-workers, their families, our customers and the community.”
The Oceanside facility has a number of company-developed safety programs in place, which provide training and incentives to encourage safe behavior. Chief among these programs is the Waste Management Operations and Safety Rules Book, which trains all employees who come in contact with the company’s trucks or work at a disposal site – including drivers and other equipment operators, helpers, mechanics and sorters – in how to work safely, the “Life Critical Rules,” which are the top 10 safety mandates of the company, and the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) program, which provides appropriate safety gear like reflective vests, boots and gloves, for employees in different roles. Additional training is also administered when potential problems are detected and sometimes involves instruction by third-party medical or safety specialists.
Incentive programs include the safety bingo game, which allows employees to collect numbers on a bingo card based on the number of days the facility goes without a lost-time injury – providing cash prizes to the winners – carne asada cookouts when safety milestones are achieved, and drawings for prizes like sports or amusement park tickets or home entertainment items for employees who exhibit safe behavior.
“For work that is as physically demanding as waste and recyclable collection, particularly in Oceanside where our employees still do manual collection, that also includes a significant amount of driving and careful maintenance work by our mechanics, achieving this milestone is a great accomplishment,” said Michael Crawford, Safety Manager for Waste Management’s San Diego/Orange County Market Area. “We look forward to reaching even greater goals with regard to employee safety.”
Waste Management, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. For more information about recycling, log onto www.wm.com.
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