On May 24, 2007, a 13-year-old boy was killed by an Allied Waste recycling truck that was turning in the boy’s neighborhood as he was getting off a school bus. The driver of the Allied Waste recycling truck had just two months experience at the time of the truck accident.

The King County, Washington Sheriff’s Office investigated and deemed it an accident. At the time of the fatal truck accident, the driver was making pickups in the neighborhood, sitting in the right-hand seat.

An April 2008 journalistic investigation found that five Allied Waste workers have died since 1999.

Deaths related to Allied Waste are higher than its biggest competitor and higher than the national average, and some say the company pushes workers to drive faster. A former Allied Waste worker said there’s a constant threat of getting fired if they don’t drive fast enough.

Investigations were conducted on all five Allied Waste worker deaths by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, and the company was cited for safety violations. One of the killed worker’s truck had brakes that were out of adjustment for days, a hazard Allied Waste knew about, but didn’t take any action to get the truck off the road.

Source: Tracy Vedder, “Families: Deaths tied to Allied were preventable,” KOMO-TV.com, May 4, 2008.