Workplace safety is important everywhere, but when there’s hazardous waste in the mix, it becomes critical. We’re proud to announce that as of today—April 22nd, 2023—we’ve reached a milestone of 1,000 days without a lost time incident! That’s almost three years without an injury to one of our workers on the job, and a testament to how seriously everyone takes safety here at NEDT—something vital for a hazardous waste management company.
What Is a Lost Time Incident and Why Is it Important?
A Lost Time Incident is a technical term courtesy of OSHA that is defined as any injuries which occur on the job that result in the loss of productive work time for an employee, whether temporary or permanent. Going more than two and a half years without an injury of this scope is impressive in any hands-on industry, but in a sector such as hazardous waste management where there are so many more hazards? That’s amazing. Let’s talk about why.
Why Hazardous Waste Safety Is Paramount
At NEDT, we primarily deal with hazardous waste in all forms, including hazardous waste transportation, emergency response and cleanup, site remediation, residential pick-up and disposal centers, tank cleaning and removal, and industrial cleaning. That means we’re not only working with dangerous hazardous waste and heavy machinery, but also often in new and unfamiliar environments. An accident in this industry wouldn’t just mean potential injury to our staff—it could also result in a much larger disaster such as environmental contamination, chemical fires, and health risks to residents.
How NEDT Continues to Put Safety First
We reached this milestone by mandating rigorous and regular training for our staff and providing them with the right tools and equipment to deal with any situation, every time. And we’re not resting on our laurels:
- Safety Training: Our employees train constantly, including a 40-hour OSHA program, as well as several in-house training programs regarding fall protection, respiratory protection, control of hazardous energy, boating safety and boom deployment, and confined space entry and rescue.
- 1000+ Keep Keeping It Safe: Our pledge is every time we see an incident in the news with hazardous waste, we work internally to review and update our training, guidelines, and procedures to make sure it can’t happen here.
Safety is our highest priority; it dictates all facets of our work. Nothing is more important. Reaching 1,000 days without incident is no small feat, but we want to be clear: this achievement doesn’t mean we’ll let our guards down. We’re using this accomplishment as an opportunity to explore how we can take our work to an even higher caliber of safety and to remind everyone across the organization to continue practicing safety awareness in everything we do, every day.
– Patrick O’Toole, Vice President of NEDT
We know on this blog you normally see NEDT’s resident services, but that’s just one part of our company, and safety affects it all! We’ve been around for over 25 years, completing 27,000 projects and responding to more than 2,100 emergency chemical and oil spills. We’re proud to reach this milestone, as well as to be able to help our community with our Household Hazardous Products Collection Centers and the education provided in this blog. Want to learn more? Contact us.
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