Ravindra Khaiwal, Kaur Kamalpreet, Mor Suman
School of Public Health, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
Department of Environment Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
Waste Manag Res. 2016 Nov;34(11):1192-1195. doi: 10.1177/0734242X16665913. Epub 2016 Sep 16.
Manual handling of municipal solid waste is of serious concern owing to emerging occupational risks. Considering this, health risks of municipal solid waste workers involved in street sweeping, waste collection, waste processing and rag picking were assessed in Chandigarh, India, using an interview schedule as a study tool. Result shows that the waste worker profession is mainly dominated by males, except in rag pickers, and with a lower literacy rate. Age distribution shows that 16% of waste collectors and 11% of rag pickers were below 18 years of age. Daily income of the waste workers ranges from ₹100 to ₹200. It was observed that 22.2% of waste collectors, 43.2% of street sweepers and 25.5% of rag pickers do not use any type of protective gears owing to their casual attitude, which results in various types of injuries. The major occupational health issues reported by various categories of waste workers were respiratory disorders, injuries and allergies having prevalence of 12.3%-17.6%, 4.9%-44.4% and 35.3%-48.9%, respectively. Waste workers are vulnerable to occupational health hazards and hence there is a need to safeguard them through formulation of new laws and policies.
由于新出现的职业风险，城市固体废物的人工处理备受关注。考虑到这一点，印度昌迪加尔使用访谈提纲作为研究工具，对从事街道清扫、垃圾收集、垃圾处理和拾荒的城市固体废物工人的健康风险进行了评估。结果显示，除了拾荒者外，垃圾处理工人职业主要由男性主导，且识字率较低。年龄分布表明，16%的垃圾收集者和11%的拾荒者年龄在18岁以下。垃圾处理工人的日收入在100卢比至200卢比之间。据观察，22.2%的垃圾收集者、43.2%的街道清扫工和25.5%的拾荒者由于态度随意而不使用任何类型的防护装备，这导致了各种类型的伤害。各类垃圾处理工人报告的主要职业健康问题是呼吸系统疾病、受伤和过敏，患病率分别为12.3% - 17.6%、4.9% - 44.4%和35.3% - 48.9%。垃圾处理工人易受职业健康危害影响，因此需要通过制定新的法律和政策来保护他们。
