Within the last 10 years, material recovery facility (MRF) operators and their equipment manufacturers have increasingly made safety a top priority. Put simply, facilities that want to succeed have a vested interest in implementing an effective safety program. While improved technology has changed the role of employees from sorters to enforcers of quality control, workers still are exposed to hazards. Companies today prefer to do business with partners that practice safety, and, to reduce their liability, equipment manufacturers and facility designers are more receptive to working with MRF owners that address hazards at their sites.

Changing Worker Roles

In the past, workers were responsible for sorting by hand, either on the floor or on elevated sorting lines, every type of product that came into a recycling facility. Each recyclable item had to be physically removed from the sorting line and placed in bins according to commodity type. This exposed employees to a variety of hazards including cuts from glass; slips, trips and falls; needle sticks from discarded sharps; strains and sprains; and foreign bodies to the eye.

Modern facilities feature a higher level of technology, which means the role of employees has changed. Optical sorters, bag breakers, trommel screens and other equipment actually process recyclables and separate them by product type, weight, color and size. Workers still are responsible for sorting recyclables, but they get involved much later in the process and perform more of a quality control function, overseeing the final sort before the products are baled and sent to customers. Additionally, the final product contains fewer contaminants because of the higher level of efficiency in the sorting process.

The basic process of how items move through the facility has not changed. Typically, a bucket loader pushes material into a pit, where it travels up an incline conveyor and into mechanized equipment for sorting. After the material has been processed, line sorters remove contaminants that have inadvertently passed through the machinery.

Safe access to machinery should be addressed upfront by the facility owner/operator, designers and equipment manufacturers. As equipment has become more complex, maintenance also has become more sophisticated. Workers need to be carefully trained and provided proper access to maintenance points. This often requires additional platforms and stairs.

As workers' roles have changed, so has personal protective equipment (PPE), which used to be far less comfortable and functional than it is today. Industry members surely remember the big (and uncomfortable) square visitor safety glasses. Gloves were “one size fits all,” guaranteeing a poor fit and making it difficult to grasp items on the sorting line.

New developments have made PPE more comfortable, meaning employees now are more willing to wear gloves, arm protection and hearing protection. For example, Hex Armor and Waste Management's Recycle America have developed gloves specifically for the recycling industry that have greatly reduced the incidents of cuts and abrasions from glass and metal, as well as needle sticks from improperly discarded syringes. Also available are arm guards that come to the elbow, especially useful on pre-sort lines where hazards still exist.

A New Culture

Successful companies view safety as a top priority rather than an afterthought. Some are driven by a desire to “do the right thing,” but companies also have begun to realize that to be attractive as partners or acquisitions, they need to incorporate safety into their corporate culture.

To protect their reputation, as well as their bottom line, companies — many of whom are self-insured — want to learn about an organization's safety initiatives before they solidify a relationship. “When I look at buying or partnering with a company, safety is a key concern,” says Dennis Soriano, senior vice president for Houston-based Greenstar North America, a processor of recyclables. “If a company operates in a safe fashion, you generally assume they're responsible from the top down.”

External pressure also has helped reinforce and strengthen management's commitment to safety. To avoid negative media coverage and possible litigation, waste generators demand that their product be processed responsibly, safely and confidentially way once it leaves their site. As a result, solid waste companies are buying safer equipment and performing proper maintenance. Waste firms, particularly the larger ones, are making changes and reducing the frequency of their accidents.

“Because safety has become such a liability issue, training is critical,” says Denny Pool, president of Hopkins, Mich.-based SP Industries Inc., a manufacturer of waste handling and recycling equipment. “Owners and supervisors should teach their employees to view facility safety as a whole system, not just a series of machines. That commitment has to start with upper management and flow downhill.”

From a regulatory standpoint, things haven't changed much. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency compliance programs still need to be developed and implemented. Employees, however, are more focused on their own safety and want to identify problem areas before incidents occur. Near-miss programs also are standard at progressive facilities nationwide.