Waste collection services, nonhazardous solid · California
Santa Cruz
Watsonville, CA · ~106 workers · 7 years of OSHA Injury Tracking Application data.
- D
- Poor Safety Record
- 5.0
- Avg TCR
- 2.6
- Industry avg
- 0
- Fatalities
The verdict
Santa Cruz runs at 192% of its industry's injury rate - more dangerous than the typical Waste collection services, nonhazardous solid workplace, earning a grade D.
- D
- Poor Safety Record
- 5.0
- avg TCR · per 100 workers
- 2.6
- industry benchmark (BLS)
- 34
- recordable injuries tracked
Grade compares Santa Cruz's OSHA Total Case Rate of 5.0 to the Waste collection services, nonhazardous solid BLS benchmark of 2.6 (192% of benchmark) across 7 years of Form 300A filings (2016–2024). This reflects reported recordable injuries, not an independent safety inspection -- underreporting is a known limitation of employer self-recordkeeping.
Injury rate over time
Santa Cruz's yearly Total Case Rate, against the 2.6 industry benchmark.
Where Santa Cruz falls in its industry
2,506 Waste collection services, non establishmentsSafer than 47% of graded establishments in this industry, whose median TCR is 4.7.
Narrower to California alone (the establishments it most directly competes with for workers and contracts): ranked #107 safest of 266 Waste collection services, non employers in California.
Trend analysis for Santa Cruz
Between 2018 and 2024, Santa Cruz's Total Case Rate worsened from 2.0 to 3.0 recordable injuries per 100 full-time workers, a 53% increase across 6 years of OSHA reporting.
The safest year on record was 2018, at a TCR of 2.0, while 2019 saw the highest rate, at 8.3, a spread of 6.3 points between the best and worst reporting years. That's a wide swing relative to the establishment's overall rate, worth checking the year-by-year table below for whether a single severe year is driving the average, rather than a sustained trend.
Summed across those 7 reporting years, Santa Cruz recorded 34 total injuries and illnesses, with no fatalities reported in any of those years. Readers comparing establishments should weigh the 7-year trend above alongside establishment size, since a larger workforce naturally accumulates more raw incidents even at a lower per-100-worker rate.
Verify This Employer with OSHA
The 34 injuries shown on this page for Santa Cruz are sourced from its own 7 years of mandatory OSHA Form 300A summaries. Cross-check the underlying establishment record directly against the federal source, name, NAICS classification, recordable case totals, and inspection history are all searchable on OSHA's Establishment-Specific Injury and Illness Data system.
Verify on OSHA Establishment SearchSource: U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA Establishment-Specific Injury and Illness Data. NAICS 562111 - Waste collection services, nonhazardous solid.
DART Rate, Transparent Calculation (2024)
What is the DART rate formula?
DART (Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred) is computed by OSHA as incidents × 200,000 ÷ hours worked. The 200,000-hour denominator equals roughly 100 full-time workers, which lets establishments of very different sizes be compared directly.
2 DART incidents × 200,000 ÷ 197,541 hours worked = 2.02 DART
Methodology: 29 CFR 1904, OSHA Form 300A recordkeeping
Cross-Validating Context, Establishment vs Industry vs State
| Benchmark | TCR | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz (this establishment) | 4.99 | OSHA ITA Form 300A, 7-year avg |
| Garbage collection services industry avg | 2.60 | BLS IIF, NAICS 562111 |
| California state avg (all industries) | 5.64 | OSHA ITA, state-level rollup |
Industry benchmarks: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities (IIF) program
Reportable Incident Timeline
Year-by-year reportable incidents (recordable injuries + illnesses + fatalities) submitted by Santa Cruz to OSHA's Injury Tracking Application. Each row anchors to OSHA's inspection records search where you can pull the underlying inspection case numbers and citations for that establishment-year.
- 2024: 3 reportable incidents · 3 injuries, 0 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
- 2023: 2 reportable incidents · 2 injuries, 0 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
- 2022: 4 reportable incidents · 4 injuries, 0 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
- 2021: 7 reportable incidents · 7 injuries, 0 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
- 2020: 8 reportable incidents · 8 injuries, 0 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
- 2019: 8 reportable incidents · 8 injuries, 0 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
- 2018: 2 reportable incidents · 2 injuries, 0 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
Source: OSHA Inspection Information System (IMIS) - inspection case-number records
Year-by-Year Safety Data
| Year | TCR | DART | Injuries | Illnesses | Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 7.9 | 3.4 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 7.3 | 1.8 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 8.3 | 0.0 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
What this grade means for you
Use this grade as a relative read on Santa Cruz's reported OSHA injury record versus its Waste collection services, nonhazardous solid peers, not a verdict on whether any single site is safe today.
- At 192% of the Waste collection services, nonhazardous solid benchmark, Santa Cruz reports more injuries than typical peers, ask specifically how the employer is reducing them. Know your rights
- Judge this record against the wider Waste collection services, nonhazardous solid sector, where injury rates vary widely, before comparing it in isolation. See the industry
- Grades reflect 2016–2024 filings; check the latest establishment record straight from OSHA, or look up a different employer. Look up another
Safety grades reflect employers' self-reported OSHA Form 300A filings from 2016 to 2024 and can lag current conditions. A grade is not a guarantee that any specific workplace is safe or unsafe today. See our methodology and disclaimer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Santa Cruz's safety grade?
How many injuries has Santa Cruz reported?
Similar Employers
Matched by safety record across the industry, by workforce size within California, and by nearby establishments in Watsonville - a different peer set than the category browse links below.
Similar TCR (~5.0)
Similar size (~106 workers)
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure and grade on PlainSafetyScore is computed directly from OSHA's published Injury Tracking Application data and BLS industry benchmarks, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these safety grades, or report a data error. Data current as of 2016-2024 OSHA ITA release.