With 56 locations in Canada, Brandt Tractor offers Morbark strong customer support and a wide network of locations.
Winn, Michigan-based Morbark LLC and its affiliated brands, Rayco and Denis Cimaf, have selected Brandt Tractor Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Brandt Group of Cos. as the exclusive, authorized dealer for their tree care, forestry/biomass, recycling, Rayco Forestry and Denis Cimaf equipment lines in Canada.
“For Morbark, it was an easy choice to sign Brandt as our exclusive dealer in Canada,” Morbark Vice President of Sales and Marketing Michael Stanton says. “Their 56 full-service locations will provide our Canadian customers with the complete support they need and deserve.”
Brandt was founded in 1932 as a small electrical contractor in Regina, Saskatchewan, where it remains headquartered. After nine decades of growth, the company is among the world’s largest John Deere dealers, owning and operating a total of 120 full-service equipment dealerships in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, according to a news release from Morbark.
“Brandt has a lot to offer Morbark customers in Canada,” Brandt owner and CEO Shaun Semple says. “We’ve built the largest, best-equipped support network in the country and are eager to earn the loyalty of our new customers by supporting their needs for equipment, aftermarket parts and high-quality 24/7/365 customer support.”
Since executing the contract, Brandt sales and service teams have been busy preparing to support Morbark, Rayco, and Denis Cimaf customers by participating in training events and building their inventory of equipment and aftermarket parts.
Morbark’s equipment helps customers process and convert wood and organic waste materials into valuable, useful, and profitable by-products. The company produces a full line of brush chippers, stump cutters, mini skid steers and articulated wheel loaders, forestry mulchers, whole tree drum and disc chippers, horizontal and tub grinders and mulcher attachments for excavators and skid steers under the Morbark, Rayco, Denis Cimaf and Boxer equipment brands.
BLS data shows private industry employers reported 2.6 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2021, a decrease of 1.8 percent from 2020.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released the 2021 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), which showed a continued decline in injury and illness rates across the solid waste industry, with historic lows for solid waste landfill, collection and material recovery facility (MRF) workers.
“The new BLS data reflects a historic improvement in worker safety in the solid waste industry,” says David Biderman, executive director and CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA). “Injury and illness rates last year were less than half of what they were in 2017. SWANA will continue leading industry efforts to reduce them even further and fulfill our Strategic Plan goal of getting solid waste collection workers off the list of the ten most dangerous jobs.”
The injury and illness rate for solid waste landfill workers fell from 3.4 to 2.2 incidents per 100 full-time employees in 2021. The rate for solid waste collection went from 5.2 to 4, and the rate for workers at MRFs fell from 5.2 to 3.2. The injury and illness rates for all three sectors are at their lowest levels since at least 2006.
Related: BLS data show an increase in fatalities at landfills and MRFs in 2020 | Athens Services celebrates safety success at MRF
The 2021 injury and illness survey is the second year in which COVID-19 workplace illnesses were reported in the U.S. The illness rate for solid waste collection fell from 22.4 per 100 full-time workers in 2020 down to 8.4 in 2021. Illness rate data was not made available for solid waste landfill or MRF employees.
Overall, private industry employers reported 2.6 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2021, a decrease of 1.8 percent from 2020. This decline was due to a drop in illness cases, with employers reporting 365,200 nonfatal illnesses in 2021, down from 544,600 in 2020, a drop of 32.9 percent. The rate of injury cases increased in 2021, with private industry employers reporting a rate of 2.3 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers compared to 2.2 cases in 2020.
On Dec. 16, BLS will provide results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) that includes all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. during the calendar year 2021. The 2020 census showed that refuse and recyclable materials collection remained the sixth deadliest occupation in the U.S. SWANA’s 2023-2027 Strategic Plan sets a goal of getting off the top 10 list of most dangerous jobs based on BLS data.
In light of the Inflation Reduction Act's passage, the EPA plans to update emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks and other vehicles.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to propose new standards governing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from heavy trucks, reports Reuters.
In March, the EPA issued a rule setting more stringent standards to reduce GHG pollution from heavy-duty trucks and other large vehicles beginning in the model year 2027, the agency says. However, those standards may be revised in light of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) passage during the summer.
The Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA) says the EPA plans to seek comments on “possibly reopening Phase 2 of the greenhouse gas standards finalized in 2016.”
EMA President Jed Mandel says the organization expects the EPA to issue a Phase 3 GHG rule by the end of 2022, which would incorporate provisions of the IRA.
“Getting all these rules and regulations working in concert is extremely important and very challenging,” he says. “The Inflation Reduction Act provides potential opportunities that did not exist when [the] EPA first proposed reopening Phase 2 earlier this year; however, it is unclear how the incentives under the new law will impact the industry in the near term.”
Truck makers have expressed cautious optimism about the potential new regulations resulting from the IRA.
In a statement overviewing how the IRA will improve the environment, EPA Administrator Michael Regan signaled changes to truck emissions guidelines.
“We’re going to reduce air pollution around schools and ports by replacing dirty trucks and heavy-duty vehicles with zero-emission options,” he says. “This means that your neighborhood garbage truck could become an electric garbage truck.”
Regan also states the EPA will “reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 1 gigaton in 2030.”
The GHG standards the EPA announced in March would take effect in model year 2027 and would reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from gas and diesel engines.
The Phase 3 regulations would take effect beginning in model year 2030 and are “significantly stronger” than the Phase 2 standards, says the EPA.
The heavy equipment dealership will provide Virginia contractors with sales, service and parts support for Bomag’s equipment lines.
Bomag Americas, based in Ridgeway, South Carolina, has signed All Roads Equipment, Baltimore, Maryland, as a new dealer for its specialty equipment line. Under the new collaboration agreement, All Roads Equipment, a division of All Roads, will provide contractors in Virginia with sales, service and parts support for Bomag’s landfill and embankment compactor, cold planer and recycler and stabilizer equipment lines.
As a leading heavy equipment dealership on the East Coast, All Roads Equipment provides customers with “convenient, local support from five locations blanketing Virginia,” states Bomag in a release. All Roads Equipment offers an array of services ranging from experienced sales teams, factory-trained service technicians and on-site mobile emergency repair to OEM aftermarket parts support, financing, and leasing and rental programs.
“We are proud to welcome All Roads Equipment branches into the Bomag network. All Roads Equipment offers extensive expertise in the commercial equipment market,” says Cole Renken, vice president of sales and marketing for Bomag Americas. “It has built a well-earned reputation for working closely with its customers to provide experienced application consultation and outstanding support. With the lines the company offers, its teams are deeply entrenched in the waste and road building and rehabilitation industries, which makes this alliance a perfect fit for both companies.”
Mark Boyle, president of All Roads Equipment Division, adds, “We are excited about our new partnership with Bomag to support the existing and future customer base. Bomag’s premium brand product offering complements All Roads Equipment’s vision. All Roads’ century-long history of providing customer expertise and support, and Bomag’s reputation of leading technology and innovation make this partnership attractive for us and the shared industries we serve. We look forward to working collectively for our customers to give the most robust uptime delivery experience possible.”
The New York City-based company will invite participants to its facilities to help train them for a career in waste services.
Filco Carting, a Brooklyn, New York-based provider of commercial waste collection throughout the greater New York City metro area, has announced it is teaming up with the Local 108 union to offer training sessions as part of the Pathway to Apprenticeship (P2A) program.
As part of the program, Filco will offer career mentoring and life skills training to members of underserved communities to help establish and build their careers.
A key developer of the initiative is Kajeem Hill—a former Filco Carting team member, Local 108 business agent and co-founder of the P2A program, which was founded in 2013.
The P2A program aims to provide participants access to a building trades career, with more than half of participants having a history of justice involvement. The mission of the program is to recruit, train and help provide career opportunities to deserving participants—specifically those in the re-entry community—for life-long careers.
Related: Filco Carting breaks ground on $10M waste recovery facility | Rumpke hosts firefighter training event
To date, the program has assisted over 300 people with career-related mentorship, 66 percent of whom were formerly incarcerated. More than 85 percent of graduates from the program are still working in their P2A-trained positions, and many are now giving back as “peer mentors” in the program.
Beginning on Nov. 8, Filco will invite the newest P2A participants to its facilities to begin the process of guiding them toward a career in waste services.
“As a longtime union trustee, myself, I have a deeply rooted passion for working with Local 108…,” says Domenic Monopoli, CEO of Filco Carting. “I am particularly proud that Filco is participating with and working side by side with our Local 108 in an invaluable program that provides all too often overlooked yet deserving and hardworking people with career opportunities that may not otherwise be accessible to them.”