According to the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor and Statistics, one of the most dangerous occupations in the
United States year in and year out is the Solid Waste Collection Worker. Solid Waste Collection workers face a
variety of hazards on a daily basis, but one of the most significant hazards they are confronted with is their
potential exposure to Household Hazardous Waste (HHW).
HHW can best be described as common household chemicals placed in the garbage containers for disposal. HHW
includes but is not limited to; pool cleaning chemicals (i.e. muratic acid), household cleaners such as bleach or
ammonia, motor oil, solvents, paint, lighter fluid, drain cleaner, liquid fertilizers, and pesticides.
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Although these common household items are the type of chemicals you could find; under your kitchen or bathroom sink, in the garage or in the tool shed, they take on a whole new level of significance and danger when placed in the waste stream. Alone these household chemicals are dangerous enough because of what the manufacturer designed them to do, but when they are disposed of improperly as part of routine garbage, they have the potential to react with other chemicals or materials in the truck and can generate dangerous or even deadly fumes, exposing collection workers. For example; when chorine bleach and ammonia are mixed, the resulting gas is called chloramine, which is more toxic and dangerous that either chlorine or ammonia alone.
To give you some idea of the level of potential exposure collection workers have, look at a solid waste collection crew operating within the City of San Antonio. They will on average service approximately 1,350 homes per day. If only 10 percent (10%) of the homes serviced on any given day had some type of household hazardous chemical hidden in a garbage can, bag or box, that would leave the crews exposed to potentially hundreds of different chemicals per day, and advertently mixing them in the body of the garbage truck. Keep in mind, our solid waste collection operation is 100% manual collection.
Everyday collection workers face potentially exposure to these dangerous chemicals, and every year collection workers suffer injuries, sometimes leading to hospitalization after being overcome due to the byproducts generated by HHW.
Since the events of 9/11 and the increased level of vigilance throughout the country and local community we serve, there in no longer a "typical response" to a HHW incident involving a garbage truck. When there is an unknown chemical incident, all key support agencies respond such as; police, fire, EMS and HAZMAT to ensure the health and safety of not only the crew but the community. With all the various teams responding, it places a strain on personnel and resources because someone improperly dumped cleaning solution or another type of chemical into the waste stream.
In order to help combat the problem of improper disposal of HHW, the City of San Antonio - Environmental Services Department embarked on an aggressive community education campaign. The campaign was designed to educate citizens on how to properly handle and safely dispose of their HHW. The campaign included; radio interviews, entire segments on proper disposal of HHW on our the Earth Matters T.V. show, the distribution of informational flyers to residents, segments on the City Managers Forum T.V. show, afternoon, evening and late-night local news spots, information in the local Yellow pages, booklets describing the services provided by the Environmental Services Departments, speaking on the subject at Neighborhood/Community meetings and developing a partnership with our customers in order to address the problem, providing training on the subject through the Environmental Services Ambassador Program, and utilizing "targeted canvassing", of an area where a HHW exposure occurred with informational flyers. The Environmental Services Department also established a permanent Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Site which is open every Thursday and Friday and the 1st Saturday of every month enabling rate paying residents to dispose of HHW material on a regular basis in a safe manner, at no additional cost.
Other avenues that can be examined when the source of the chemical and the homeowner can be identified, and the homeowner readily admits to placing the hazardous material in the garbage container are, levying fines through Code Enforcement or Code Compliance agencies or even subrogation against their homeowner policy for the cost of the responders and equipment and workers compensation costs if employees are injured.
Through an effective and well-rounded community education program and the development of a partnership between the organization and the customers served, your organization and personnel will benefit from a decease in the incidents of HHW exposure.
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