Solid waste workers faced higher injury rates in 2024 compared to the previous year, while landfill worker injuries decreased over that same period, according to annual data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday.
For solid waste collection workers, the injury rate was 5.0 total cases per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, notably up from the previous year’s 4.3 and the 4.7 recorded in 2022.
However, landfill workers had fewer recorded injuries in 2024. That rate was 2.8 cases per 100 FTE, compared with 3.1 cases the previous year.
The injury rate for MRF workers was 5.8. BLS did not include data for this category in 2023, but in 2022 noted a MRF injury rate of 4.4.
The total recordable illness rate for solid waste collection workers in 2024 was 5.8 per 100 FTE, down significantly compared to 2023 when the rate spiked to 13.8. The 5.8 rate is the same as the rate from 2022. Data shows an incidence rate of 2.3 for “skin diseases or disorders,” but it lists a 2.9 rate for illnesses falling into the “other” category.
In 2024, landfill workers’ illness rate was 9.1, much higher than the 4.9 rate from 2023. BLS did not provide more detail on what kinds of illnesses these workers experienced.
BLS did not provide illness data for MRF workers, which it last reported in 2020 but has not updated since.
BLS noted the combined incidence rates of both nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses was 5.0 for solid waste collection workers and 2.9 for landfill workers in 2023. For MRF workers, it was 5.9.
The 2024 data is a mixed bag for the industry, which has long aimed to dramatically lower BLS injury and illness rates from year to year. In 2021, the industry achieved rates that were the lowest in a decade in both injury and illness categories.
In 2024, private industry employers across all job sectors reported 2.5 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses. That’s down 3.1% from 2023 and the lowest number BLS has recorded since 2003.
The incidence rate for all private industry jobs was 2.3, also the lowest rate since 2003, BLS said. In 2023, that rate was 2.4.
BLS typically releases annual injury and illness data in November, but the release was delayed by more than two months due to the government shutdown. BLS plans to release its annual worker fatality statistics for 2024 on Feb. 19. In 2023, refuse and recyclable materials collection was the seventh-deadliest occupation in the United States, the same as in 2021.
Meanwhile, some major publicly traded waste companies disclosed progress on their work to improve their safety stats, particularly their total recordable incident rates, which are a combination of certain injury and illness data. WM and Republic Services have publicly set goals to achieve a total OSHA recordable incident rate of 2.0 or lower by 2030.
WM reported a TRIR of 3.23 in 2024, up slightly from its 3.08 rate in 2023 and 3.02 rate in 2022. But the company says it has reduced overall injuries by 6% since 2023.
Republic Services reported a rate of 3.2 in 2024, down slightly from a rate of 3.5 in 2023 and 3.6 in 2022, according to its latest sustainability report.
