LAKE PLACID — It’s not enough just to “Don’t Zone Out” when driving near roadway work zones.
Now CSEA is broadening our public awareness efforts to remind the public that driving around sanitation vehicles can be just as dangerous, launching our “Slow Down To Get Around” campaign.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, sanitation collection was the fifth deadliest job in the country in 2014. Since 1983, CSEA has lost 11 members to fatalities associated with sanitation jobs.
Unveiled at the union’s recent Statewide Conference on Occupational Safety and Health, the new initiative was developed by the union’s Statewide Sanitation Workgroup, formed last year by President Danny Donohue, with a goal of raising awareness of the hazards associated with refuse and recycling operations.
At the conference, union activists and staff distributed new window clings featuring the “Slow Down To Get Around” logo and awareness fliers.
CSEA is also joining forces with sanitation industry groups in lobbying to have sanitation vehicles included in New York’s amber light “Move Over Law” and is offering new Clean Up Safety trainings through the union’s Occupational Safety and Health Department. Union members performing this type of work should contact your region’s CSEA occupational safety and health specialist to request the training.
To learn more, visit cseany.org/sanitation-safety.
— Mark M. Kotzin
