Portable Sanitation Association International

Page 11 PSAI Industry Retrospective - the 80s WASTE MANAGEMENT AND BFI ACQUISITIONS As economic conditions improved in the late 1980s, company acquisitions became much more prevalent. Worldwide competitors in the solid waste industry, Waste Management Industries (WMI) and Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI) entered the liquid waste industry. Waste Management Industries purchased Port-O-Let, a multi-state portable restroom service franchiser and operator. BFI began purchasing several significant portable restroom companies as well such as United Sanitation (Los Angeles) and Chem-Can (Texas). BFI ultimately purchased Satellite Industries service division with 14 branches located in 9 states. Lee Sola was directly affected by the "WMI / BFI buying spree." When his company was purchased by BFI in 1987, he went to work for BFI and helped in other acquisitions. Lee remembers a conversation in the winter of 1988 in Minneapolis with BFI President John Drury and his Executive Team. Lee asked why they were getting into the portable restroom industry. According to Lee, "eir answer astounded me. ey stated that they were entering the industry because WMI had. e reasoning was that they did not know why WMI was acquiring companies, but if WMI saw something that BFI couldn't yet see, they did not want WMI to get too much of a head start." Independent operators were in quite a dilemma. Aer being approached for potential acquisition by one of these two multi-billion dollar companies, if there was no sale, would the operator then be a competitor with either WMI or BFI, or both, in the marketplace? Lee says that this was a scary thought to many independent owners in the industry. e PSAI Board was also impacted by all of these acquisitions as Lee explains, "e Board was concerned that acquisition of companies represented by Board Members by either WMI or BFI would have an undue influence on the PSAI. We decided to have only one company have one Board Member at a time. Unfortunately, some very close friends had to resign once their companies were sold. It was the right thing to do, however, in order to safeguard the integrity of the Board." UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI – ST LOUIS STUDIES CONSTRUCTION (1986) AND SPECIAL EVENTS (1988) e most widely referenced study that set the industry standard for portable restroom use is "Provision of Sanitation Facilities at Construction Sites." In 1986, a team of students studied four sites in the St. Louis area. ey observed workers at home building, high rise construction, highway work, and utility installation. e published results of this study are as follows: (1) e average time needed, including travel, to make one off-site restroom usage is seven minutes. If you divide a worker's pay plus benefits per hour times the seven minutes of "lost time," St. Louis Area contractors earned an 850 percent return on their investment in portable restroom units placed on site. (2) By locating portable restrooms within 100 feet of each other, the average net cost savings as a percentage of cost was 600 percent. By expanding the study in 1988 to include special events, they published "Portable Restroom Requirements at Special Events and Crowd-Gatherings – Sanitarian and Health Officials Guide." is resulted in the now popular grid of "Number of Units Based on Crowd Size and Duration of the Event." is was the first in-depth study of our industry and the results are still in use today. It should be noted that Clyde Samson was instrumental in insuring that this study was even completed. His financial contribution was very substantial but according to Clyde, "It was essential for our industry to be seen as vital and important. is study made people stand up and recognize the PSAI." According to Clyde, this study is "his greatest achievement" as a member of the PSAI. is is remarkable considering the long and storied career of this industry pioneer. ANSI Z4.3 (1987) In an unprecedented collaboration, the PSAI was invited to work with the ANSI Standards Committee in revising ANSI Z4.1, Z4.3, and Z4.4 dealing with worker sanitation. is gave the PSAI a higher standing in the realm of public health and welfare. CONCLUSIONS e 1980s began with a struggling economy and an Association struggling to survive. As the decade unfolded, the 1984 Summer Olympics, the University of Missouri – St Louis Studies, and the collaboration on ANSI Standards catapulted the industry and the newly named PSAI into a position of authority, quality, and experience in the field of sanitation.

• Cover