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• Slow Down to Get Around Collection Safety

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Photo: McNeilus

“Brakes out-of-adjustment is the most frequently cited safety defect,” says Daniel Judson, inventor of and technical director at BrakeSentry. “The problem causes the highest out-of-service violation rate, nearly one in eight vehicles. And [the problem of] brakes out-of-adjustment is estimated to be a factor in at least 30% of all truck-crash fatalities.”

Drivers can visually inspect every pre-trip item except brake stroke. Checking brakes by “feel” is unreliable and ineffective. BrakeSentry is a visual brake-stroke indicator. It allows drivers and technicians to quickly identify defects for prompt correction.

Judson explains: “Equipping brake chambers with BrakeSentry provides drivers and technicians with a significant advantage, a quick and effective means to visually inspect and identify any brake-out-of-adjustment conditions—conditions that ordinarily remain undetected and increase your exposure to the high costs, risks, and liabilities associated with trucking’s deadliest and most frequently cited defect. By using BrakeSentry, the industry-prescribed ‘applied stroke’ inspection method can now be performed faster, more safely, and much more efficiently without the need to crawl under vehicles to physically mark and measure pushrod stroke.”

“I saw BrakeSentry at a TMC meeting. I was impressed with what I saw,” says David Peck, fleet manager at Waste Industries USA Inc. for more than 28 years. “It’s an easy way to gauge without getting under the trucks. A driver cannot look at a set of brakes without assistance from another source, and someone has to get under the vehicle. The procedure costs time and has the potential for injuring the worker under the truck.”

With BrakeSentry, the driver can see if the brakes are in adjustment by just walking through the yard. “It allows you to view from a vertical position. The driver can see [the sensor],” says Peck. “This is a key thing. If the driver can see the sensor is between two points, the truck is safe to drive.”

Simplicity of installation is another appealing feature. Peck has equipped 450 vehicles, or 57% of his fleet, with BrakeSentry since 2003. “It’s an aftermarket product,” he says. “All aftermarket. All installed by my staff. And when we decommission a vehicle, BrakeSentry can move from an old truck to a new one.”

BrakeSentry is an on-scene investigative tool that reveals brake condition. The adjuster can take a picture of the sensor and know immediately if the brakes are in adjustment. “If there is an accident, without doing anything to the vehicle,” Peck notes, “one can tell if the brakes are in adjustment.”

Another thing Peck likes about BrakeSentry is that there’s nothing to wear out. “The material is pliable, resistant to pokes and gouges from rubbish, and doesn’t get brittle in winter or soft in summer,” he says. “It stays about the same year-round.”

High-Visibility Reflects Light, Day or Night
Personal protection equipment or safety garments should be comfortable and long-wearing and build employee morale. ANSI Class II shirts are fabricated in ways to produce more comfortable wear. A cool, comfortable worker is a more productive worker. “Companies must assess risk and place workers in appropriate equipment,” says Reflective Apparel Factory’s (RAF’s) Rich Boven. “The more comfortable the worker, the more productive the worker. There’s also less lost work because of injury and heat-related incidents.”

“It’s important we follow ANSI standards,” says Mike Lambert, corporate safety director at Republic Services. Those standards have different classes. For around traffic, we feel Category II is for best for our people.” Lambert joined Republic in 2000 as its first corporate safety manager. “We instituted a high-visibility policy in 2001.” Republic workers can wear a uniform or a vest. Lambert said he has 9,000 operational employees wearing hi-vis nationwide.

“We put everyone in high-visibility yellow. If you look now, you see a lot more yellow,” Lambert says. “At our landfills, we use orange.”

Lambert tells of an experiment with clothing visibility: “We put scarecrows at landfill exits. We put regular clothes on one and a high-visibility vest on the other. When the workers left work at night with their car lights hitting the vest, they could really see the difference in the two. That really got the employees to buy into it.”

Photo: McNeilus

Effective lighting can provide vehicles with extra nightime visibilty.

With all that automation, Smith still had a safety problem. “Most employees would have the vest in the truck,” Smith recalls. “If they had to get out, moving a cart from a mailbox or other obstructions, the vest stayed in the truck. The solution was to have the employees wear the safety vest all the time.”

“Technology in fabrics has changed tremendously,” says RAF’s Sally Boven. “Some may have tried something in the past, not been happy with it, and needed to come back to see how the technology has changed. You’d be surprised in the performance of the apparel.”

The Murfreesboro Solid Waste Department took a couple of months to evaluate different shirts. Testing included everything from apparel with the solid striping of most ANSI Class II shirts to the Airex striping from 3M. The department employees tested 10 different vendors’ shirts. At the end of the testing, employees felt best wearing the shirts with Airex striping from RAF.

“One part of having an effective safety program,” Smith says, “was to have employee input into the decision on the shirt that would become the standard uniform shirt of the department.” The department’s ANSI Class III personal protective equipment includes T-shirts, bomber jackets, rain parkas, crew sweatshirts, hooded sweatshirts, and windbreakers.

Product information and testing are important in any decision-making process. RAF provided both to the folks at Murfreesboro. “Rich and his staff at RAF have been excellent in providing information and allowing testing of different styles as they become available,” Smith says. “The bomber jacket is just one example. It’s an ANSI Class III jacket that is waterproof and wind-resistant. What makes this piece of clothing appealing to the garbage industry is the black band that actually hides dirt and grease. Even though we use automation, garbage is still dirty work.”

“The MSW industry was ahead of curve in regard to compliance,” says Rich Boven. “Most MSWs have had five to six years to buy and try vests, jackets, whatever uniform they may want. We can provide not only stylish, comfortable personal protection equipment, but RAF can laminate and personalize all apparel at the plant.”

Seeing All Around
Every day, solid waste collectors face obstacles—parked cars, alleyways, or pedestrians. Intec Video Systems Inc. has provided rear- and side-vision camera systems since 1978. Camera operators can easily observe all areas around the collection vehicle. Sam Mendoza, motive fleet engineer with the city of San Diego, CA, first saw a camera being used with fire and life safety in a pilot type of program.

“We’ve seen a decrease in backing accidents since adding the cameras,” Mendoza says. “First we installed the cameras on all our single-person trucks, then on the two-person trucks. We could document the reduction in the amount of backing accidents.

Photo: Rosco Mirrors

Rosco Mirrors makes a side mirror with an automatic return mechanism.

All 167 trucks the city has are outfitted with Intec. “The camera has a very good warranty, and we get extensive performance. It comes with a six-year warranty; that’s basically the life of the vehicle,” Mendoza says. “I was impressed with the camera before I knew about the product support.”

“Safety is our number-one priority,” says James R. Kuhl, manager of environmental services with the city of Long Beach, CA. Long Beach provides refuse collection services for 120,000 residential and commercial accounts, collecting approximately 220,000 tons of solid waste each year. “In addition to providing ongoing safety and driver training,” he says, “the city of Long Beach attempts to provide the best equipment available to protect our employees and the public we serve.”

Two major safety concerns for Kuhl are backing of vehicles and collection of hazardous or toxic materials. In order to prevent harm to an employee, the public, or the environment, the city began using Intec’s products about 18 years ago. “When the city implemented automated collection 18 years ago,” he says, “we installed Intec’s rear-vision and hopper cameras on all our side-loaders. After a year or so, we decided all our refuse collection vehicles should be equipped with backup cameras to enhance safety.” Now all 73 refuse trucks (side-loaders, rear-loaders, and front-loaders) have Intec camera systems. Backup cameras have also been added to the fleet of 20 street sweepers and four rolloff trucks.

Kuhl recalls one serious backing accident caused by driver error. “Our investigation determined that if the driver had been using his camera to assist him, the accident could have been prevented. The city of Long Beach has numerous narrow alleys that require the driver to back up the entire length of the alley to service our customers. The backup cameras are a valuable tool in preventing injuries and property damage.”

Kuhl thinks not only the system is great, but also the support. “Service from Intec is great, beyond expectations,” he says. “Intec understands camera systems are a critical component of our safety program. The company works to find solutions, not excuses.”

“The city bought three Pro-Vision video systems about three years ago for safety purposes,” says Pam Arnett, public information officer for the City of Maryville, TN. “There’s no one on the back of the truck. It’s hard to see exactly what is going on in back with so many blind spots. The system also helps when backing onto a road.” Now 100% of the commercial vehicles and 70% of the residential trucks are equipped with a video system.

Arnett says that although they didn’t have a great deal of accidents, the system has helped reduce commercial and residential injuries. “We are pleased with the ability to clearly see everything without blind spots before moving the vehicle,” she says. “The system also allows the driver to notice any spillage while emptying and to see if the entire container has been emptied. Overall the video system protects the workers backing up and going forward.”

An added benefit of Pro-Vision is the record option. “We chose the record option that begins when the vehicle is started and ends when the driver turns off the engine. This allows us to view accidents to see exactly what occurred,” Arnett notes. “It has also helped with callers who say we have forgotten to pick up their garbage. We let them know we’ll check the video. Many times they admit they could have placed their container out too late.”

Pro-Vision was very helpful when the trucks experienced a few glitches in the beginning. “There can be bumps and jumps along the way to the landfill resulting in a few minor problems with the system,” Arnett says. “The technicians were able to explain to our people the specifics of what needed to be done to fix the problem, saving time and money. We didn’t have to look for someone in our area who would know the video system.”

Seeing Behind the Matter
The Slow Down to Get Around decal reflects off early-morning headlights. Brakes, freshly inspected, are in adjustment. Workers are decked out in hi-vis uniforms. Cameras offer views around vehicles and record the day. And mirrors are adjusted to give drivers the best visual possible. Those mirrors could be custom-designed by Rosco Mirrors. With more than 100 years of experience, Rosco supplies mirrors, visors, and other visual safety systems to commercial fleets around the world. The company is renowned for its strong design-engineering focus and custom product development.

According to Peter Plate, in sales and marketing at Rosco, standard mirrors require adjustments and can get damaged when hit. Sometimes a high-mounted mirror can lead to driver injuries during readjustment. Rosco offers an automatic-return mechanism that keeps the mirror properly adjusted. Rosco produces more than 15 mirror products. The company does custom-designed systems, which may be hand-adjusted or motorized, heated mirrors.

The mission of Rosco is to develop high-quality products. Plate says the company provides service and support that will exceed expectations.

Light the Way to Safety
Collection workers can see and record what is around them. Hi-vis uniforms make workers more visible. Collection trucks should also have lighting that calls attention to them. Truck-Lite, a leader in light-emitting diode (LED) technology, has developed commercial-vehicle safety lighting for more than 50 years. The company designed the first sealed marker lamp and the first sealed wiring harness.

Lee Lydic, national fleet development manager for Truck-Lite, says LED technology is getting much better. “Truck-Lite has developed LEDs that are good for up to 11 years. That’s more than 100,000 hours,” he says. “Another good thing about the LED is that vibration doesn’t bother it, but it does bother the gas-filled lights.”

With diesel prices on the rise, Lydic suggests looking into using LEDs. “An alternator on a truck pulls X amount of horsepower,” he says. “It makes sense if you can maybe save a couple of horsepower with LED; by making the alternator not work as hard, you’ll save on the fuel.”

The business of keeping collection workers safe entails many facets, but the main one is to get involved. David Biderman, general counsel for Environmental Industry Associations, invites any fleet—big or small, corporate or mom-and-pop—to get involved in the Slow Down to Get Around campaign. “Don’t wait until there is a fatality to call me to get involved,” he says. “Get involved today.”