With cold weather making appearances in our local area, Waste Management is reminding the community that waste containers should not be used as shelter from winter conditions.
“Waste Management requests that the community please stay out of waste containers, for your safety, and for the safety of our drivers,” said Tony Franco, area safety manager. “We understand individuals may go to great lengths to seek cover from severe weather. However, if someone is inside a waste container when it is emptied, there is a significant risk of injury or death. By working with our customers and exercising additional vigilance, we hope to reduce this risk.”
In a statement from the company, they said that although people may look at a waste container as providing options for more than just the disposal of trash, waste containers are pieces of heavy industrial equipment, serviced by heavy collection trucks with hydraulic crushing equipment.
- “Tragedy can result when people climb into waste containers,” they wrote.
In July of last year, we reported on an individual that had been dumped from a dumpster into a city dump truck making its routine trash stops.
The homeless woman was hiding in the dumpster at the Repeat Thrift Store on Walter Martin Road to get away from her boyfriend. According to the woman, she then fell asleep.
The driver of the dump truck said he heard a woman yelling for help when he pulled over near the corner of Nicholson Street and Mallard Avenue and called 911. The driver then climbed on top of his truck and was able to help the victim from the hopper onto the top of the truck.
- FWBFD as well as OCEMS were able to safely remove the woman from the top of the truck.
