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Occupational safety
OSHA Standards for Landfill Workers
In the United States, if you work in construction, or in the maritime industry, or on a farm, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) gives you an entire section of the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29, complete with its own part number. (The maritime industry gets three of them.)
Waste-Handling Injuries: What We Can Learn from OSHA Injury Reports
First, the good news. Fatalities for refuse and recycling collectors declined to a rate of 34.1 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2016. This halted a troubling rise that began in 2012 and peaked at a rate of 38.8 injuries per 100,000 workers in 2015.
Meatpacking Safety and the Role of Ergonomics
The term 'meatpacking safety' suggests to the popular imagination serious injuries, with cuts, burns, and fractures featuring prominently. In fact, the greatest risk to the meatpacking workforce is much more insidious than a slip of the blade. According to data reported by NPR in 2016, repetitive motion injuries were close to seven times more common for workers in beef and pork processing plants than in other U.S. occupations.
Winter Outdoor Work: Safety Tips for Electrical Contractors
Electrical contractors can’t take the whole winter off. However, cold weather can create all sorts of safety problems for electricians — especially those who work outdoors, or in unfinished construction projects that lack heat.
Safety in the Solid Waste Industry: Filling in the Ergonomic Gaps
Safety may be the most important issue facing the solid waste industry today. As we near the final year of the National Waste and Recycling Association's current three-year safety plan, experts continue their efforts to remove waste collection professionals from the top 10 most-dangerous jobs in the United States.Â
Preventing Heat-Related Illness as the Summer Warms Up
As we head into summer, temperatures rise and so do the chances of getting a heat-related illness. This umbrella term refers to conditions like heat stroke, sunburn, and heat rash, which occur when someone spends too much time or exerts too much energy in the heat.
How Recyclables in Landfills Contribute to Air Pollution — And What to Do About It
When recyclables make it into landfills, they contribute to a problem that many in the environmental community don't necessarily connect with the failure to recycle: air pollution. After all, landfill gas is usually at least half methane and half carbon dioxide, both of which are major greenhouse gases. Of the two, the former is by far the most destructive in terms of global climate change; methane traps heat in the atmosphere at a rate of 28 to 36 times that of carbon dioxide over a 100-year timespan, reports the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report.
Safer Medical Waste Management for Hospitals and Laboratories
Hospitals and laboratories face complex challenges with safe medical waste management. Besides generating recycling, compost, and landfill garbage, these medical centers produce a more regulated type of trash generally called medical waste.