10 Tips to Improve Trash Room Safety

While the trash room may seem like a low-risk area, accidents can and do still happen. The manual movement of heavy dumpsters poses a significant risk of injuries. Fortunately, there are practical steps you can take to mitigate these risks and promote workplace safety.

In this blog, we give you actionable tips to improve trash room safety and an innovative way to achieve greater productivity in waste management processes.

Why Trash Room Safety Matters

For commercial and residential properties, waste management can often be an afterthought. After all, it’s just taking the trash out,right? While many may think that’s the case, most workplace injuries in a multi-family property actually occur inside the trash room.

For maintenance teams across the country, hauling heavy dumpsters is no easy task. Combine large trash containers, tight trash rooms and the added complexity of inclines and it’s the perfect storm for an accident.

10 Trash Room Safety Tips

Here are ten safety tips to minimize the risks associated with dumpsters and compactors.

1. Keep areas surrounding dumpsters and compactors clutter-free and tidy to reduce the risk of slips and trips
2.  Exercising caution when opening and closing dumpster lids, preventing finger traps and hand injuries
3.  Ensuring compactor door is securely closed during operation
4. Prohibiting staff and individuals from entering dumpsters, trash chutes or compactors
5. Never compress trash or waste with hands, feet or body
6. Break down materials before placing them in dumpsters
7. Properly disposing of hazardous waste by contacting the local environmental agency
8. Limiting compactor servicing to authorized personnel
9. Reporting animal or pest sightings immediately
10. Utilizing dumpster movers to safely move wheeled dumpsters, preventing the risk of strains and sprains

Top Injury Risks in Trash Rooms and Waste Management

As we’ve already covered, while the trash room may be unassuming, it can be a risky area when it comes to injuries and accidents. Research carried out by the Travelers Insurance showed that manually hauling, pushing and pulling heavy dumpsters presents a risk of injury for janitorial and maintenance staff.

Their research analyzed over 1.5 million workers’ compensation claims from 2015 to 2019 and found that the most common causes of injuries were overexertion, slips, trips, falls, and being struck by objects.

Delving deeper into the data, they discovered that strains, sprains, fractures and dislocations were common – injuries that trash room employees are susceptible to when manually moving trash containers and dumpsters.

Waste Caddy Solutions for Promoting Trash Room Safety

Working with Property Managers across the country, we’ve eliminated the need for manual handling when moving heavy dumpsters – reducing the risk of injury and increasing productivity in the trash room by over 50% with our dumpster waste caddys.

Our range of waste caddy movers are an invaluable solution to improve workplace safety and efficiency in trash room operations. Benefit from:

• Improved safety and the elimination of pushing and pulling heavy dumpsters
• Reduced risk of injuries associated with manual handling
• Over 50% improved productivity (Where dumpsters previously required more than one member of staff to move)
• Streamlined operations and time savings for trash room staff
• Providing a cost-effective and long-term solution for reducing workplace injuries and associated costs
• Reduced workers comp insurance costs
• Lower insurance premiums

Benefits of Dumpster Moving Solutions

Our commercial-grade, battery powered machines offer a cost-effective solution to keep your janitorial and maintenance staff safe and decrease workers compensation insurance costs. Waste towing solutions eliminate the physical effort required to move heavy dumpsters and replace it with the power of an electric motor – taking the strain from trash room staff.

Dumpster waste caddy solutions also create a safe distance between the employee and the dumpster, reducing the risk of finger, hand, and foot trapping hazards. Back injuries and muscle strains are significantly reduced since the electric motor does all the hard work!

Our waste moving solutions can handle a range of dumpster sizes but are typically used to move 2 yard, 3 yard and 4 yard loose and compacted trash containers.

Your Trash Room, Made Safer

For commercial, residential and multi-family properties, our dumpster towing solutions are the ideal solution for creating safer, more productive trash rooms.