Driving WM’s Commitment to Safety

At Waste Management, safety is a core value, consistently influencing behavior throughout our organization. This is for good reason— the U.S. federal government ranks trash and recycling collection among the top 10 most dangerous jobs in the United States, with drivers and collectors facing risks from motor vehicle crashes and unique workplace hazards.

Waste Management has a culture where all employees are committed to the safety and health of each other, our customers, and the communities we serve by maintaining a zero tolerance for unsafe behaviors and conditions. 

A key advantage we have in our market area is an average driver tenure of 20+ years—including drivers with as much as 35 years of experience. Our tenured and experienced drivers adhere to all safety measures, ensuring the safety of your property, employees, and your neighbors. Our drivers are focused on the unique needs of their local communities in which they serve (we live here too!), and work to accommodate your schedules and any specific requirements you may have.

Our great strides in safety performances reflect an ongoing strategy to leverage technology in our safety processes. In recent years, Service Delivery Optimization (SDO) has significantly improved our collection and maintenance operations by optimizing our systems through technology that includes onboard computers, routing software, and cameras.

A critical element of SDO is DriveCam®, a small video recorder mounted on the windshield of our collection vehicles. The recorder is triggered by certain vehicle behaviors, such as aggressive braking, swerving, or a collision. Once an event is captured, the device sends the event to DriveCam personnel, who analyze the occurrence, then send information back to Waste Management field managers for performance coaching.

DriveCam also allows us to appreciate the ways our drivers avoid collisions with defensive driving techniques. We use these events to document and disseminate best practices among our drivers, featuring the best examples of defensive driving in our “DriveCam Play of the Month.”