ANSI for New Guidelines

Phil Headley

The standards developing subcommittees of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z245 safety series have been working diligently to complete revised safety and compatibility standards for waste containers and mobile collection equipment. They also are progressing on a new ANSI safety standard to address the hazards presented by transfer station operations.

The safety standards for waste containers (ANSI Z245.30, Waste Containers - Safety Requirements and ANSI Z245.60, Waste Containers - Compatibility Dimensions) have been formally approved by ANSI's Board of Standards Review. The staff of the Waste Equipment Technology Association, Washington, is proofing and formatting these two standard revisions for imminent publication.

The revised container safety standard Z245.30-2006 will include new designs for container warning labels and safety signs that are intended for easier comprehension by users and bystanders. The new signs and labels will employ a familiar three-panel design. Additional symbols will warn of hazards, and a text panel will outline the hazards involved and methods of avoiding them. The signs and labels will address those using the containers, collection professionals and other parties who encounter the containers.

ANSI Z245.60-2006, the container compatibility standard, has added design dimensions for two additional types of waste containers. After much discussion, refuse vehicle manufacturers and container manufacturers agreed upon long-awaited design dimensions for front loader containers (Type S) and hook-lift containers (Type L).

The revised mobile equipment standard, ANSI Z245.1, Mobile Wastes and Recyclable Materials Collection, Transportation and Compaction Equipment — Safety Requirements, is scheduled for ANSI approval in January 2007.

The mobile equipment safety subcommittee has proposed new safety requirements for automated side loader refuse vehicles as well as grapple loaders. The subcommittee also merged the cart lifter safety requirements currently covered in the container safety standard (ANSI Z245.30) into the mobile equipment standard. The clarity of content and diagrams was improved.

The updated standard also contains new safety requirements for manufacturers and users of front loader vehicles designed to limit access to the top of vehicles. The revised draft awaits final approval from the ANSI Z245 Main Committee, pending a period for public comment and review. Upon successful completion of these procedural requirements, the draft standard revision will be submitted to ANSI for final approval.

While the transfer station safety standard (proposed ANSI Z245.42, Waste Transfer Station — Safety Requirements) will model some of its content after the ANSI safety standard on material recovery facilities (MRFs), the document must address all of the competing forces involved in transfer station operation.

Given the presence of many types of equipment (both stationary and mobile) and traffic flow involving pedestrians and mobile equipment, the transfer station environment can produce a lot of activity. Coordinating ingress and egress as well as actions while on property is paramount. Protecting against danger is of primary importance, but alerting all persons to the hazards present will be a necessary supplement to site safety.

The draft standard must illustrate and recognize the half dozen or so different operating methods and formats currently used by transfer stations. The standard will not attempt to ban certain transfer station configurations, but will instead recognize existing plans before instructing operators on how to run their particular operations in the safest way possible.

For the entire ANSI Z245 safety standard catalog, go to www.wastec.org and click on the Publications page.

Phil Headley is manager of technical programs at the Waste Equipment Technology Association. E-mail him at [email protected].