All provinces and territories · Editable Word template

Waste collection and recycling safety manual template

A complete written health and safety program for waste collection and hauling companies, bin and roll-off rental, transfer stations, material recovery facilities and recycling plants, scrap yards, organics and composting, and landfills, wherever in Canada the route or site is. It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements and written for the work: pre-trip checks and backing with a spotter or camera, curbside work in traffic, riding on the vehicle where the law allows it, hoppers, packer blades and compaction, automated arms and overhead lines, roll-off and hoist trucks, containers, needles and biological hazards in waste, chemicals, cylinders, batteries and load fires, tipping floors and the public, picking lines, conveyors and jams, lockout, balers and shredders, scrap cutting, landfill slopes and gas, dust and noise, weather and violence. Section 15 sets out the law of every province and territory, and federal workplaces, side by side, with each jurisdiction’s rules on riding and backing, compaction equipment and lockout, balers and young workers, landfill gas and confined spaces, and who issues waste permits. It arrives as an editable Word file you make your own.

A look inside

Sample pages from the manual, marked and cut short. Your copy has no watermark.

Cover with room for your logo and company name

Linked table of contents, laid out on the 14 national COR elements plus a section on working across Canada

Section 3: twenty safe work practices written for waste and recycling crews, riding on the truck shown

Section 15: each jurisdiction's rules on riding on trucks, backing, lockout, young workers and waste permits

Appendix A: all 74 documentation questions of the national COR elements mapped

Print-ready forms: the lockout record and monthly lockout audit shown

What’s in the manual

1. Safety and health policy

A signed, dated policy, the written program, and responsibilities for management, supervisors, drivers and helpers, equipment operators, sorters, baler and shredder operators, scale attendants and mechanics.

2. Hazard assessment, analysis and control

Formal hazard assessments by route, facility and task, the 5 × 5 risk matrix, a critical task inventory, and the route and site hazard assessment.

3. Safe work practices

Twenty practices for waste and recycling: the customer and the public, pre-trip and backing, curbside work, riding the vehicle, hoppers and packers, automated arms, roll-offs, containers, sharps, chemicals and fires in loads, tipping floors, picking lines, conveyors, lockout, balers and shredders, scrap yards, landfills, dust and noise, weather and violence.

4. Safe job procedures

Step-by-step procedures for backing with a spotter, clearing a packer or hopper jam, loading a roll-off, handling a found needle, a fire in a truck load, locking out a conveyor, clearing a jammed baler and directing the public on a tipping floor.

5. Company safety rules

Life-saving rules for waste work (lost sight means stop, never enter a hopper, no one on the step in reverse, lock it out before you clear it), and a progressive discipline process applied the same way every time.

6. Personal protective equipment

High-visibility apparel, puncture-resistant gloves, safety footwear, hearing protection, respirators for dust and bioaerosols, and the rest of the basic PPE.

7. Preventative maintenance program

Collection trucks and their cameras, packers and arms, roll-off hoists and containers, loaders, conveyors and screens, balers, shredders and compactors, and landfill equipment.

8. Training and communication

Drivers and helpers, spotters, equipment operators, lockout, sharps and biological hazards, and orientation on every route and at every facility.

9. Inspections

Trucks checked before every trip, containers inspected before loading, balers and compactors inspected each shift, and facility inspections.

10. Investigations and reporting

Backing incidents, struck-by in traffic, caught-in at hoppers and balers, needlesticks, load fires and near misses reported and investigated.

11. Emergency preparedness

A load fire, a worker caught in a packer, a power line contact, a needlestick, a landfill fire, and first aid on every truck and at every site.

12. Statistics, records and document control

Pre-trip inspections, route hazard assessments, lockout records, baler inspections, load fire and needlestick reports, kept for the longest period any jurisdiction requires.

13. Legislation

OHS law, ANSI Z245 as an industry standard, the CSA guarding and lockout standards, environmental law and waste permits, and the right to refuse.

14. Procurement and contractor management

Customers and municipalities, subcontracted haulers, the public at facilities, and buying trucks, containers and equipment.

15. Working across Canada

Whose law applies, then every province and territory and federal workplaces side by side: the act and regulation, the regulator, riding and backing, compaction equipment and lockout, balers and young workers, landfill gas and confined spaces, who issues waste permits, and serious incidents to report and how fast.

Appendix A. COR cross-reference

Every one of the 74 documentation questions in the 14 national COR elements, what it looks for in plain words, the section that answers it, and whether the auditor will also want your records.

Appendix B. Forms

37 print-ready forms that match the manual, each with a form code: among them the route and site hazard assessment, collection truck pre-trip inspection, lockout record, baler and compactor inspection, load fire and hazardous material record and needlestick report.

Written for the work, not just the province

Waste workers are killed by backing trucks, by traffic at the curb and by packers and balers, and hurt by what is hidden in the waste: needles, batteries, cylinders. This manual is written around them, practice by practice and procedure by procedure.

Lost sight means stop, nobody enters a hopper, and every jam is cleared under lockout.

One program for every province you work in

Your crews follow the occupational health and safety law of the province or territory where the route or site is, not where your office is. The manual sets your company’s rules once and gathers what changes at each border into section 15, so a supervisor starting work in a new province looks up what applies there.

It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements, so it suits a COR audit wherever you certify. Each certifying partner uses its own audit tool, so check it against yours; our provincial manuals follow each province’s audit exactly. No template can guarantee a certificate on its own, and we don’t claim to.

Who it is for

Waste collection and hauling, bin and roll-off rental, transfer stations, material recovery facilities and recycling plants, scrap yards, organics and composting, and landfills. Hazardous and medical waste operators need their own permits, and municipal crews have their own manual.

A template is a starting point, not legal or engineering advice: a qualified person must adapt it to your routes and sites before you issue it.

Lifetime updates

When the law changes, we publish a new edition and email everyone who bought the template. Every update is free, for as long as we publish it.

Version 1.0 October 30, 2026
- First edition, written for waste collection, hauling and recycling companies and laid out on the 14 national elements of the harmonized COR audit.
- Section 15 sets out the law and the riding, backing, compaction, lockout, baler, landfill gas and waste permit rules of every province and territory and federal workplaces, checked against the legislation in force on 29 October 2026.