John Trotti

Over the years we've done many editorials and articles on safety, but I've never been satisfied with the results because of the subject's almost limitless boundaries.

With that as prolog, allow me to announce MSW Management's Safety Department that will launch in our next issue. In keeping with the boundless nature of the subject, we will be able to take aim at any facet of the solid waste industry that (and here comes the pitch) you feel deserves illumination. For openers, longtime associate on landfill matters Neal Bolton will be managing the department, but nothing would please him or me more than having the department's ³ownership² usurped by you.

In bygone editorials I've harped on the idea that safety is not just a set of prescriptions or an accumulation of wise practices but rather a culture. Whether we're talking about humping containers into the maw of a rearloader, laying out an ADC blanket on a 2:1 slope, or retrieving a carton of printer paper from a storage room, the same fundamental concept of safety applies equally and without exception. Only the specific components are subject to debate and change.

As an example of the kinds of topics we, with your help and guidance, will be exploring, consider this challenge:

Our Labor Pool Is Changing

Two years ago we featured an article in our companion publication, Grading & Excavation Contractor, that presented the startling fact that nearly two-thirds of our construction workforce in the United States does not have English as a primary language. I don't have the figures for the waste industry, but I am inclined to believe the situation is fairly similar. For those in the Southwest where the rise in the Hispanic population has been taking place over the course of many years, the fact itself is not surprising. Rather it is the magnitude of the change and the impact it has had on safety as demonstrated by the alarming increase in Latino workplace deaths (24% since 2001) that has spurred OSHA to create a special program to cope with this deplorable situation.

The fact that OSHA has inspectors out in the field with the ability to levy stiff fines where Latino worker safety is concerned is all well and good, but the real issue is how well you are prepared to deal with a situation that could affect your entire operation.

While the makeup of the overall mixture of all ethnic groups in the workforce is in constant flux, clearly the Latino population trend will have the most significant impact on the US population when you consider the following factors:

• In 2003 Latinos became the predominant minority.
• By 2010 there will be nearly 45 million Latinos in the United States.
• By 2050 nearly 80 million Latinos will live in the United States.
• By 2050 Latinos will constitute nearly 22.5% of the US population.
• By 2100 Latinos will constitute 38.2% of the US population.

In 1997, the US Census Bureau produced census data predicting that by 2010 there will be a shortage of 3.88 million workers, which will present a daunting challenge for all of us faced with replacing retiring workers with people of the same level of experience and skill. With the US education system emphasizing the acquisition of complex technical skill sets, enabling English-speaking graduates to seek and find higher-paying jobs, we can expect Latinos and other immigrants to stand near the head of the line to fill the gap of unskilled labor. Because Latino immigrants entering our work force have on average a sixth-grade education, limited skill sets relative to their US-born contemporaries, and a high rate of illiteracy, training programs for them are more costly and less effective. In all likelihood, these factors in combination contribute to unsafe working conditions and the resulting increase in Latino fatalities in the workplace.

The goal of our new Safety Department is to see how you and your contemporaries are meeting this and other challenges to your organization's safety program.        

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MSW - July/August 2004