Safety and Risk Management Committee

In April 2013, the CDRA developed a Sample Health & Safety Manual for members. This template is reviewed and revised as policy and training practices evolve. Members are welcome to use this as a starting point to create a site-specific safety manual for their own facility(ies).The solid waste and recycling industry continues to be one of the most dangerous based on annual fatalities. The CDRA Safety and Risk Management Committee is committed to supporting our members in their efforts to maintain the safest working environments for their employees, customers, and visitors. In 2021, this committee added a Human Resources Special Interest Group as a sub-committee to connect the risk management and safety topics with the human resources that directly impact each other.

The CDRA Best Practices in Safety Awards started in 2018. This program was created to help our members identify a level of safety performance that will help their business be one that consistently operates using industry best practices. Each year our members can submit applications for safety awards. These applications reflect their company’s continuous improvement from one year to the next, based on 14 key safety components. There is no fee to apply and each company applying receives an award (gold, silver, or participant) based on their total score.

All CDRA members are invited to attend committee meetings, which typically occur monthly. Topics are safety related and human-resources focused to assist in understanding, sharing, and mitigating risk for our member companies. The intent is to alternate topics each month, with one month focused more on a safety-specific topic, and the next focused on a human resource related issue.

We welcome feedback from members to help maintain programming and research based on topics that directly affect, or have potential to directly affect, them most at any given time. 

Interested in joining this committee? Let us know! 

Committee Chair:

Kelsey Thomas

Kelsey Thomas
Assistant General Manager
Mount Materials
Berlin, NJ

Tom Boretski
Environmental and Safety Manager
Mount Materials
Vice Chair