Safety First

But accidents do happen. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 4.3 million cases of injury or illness on the job were reported by the private business sector in 2003. More than 5,000 fatal work-related accidents were reported—691 fatal falls and 901 incidents of an employee being killed after being struck by an object or equipment.

No company can afford to take safety issues lightly, and while it shares many of the same risks and liabilities as other businesses, the document destruction industry has to deal with several industry-specific safety concerns. Shredding operation owners can take many steps to make their companies safer places to work and to ensure they’re covered if an accident does happen.

The document destruction industry shares many of the same risks with other types of businesses—simple slips, falls, lifting injuries, vehicle accidents and bad run-ins with equipment. "It tends to be the common, everyday stuff," says John Gilstrap, director of safety for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), Washington.

But shredding operations have several industry-specific hazards to safeguard against when trying to keep their plants safe.

For instance, accidents with baling equipment are more likely to occur with paper balers than with metal balers, says Mike Mattia, a former ISRI safety director who now runs Recycling Risk Management LLC, a Gaithersburg, Md.-based company that offers safety consulting services to all branches of the recycling industry.

Mattia says people tend to underestimate the dangers of a paper baler because "we forget the hazard of the machine and we focus on the material being baled." He says operators are more likely to stick their hands in a paper baler to try to clear a jam than they would if the machine were baling scrap metal. "No one’s going to go stomping on scrap metal," Mattia says. "But they think, ‘It’s paper, it can’t hurt me.’"

Another risk for those working in the document destruction business is the bales of paper themselves, according to Bob Johnson, executive of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), Phoenix, Ariz. "The height at which bales are stacked and the integrity of the bales become a security factor," he says. "Tight, compact, well-made bales aren’t only important for the market, but they’re important for safety."

In storage, ceiling height is often the only real factor limiting how high bales can be stacked. But if bales are stacked too high, they could tip and fall, posing serious danger to anyone caught below, Johnson says.

Paper dust also poses a threat to worker safety—and not just the kind that respirators can defend against, Mattia says.

"Paper dust, in really, really fine form, has a higher flammability that paper itself," Mattia says. Mattia says that dust can coat machinery and, once heated, it can catch fire.

Mattia also says that paper dust can coat the sprinkler heads of a building’s sprinkler systems, raising the temperature at which the sprinklers will go off in the case of a fire.

"It’s almost like it’s insulating them," he says. "It takes longer to detect heat and go off."

Other dangers are even more unexpected, says Johnson. Because the industry handles so many clients in the medical field, Johnson says sometimes biohazard material like needles or sharps ends up being mixed in with paper documents collected for shredding. "Some employees assume that everything is going into the incinerator," Johnson says.

While most companies have insurance if employees are injured on the job, owners have to keep an eye on their customers, too, Mattia says.

"Customers can be the biggest liability," he says. While employees are covered by most business insurance policies, owners must be aware of the risks of having a customer sustain an injury at a facility.

"You’ve got customers coming in, and they’re not necessarily covered," Mattia says. "They could sue. You’ve got to hold customers to the same standards as employees—where are customers allowed to drive, how are they loading and unloading material, and who is doing the loading?"

Taking safety seriously is the first step toward preventing accidents, says Gilstrap. He says management has a responsibility to establish a "culture of safety" in the workplace.

"Business managers accept failures in safety that they would not accept in other areas," he says. "How many times would you tolerate someone stealing money from you? You have to hold safety to the same standards of other employee behavior."

Making safety a priority in the workplace starts at the highest levels of the business and works its way down, Gilstrap says.

"When it comes down to the basics, it’s a cultural thing," he says. "Managers start by wearing [safety equipment] themselves and by intervening when they see someone not wearing their equipment. Don’t put it off or wait for the next break."

Managers have the responsibility to set an example, says Gilstrap, and they are the best resource to encourage safe practices among all employees.

Gilstrap also says that many accidents are preceded by near-accidents, which should be examined and fixed, not simply written off as lucky near misses.

"It’s important to treat near-accidents as if they were accidents," he says.

Positive reinforcement is considered by many to be the best way to encourage employees to follow safety protocols. "You don’t want to lead with threats," Gilstrap says. Also, if an employee isn’t wearing the proper safety equipment, a manager should take the time to find out why.

"He or she could not be wearing safety glasses because they don’t fit—everyone acts in their own best interest," he says.

Addressing simple issues of size and comfort often fixes problems with employees neglecting basic safety equipment, Gilstrap says. "Basically, make sure the equipment you’re providing is adequate and reasonably comfortable," he says.

Another big part of establishing a culture of safety is letting employees know it’s O.K. to come forward with safety concerns, particularly in the case of equipment problems. "When something breaks, people tend to shoot the messenger—people get embarrassed. Encourage them to report maintenance problems and reward them for being vigilant," Gilstrap says.

But even when the best example is set and all the precautions are taken, accidents can happen. And when they do, company owners can take several steps to make sure they are properly insured.

The advantage of purchasing insurance through a trade organization, like NAID, is that the underwriters will be educated to where loss occurs specifically in the document destruction business, says Brett Benton of Willis of Arizona Inc., the Phoenix-based firm that handles insurance for NAID member companies.

"If you go out on your own as a document destruction company to find coverage, you can’t be absolutely certain the underwriter even understands what you’re doing," Benton says.

If a company purchases insurance through a trade organization, Benton says the product it receives is tailored to meet its industry-specific needs.

Balancing coverage and cost is a challenge, says Mattia. Getting the right coverage—making sure you have the basics—is the easy part. Getting the best price for it is where the challenge comes in, Mattia says. He advises owners to be aware of all the positive things the company does to improve safety in order to get credits for better ratings.

"Make sure that you get credit for all the good things you do—safety programs in place, how your people are trained, how close you are to the nearest fire hydrants—make sure insurance folks know all the details to get all the breaks."

Checking to determine which fire codes apply to a given facility is important when considering insurance, Mattia says. "Storage of paper scrap is considered a highly hazardous combustible in some areas," he says. "Fire codes can be very stringent in some areas, so it’s important for owners to check what regulations apply and to make sure their companies are in compliance."

Having extinguishing systems in place and being in proximity to a fire station can also have an effect on insurance ratings, says Mattia.

In addition to general liability insurance concerns over physical safety in the workplace, document destruction companies are also professionally liable for the services they perform, says Benton.

"It’s evolving more into a professional than a service trade," Benton says. "With identity theft becoming such a big issue, you’ve got a greater duty of care. You’ve got to make sure documents actually get destroyed."

Benton says professional liability insurance is a must in the document destruction business to protect a company from being sued if a document flutters off the back of a truck and winds up in the wrong hands.

And whether in the plant or on the road, trying to keep a step ahead of hazards is something all employees should take responsibility for–managers and equipment operators alike. "A lot of times we don’t know there’s a problem until the problem happens," Mattia says. Keeping generally alert and keeping potential accidents in mind is a good place to start when trying to make the workplace safer.

Managing for safety is the same as managing for anything else, Gilstrap says. "It’s essentially about goals. You set your goals, communicate them, act on the plan and then assess what happens. It’s the same series of events," he says.

Gilstrap says the essence of successful safety management is in keeping it personal–making it about the workers’ lives, not about company regulations. "It’s about the best interests of the employee," he says. "Think about sending people home whole and healthy, and lo and behold, you have a good safety program."