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Companies are dedicating one hour per shift to safety training

(Washington, DC) – Today marks the first-ever recycling industry Safety Stand-Down Day, an effort driven by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) in response to a series of recent fatalities and serious injuries. Companies were asked by members of the ReMA safety leadership team to shut down operations for at least one hour on every shift to engage in safety awareness training. The training could take any form, from employee training to a management walk-around, or any other effective safety training method.

“Never before has such a call to action been taken at ISRI. It is an ambitious undertaking, but if safety is to be our number one core value, then having every recycler take one hour during each shift to educate employees about safety should not be difficult to ask,” wrote ReMA Chair Doug Kramer in a letter to members this morning. “There have been at least 18 incidents in 2014 involving fatalities, all but two coming in the second half of the year. We must work together to end this disturbing trend, and it begins today.”

Throughout the week leading up to today, ReMA provided its members with a series of Safety Training Guides, each based on the leading causes of industry fatalities in the last year: lockout tagout, struck by mobile equipment, striking overhead objects, confined spaces, and failure to use seatbelts. Each guide included handouts and teaching aids such as videos, PowerPoint presentations, and OSHA fact sheets.

“It is my goal to make Safety Stand-Down Day an annual event,” Kramer concluded. “Let's be a leading example to other industries that through a dedicated effort it is possible to improve safety.”

Find more information about Safety Stand-Down Day, including all of the Safety Training Guides, information on industry fatalities, and ISRI’s Safety Outreach program on the ISRI Safety website.

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The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) is the Voice of the Recycling Industry. ReMA represents more than 1,600 companies in 21 chapters nationwide that process, broker and industrially consume scrap commodities, including metals, paper, plastics, glass, rubber, electronics and textiles. With headquarters in Washington, DC, ReMA provides safety, education, advocacy, and compliance training, and promotes public awareness of the vital role recycling plays in the U.S. economy, global trade, the environment and sustainable development.