Employees achieve record-setting 2013
safety performance
Work to be done toward Mission to Zero
HOUSTON – Last year, WM’s operations went through a series of transformations, from Service Delivery
Optimization (SDO) rolling out across the country to DriveCam being installed in thousands of trucks. On
top of that, Areas continued to focus on the company’s top priority: safety.
At the start of 2013, the company set some pretty ambitious safety goals, including zero employee fatalities,
a successful launch of DriveCam and overall improvement in safety metrics. While work is yet to be done,
WM’s performance was nonetheless impressive and sets the stage for an even better 2014.
Some of the 2013 highlights include:
- Zero driver or helper fatalities due to an operating failure (a first for WM). This is a big
accomplishment when considering that not long ago, in 2001, 19 WM employees were
killed while on-route - The best annual safety performance of all time by WM recycling facilities. This despite the
acquisition of Greenstar, which required training 16 sites and 850 workers on WM’s safety
standards - Total fatalities fell 18 percent compared to 2012
- The majority of Areas saw improvements in their Vehicle Accident Rate (or VARR)
- Auto/bodily injury incidents, seat belt violations and cell phone use while on the road all
decreased following a successful launch of DriveCam
“We completed 2013 with improvements that I believe will continue with great momentum into 2014,” said Jeff
Martin, vice president of safety services. “I want to thank all of our employees for what we achieved, and what
we’re going to achieve, as we progress toward our goal of Mission to Zero.”
Sadly, WM did not reach one important goal — zero employee fatalities.
One of the workers killed, Driver Brett Labbs from Sullivan County, N.Y., died on-route when a tractor trailer
drifted into his lane. The remaining three took place at post collection locations, two of which were at WM sites
and the other at a private third party transfer station. As a result, improving the post collections safety performance
will be a key focus going forward. If you’d like to know one of the ways the company plans to do that, read this
issue’s Safety Today article on page 3.
For 2014, WM is again setting some crucial goals, including zero employee fatalities. In addition, Safety Services
is also committing to recertifying managers on rules books, developing Area-specific injury reduction plans and
setting safety metric targets for each site.
For more information, ask your manager or visit the Safety page on Visor.