Waste and recycling collection continues to fight an image as being among the dirtiest jobs in America. Even more significantly, it has historically been one of the unsafest jobs.

But that's been changing fairly consistently, and the industry deserves a lot of credit for making it happen.

The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that fatalities among collection workers fell nearly 40% last year from the previous one. Solid waste collection fell to the seventh most dangerous job in the United States in 2009, down from sixth in 2008. Still dangerous, but it definitely shows a trend of improvement.

And while worker deaths spiked up in 2008, that followed a trend of several years of declines.

It is tangible evidence that the emphasis the solid waste and recycling industries have put on safety in recent years is paying off. The waste industry launched the Slow Down to Get Around public education program several years ago. The National Solid Wastes Management Association and its safety director, David Biderman, continue to make the issue a priority.

One sign that education is reaping dividends is that NSWMA members have a much lower fatality rate than non-members in the solid waste industry.

It would be hard to overemphasize the importance of safety in waste and recycling. Obviously, there is nothing more critical for any endeavor than to protect its people from death and injury. But for businesses like waste and recycling that have a poor image in some ways with the public, it's an enormous help in recruiting more and better people to the industries.

And of course, much more can be done. A lot of it might lie in working defensively. Accidents caused by non-waste drivers texting, for example, are a growing problem for all people on the road.

Most of us see waste and recycling as businesses dedicated to improving the environment in which we all live. The industry can do nothing better than create a safe and positive environment for its own workers.

Allan Gerlat is editor of Waste & Recycling News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.