November 24, 2003

MOST FLORIDA TRASH COLLECTORS INJURED ANNUALLY
New Study Ranks As Third Most Dangerous Occupation

CORAL GABLES, FL - Researchers at the University of Miami recently published findings indicating that municipal solid waste collectors in Florida have one of the highest risks of injury of any major occupational group. According to James Englehardt, associate professor at UM's School of Engineering, Florida collectors have an annual risk of death that would rank third versus 1996 data on occupational fatalities of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The only occupations with higher job-related fatality rates were fishing and timber cutting.

Reported in leading journal Risk Analysis in October, Englehardt's study involved hand sorting of state data and interviews with 251 collectors on the job at 5 a.m. "They loved it because no one ever asked them their opinion before," says Englehardt, the study's principal investigator. "It was really something. I saw a cloud of aerosol particles engulf workers who had just loaded bags into a compaction vehicle," he says, noting that about 70 percent reported respiratory problems.

Only 25 percent of interviewed garbage collectors reported no occupational injury during the previous year, and this number agreed closely with Florida workers' compensation data, which indicated a rate of 80 injuries per 100 collectors annually. The most common injuries are musculoskeletal conditions.

Unfortunately, the safety of solid waste collectors seems unimproved since 1997, when Englehardt published his first study on the issue. He presents a number of recommended improvements for the industry based on his research in a pamphlet that has been distributed to hundreds of agencies in Florida.

Englehardt says that car collisions with collectors are a significant risk in Miami-Dade County. He cautions drivers to maintain a greater awareness of these workers on both sides of the street, particularly in inclement weather and low-visibility situations. He also expresses concern about how waste is disposed - particularly that sharp objects be wrapped and contained.

Funding for this project came from The Florida Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management. The article in Risk Analysis is titled " Analytical Predictive Bayesian Assessment of Occupational Injury Risk: Municipal Solid Waste Collectors." Co-authors were Huren An from North Miami Beach's Department of Public Services; Judy Bean from the Department of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and Lora Fleming from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health in UM's School of Medicine.

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Contact:
Jim Harper
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Content Last Modified on November 26, 2003