Sharing the Wheelabrator safety mission

North and South Broward employees present
best practices at VPP conference

Broward County, Fla. – At Wheelabrator, safety is the highest priority. Among employees
it’s unparalleled, and is the cornerstone of operational excellence, which is why they take
great pride in working in an environment where the goal is for employees to go home each
day in the same condition as they arrived.

And that commitment to safety is not going unnoticed as evidenced by a recent invitation
sent to employees of Wheelabrator North and South Broward to speak at the 2013 Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OS HA) Region IV Voluntary Protection Programs
Participants’ Association Conference. Held June 18-20 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., the conference
included representatives from other Region IV Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) sites that
are leading the charge in health and safety.

Eight employees from Wheelabrator’s two Broward County waste-to-energy facilities presented
during the conference on workplace safety in the waste-to-energy industry, highlighting
Wheelabrator’s participation in OS HA’s VPP.

Challenges and best practices during outages were shared with attendees, including red taping
hazardous areas and issuing hot work permits. In addition, the team discussed how designating
a safety officer at the plants helped maintain a safe work environment for contractors.

“The group worked hard to organize the information and delivered an excellent presentation,” said
Wheelabrator North Broward Plant Manager Jim Epsilantis. “It was an exceptional opportunity for
the employees focused on the day-to-day support, maintenance and operations of our facilities to
engage in public speaking and safety outreach.”

All Wheelabrator facilities have a mission statement, and the Broward plants are no exception:
“We will not do anything in the course of operating and maintaining our facility that will risk the
health and safety of our employees, contractors and community.”

The proof of that mission is in the safety statistics. At Wheelabrator South Broward, the last OSHA
recordable was in August 2011, and the last Days Away Restricted or Transferred (DART) was in
February 2007. At the North plant, the last OSHA recordable was in May 2012, and the last DART
case was in September 2011.

“This was a great team effort and coordination between plants,” said Wheelabrator Southern
Regional Manager Peter Kendrigan. “It truly exemplifies the VPP culture. It was great to observe
the process, with minimal guidance and full support from the management teams.”

Picture: (L-R) Back row: Matt England, Oscar Marenco, Juan Gonzalez, Eddie Turner, Stanley
Rucks from Aquilex/SMS; front row: Chris Wykle, Dan Colon, Americo Pagan from OSHA, James
Muniz and Javier Corredor; not pictured: Tim Seguin.