Unions Urge Senate: Act Now on Safety Crisis at Trash Giant Waste Management

WASHINGTON, April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety heard testimony today from unions in the Change to Win partnership on the need for greater oversight by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of companies with a history of serious, ongoing safety violations -- including waste hauling giant Waste Management, Inc. .

WMI's OSHA violations rose by 28 percent between 2003 and 2007. Today's hearing comes in the wake of the death this January of Raul Figueroa, a Florida WMI mechanic killed when he was severed in half by the hydraulic arm of the garbage truck he was repairing.

Eric Frumin, Health and Safety Coordinator for Change to Win, testified about dangerous working conditions in several industries. Frumin noted that sanitation workers are more likely to die on the job than firefighters or police. He discussed the conclusions of a recently released report, In Harm's Way, which depicts WMI's pattern of life-threatening safety violations.

Issued last week by the National Commission of Inquiry into the Worker Health and Safety Crisis in the Solid Waste Industry, the report characterizes WMI as "playing a risky game with workers' lives and public safety." It also critiques the company's safety program as "antiquated" in its neglect of modern safety engineering principles.

"Sanitation work is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, but it doesn't have to be," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "No one should have to die the way Raul Figueroa did. We are calling on the Senate today to strengthen OSHA's enforcement powers. OSHA needs the clout to reform bad-actor companies such as WMI, where an entrenched disregard for workers' safety is part of the corporate culture. Slap-on-the wrist OSHA fines mean nothing to these wealthy companies."

The report, based on an anonymous questionnaire completed by hundreds of Waste Management workers nationwide, describes risks that sanitation workers face daily, including long hours that force workers to drive dangerously fatigued; exposure to hazardous materials such as used syringes and asbestos; and out-of-repair trucks.

"We've all seen the commercials where those gleaming WMI trucks drive through green landscapes. But the truth belies WMI's marketing. Nearly 60 percent of the WMI workers surveyed rated WMI's truck maintenance as fair, poor or a failure," Hoffa said. "So how safe are workers in these trucks, and how safe are the other drivers on the road with these trucks?"

Hoffa noted that garbage trucks are involved in a 41 percent higher rate of fatal crashes than the average work-related truck.

Teamster leaders say that the recent on-the-job death of WMI mechanic Raul Figueroa is spurring their push for safety reforms throughout the sanitation industry. At a March 25 press conference, Figueroa's family said they hoped his death would bring about stronger safety regulations in the industry. "We hope that Waste Management finally realizes that their employees are not just numbers, but human beings," said Alina Miranda, Figueroa's widow.

The members of the National Commission of Inquiry into the Worker Health and Safety Crisis in the Solid Waste Industry are Dr. Peter Orris, Professor and Associate Director of the Great Lakes Center for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health of the University of Illinois School of Public Health; Reverend Nelson N. Johnson, Co-President of National Interfaith Worker Justice; Jose Bravo, Executive Director of the Just Transition Alliance; and Lamont Byrd, Director of the Teamsters Union Safety and Health Department.

In Harm's Way is available at: http://www.teamster.org/divisions/SolidWaste/PDFs/Waste_In_Harms_Way.pdf

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The union represents 8,700 Waste Management workers across the country.