NWRA chief of staff selected for OSHA committee

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Arlington, Virginia, has announced Kirk Sander, chief of staff and vice president of safety and standards at NWRA, was selected to serve on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Work Group. 

According to a news release from the NWRA, NACOSH selected Sander because OSHA recognized NWRA and its efforts in improving the health and safety of waste and recycling workers.

“Waste collection workers operate in all conditions, everywhere. This is an important issue to us and our industry,” says Darrell Smith, president and CEO of the NWRA. “I am pleased that Kirk will help advise OSHA and Labor Secretary Martin Walsh on issues that will help reduce injuries and illness related to heat for our workforce.”

The NWRA says the work group will provide recommendations to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor on heat injury and illness prevention guidance and rulemaking. The first meeting will be in early 2022. 

Waste collection workers spend several hours working outside. In its weekly safety newsletter, NWRA devoted the month of May to remind industry employees of the dangers of working in the heat and how to prevent injuries and illness from doing so.