Give Us     an E-Mail History Hours &     Location Safety Services Who To     Call Industrial     Pickup Form

Safety at a metals recycling facility has always been a tough thing to accomplish. There are huge machines, elevated magnets weighing several tons, uneven ground, railroad vehicles zipping around, large tank tread cranes ambling around(the ground shakes when they move), semi tractor trucks continuously moving in and out of the facility, smaller material handling vehicles darting to and fro, lots and lots of conveyors with rotating parts that can be very hazardous, machines that crush, crunch, cut, and malform steel and cast iron materials. All in all, making a facility with all of these potential people breakers safe can be quite an undertaking. So what is a metals recycler to do?  Metallico Annaco faced the problem of safety seriously, very seriously, starting 10 years ago in 1987. We first got all of the people together and asked for suggestions of what to do. A safety committee was formed and a safety manual geared strictly to Metallico Annaco was created.  We then started a program of being certain that everyone from the President on through the organization followed the safety procedures stated in our safety manual. Our procedures apply to everyone who comes into our facility, even the outside contractors.  Penalties were set up and carried out against anyone who would not be safe in our organization. For example, we will refuse to load a truck if the driver refuses to exit their vehicle (properly protected with a hard hat and safety glasses) while the truck is being loaded.  Rewards were also put into action to recognize the people within our organization who perform in a safe manner. Every month, a free lunch is awarded to each department that experiences no accidents. At the end of each year, a safety banquet is given, with cash prizes and giveaways for all of the employees who were safe throughout the year.  Each department holds monthly safety meetings. One of the department's employees makes up a safety poster that is posted in a conspicuous place for the month.  Each month a safety sleuth and two assistants scours our facility, listing every unsafe condition that they observe. The results of each investigation is shared with the safety committee and individuals are assigned to correct the deficiencies.  It took a long time to change the living philosophy of all who worked and visited Metallico Annaco, but we kept doggedly making progress initial safety was a habit instead of something a person did when they were thinking about it.  The fruits of our labors are spoken by our safety record. We have experienced several two to four year periods during the last twelve years without a lost time accident. Quite an accomplishment for a recycling facility.  At Annaco, safety really does come first! Top