Can a New Process Save Trash Collector Lives?

Garbage trucks…they’re everywhere. Where I live in the United States, the garbage truck comes once a week and picks up the trash cans in my neighborhood. There’s a large trash can we keep on the side of our house and the night before the trash pick up, we roll the trash can out to the street, as do our neighbors with their trash can. The next day, the trash collectors come and dump out the trash cans.

There’s the regular garbage truck driver, and usually, one or two other employees who stand on the back of the garbage truck when it’s in motion. During the stops, the garbage workers jump down or step down from their perch, and walk over to the garbage cans in front of people’s houses. They pull and tilt the garbage can so it is able to roll on its wheels. They then roll the [potentially] heavy trash cans to the back of the garbage truck in a specific spot. They press a button where the garbage truck automatically lifts the garbage can and flips it upside down, allowing the trash to automatically fall into the garbage truck.

High-Risk Occupation

The task of collecting the trash looks strenuous for the workers- the trash cans must be moved and manipulated to the back of the garbage truck, putting a lot of strain on the trash collector employee. The weight of the trash can is unknown and this does not allow the worker to be aware of the strength they will need to pull and tilt the trash can to move it to where they want it to go. Not knowing how to prepare for a lift could be an easy way for the employee to tweak their back. Having an ergonomic-related injury as a garbage collector could be devastating for the employee and their family.

This particular way of collecting trash also puts the trash collectors at risk of getting crushed by the large garbage truck. Consistently walking around a large piece of moving machinery is a dangerous task, and makes this a high-risk occupation. In fact, a National Censes of Fatal Occupational Injuries showed that Waste and Recycling collection was the 6th deadliest occupation in 2019! Most of these deaths were from Transportation accidents from being struck by a vehicle, and contact with objects and equipment.

But recently, I have noticed a shift in how the trash is collected. It made me very happy. Let’s set the scene: Both employees are staying in the truck. They aren’t walking around the garbage truck to collect the trash anymore. They’re not exposed to moving vehicles passing by, or the hazard of garbage truck accidentally crushing them. Nope, they’re hanging out all day in the air conditioning or heated truck, still collecting trash, without the manual labor and dangerous exposure to cars and the garbage truck.

How?

They are allowing the truck to do the work for them…genius. No more (or limited) exposure to cars driving by the trash trucks. No more (or limited) exposure to being behind the garbage truck. No more (or limited) pulling super heavy trash cans over to the truck. Eliminating, or significantly reducing the amount of manual labor that is performed collecting trash as well as the general risk of being a trash collector. The truck drives up beside the trash cans, and an arm grabs both sides of the trash can and automatically dumps it into the garbage truck.

The truck pulls up to the trash can.

Notice the mechanical arm, ready to do work!

The garbage truck arm grabs the trash can.

The garbage truck arm picks up the trash can (in process photo).

Garbage truck dumping trash can.

Garbage truck putting down the trash can.

Of course, there are still people who don’t roll their trash cans all the way to the road, so a little bit of manual labor and being exposed to cars and the trash truck still exists. However, the waste companies, with this new process, have significantly reduced the amount of manual labor performed as well as performing tasks around this large garbage truck and passing cars. BRAVO! We love a task with risk reduction! I hope all garbage companies make the switch because this process seems safer and makes a lot more sense. I hope to see the fatality levels of trash collectors decrease with this new way of collecting residential trash.

Contact me on Twitter or Instagram @trianglesafety and @Safetybran & tell me how the trash is collected where you live. I would love to know if this process is being implemented in your area!