12/23/2023 0 Comments Side arm garbage truck![]() The new Refuse Division was put under the direction of Marc Stragier, the director of Public Works. From 1960 to 1970, the city population increased from 10,026 to 67,823. After having a major annexation in 1961 that more than doubled its population, the city took over refuse collection from private contractors in March 1964. Scottsdale, Arizona, a town northeast of Phoenix, incorporated in 1954 with a population of 2,032. Let’s explore this history more in-depth. ![]() Unfortunately, residential drivers wouldn’t start seeing some relief for another few decades. Commercial collection already saw vast improvements in safety, productivity and cleanliness with the introduction of the Front End Loaders (the industry’s first automated truck) in the 1950s. Now there has always been a drive in the industry from the truck manufacturers to deliver the highest compaction body to maximize on-route time over the competition yet they all required one key ingredient before the early 1980s: manual loading. Why do you think so many of the articles in this publication and those like it are filled with safety related items? It’s a major concern and issue even with the advanced technology modern refuse trucks are built upon. This is why, even today, refuse collection is listed in the Top 10 most dangerous jobs in America. Workers were required to jump on and off the truck continually, handle hundreds of containers, many of which were overweight and easy to drop.Īn average worker could lift up to 6 tons a day and walk up to 11 miles in all type of weather, which led to multiple injuries and massive insurance claims to the hauler (if they offered insurance) and time away from work. A fact not surprising considering the nature of the job. Those numbers are staggering when compared with the next closest industry, police departments, which had 48.15 accidents per million man hours. ![]() A report put out between 1969 to 1971 showed that nationally there were 98.8 disabling accidents per million man hours worked in refuse collection. In 1968, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the injury rate among refuse collectors was higher than the rate for coal miners, police officer, firefighter or loggers. ![]() For haulers and drivers who collected trash for the majority of their lives, they were lucky if they could continue to stand up straight by the time they were 50 and their bodies weren’t completely broken. Gone are the days of the “Vic Tanney” bodies and the driver lugging around 55 gallon drums on their backs. The modern refuse truck operator has it pretty easy today compared to his peers of yesteryear. ![]()
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