RECOLOGY SAFETY PROGRAM
Zero Accidents, Zero Injuries
In San Francisco, Recology runs 350 trucks everyday - collecting 2,500 tons of trash. if not operated properly, the infrastructure to support this enormous task becomes a litany of dangerous and life threatening machinery. For workers, safety procedures are time consuming and a hassle; for the employer, injury is an expensive cost. We helped Recology work through a number of safety challenges, from the streets of San Francisco becoming more congested for a new generation of truck drivers to navigate, to the addition of a massive facility outfitted with machinery that sorts and ships recyclable materials.
EMPLOYEE SAFETY CAMPAIGN
Garbage Men or Actors?
While making our first video for Recology we discovered the Employee Owners where a bunch of hams, actors in the waiting. The video was made to announce the rollout for the new sized garbage bins for SF residents. They're honest and enthusiastic performance got us thinking – let’s use these guys to deliver the safety messaging to their fellow workers.
New Bin Rollout customer instructional video
“EVERYBODY HEARS US, NOBODY SEES US.”
Reframing safety as a skill, not a task.
We flipped the script on how to deliver the mind numbing and repetitive safety information by reframing safety as a skill, a matter of pride. Traditionally the safety information was presented as a power point presentation, easy to tune out and ignore at the much dreaded 4 am safety meetings. Our approach was to freshened up the content as episodic videos along with new nomenclature that supported the platform to position safety as a skill, not a task.
INTERNAL SAFETY VIDEO SERIES
A Cautionary Tale
The brotherhood of Recology trash haulers continued to inspire us. To launch the Recology Safety Program we featured the life changing story of Arnoldo Diaz a former Recology trash hauler.
ARNOLDO DIAZ
100 YEARS OF SERVICE
HISTORY + PURPOSE = PRIDE
From the gold rush to the tech boom.
A major component of our safety repositioning is Recology’s long history servicing San Francisco. Walking into a Recology facility is like a visit to a museum. Archival photos adorn the walls along and a collection of restored antique trucks garbage trucks are on display. Inspired by this, for their 100 year anniversary, we re-created some of the most memorable photos from the past, featuring the most respected OGs still on the job today, in a video for the company wide celebration. Sunday, September 20th marked the 100-year anniversary of the incorporation of Sunset Scavenger Company, a trash collection company founded by Genoese immigrants. To celebrate our history on Italian Heritage Day we rolled out our antique truck collection to relieve the past by visiting the iconic San Francisco locations the trucks once serviced.
RECOLOGY ANTIQUE TRUCK CELEBRATION
Cenobio Oropeza
Cenobio migrated to the U.S. in 1963 and has been hauling SF trash since then. Now at 73 he keeps telling us that retirement is out of the question. This display of dedication cannot go unrecognized, and his son Christo felt the same. Christo, a well respected artist, was invited to take part in ‘100 Day Action’ a mural project celebrating essential workers during the pandemic lockdown. He choose his father to paint. Like Cenobio, we wanted the painting to keep working long after the project’s ending, so we convinced Recology to hang the painting onsite for residents to see while using the facility.
RECOOGY’S FAVORITE ‘OG’
Christo Oropeza with his original mural
Cenobio Oropeza in 1963