By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLERAIN TWP. - While local trash haulers are renewing a push for safety following two wrecks that left one worker dead and another critically injured, some motorists say that some garbage collectors don't always follow the rules themselves.

Three weeks ago, David Browe of Montgomery was leaving his home about 5:30 a.m. for his morning workout when, he says, he saw a Rumpke truck stopped on East Kemper Road in the opposite lane.

When he was about 30 feet away, "the guy walked out from behind the truck to put cans across the street," Browe said. "I wondered, 'Why are people out here in the dark, wearing dark clothing and crossing the road?' "

He had a similar close call a few weeks earlier, Browe said.

Joe Hatter of Marion Township in Clinton County tells a similar story.

Last spring, he was on Wards Corner Road in Clermont County's Miami Township about 6:30 a.m. on a dark, rainy day. A man picking up trash ran out in front of him, Hatter said.

"He had on black clothing; it was very hard to see him. I nearly wrecked over it."

He remembers another incident about two years ago on Ohio 28 between Goshen and Blanchester when a garbage collector "ran across the road between two cars. The guy in front of me swerved and hit his brakes, and nearly caused an accident."

Few of the trash collectors he's seen have had on reflective vests, he said.

Larry Stone, safety director for Rumpke Consolidated Cos. of Colerain Township, wants to hear those stories.

"I'm not going to say because Rumpke has good written policy and training procedures that I have 100 percent compliance from employees," Stone said.

Fifteen years ago, Stone got Rumpke, the country's 11th-largest solid waste and recycling company and one of the largest in the area with about 400 drivers in Greater Cincinnati, to put signs on its trucks that read, "How am I doing? If you see me operate in an unsafe manner, call 742-2900."

After a Springfield Township resident, in a letter to the editor published in the Enquirer two weeks ago, complained that Rumpke drivers weren't wearing reflective clothing, the company issued a statement asking for people to call its safety department, 851-0122, to report problems.

A trash collector who receives a safety complaint is counseled; repeated infractions can lead to discipline or firing, Stone said.

Worker safety has taken on greater urgency locally in the wake of a Dec. 31 accident in which Michael Dewey, 35, of Reading was critically injured and a Jan. 3 wreck that killed Steven Finch, 35, of Mount Orab. Both men worked for Rumpke.

At CSI Waste Services, which operates about 100 trucks in Greater Cincinnati, "We've had near-misses in the last few months," said Greg Beamer, assistant general manager.

A few months ago, CSI started reworking routes to have its drivers load from the right side. The company has begun converting from rear-loading trucks to side-loading vehicles with an automated arm that picks up cans.

About a fourth of its fleet are side-loading, Beamer said.

Rumpke also is experimenting with a side-loading automated truck in Blue Ash. The automated trucks cost about $100,000 more than rear-loaders, according to the company, or nearly $300,000 each.

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E-mail loakes@enquirer.com