Thakur Prannoy, Ganguly Rajiv, Dhulia Anirban
Department of Civil Engineering, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, District Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173234, India.
Department of Civil Engineering, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, District Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173234, India.
Waste Manag. 2018 Aug;78:483-489. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2018.06.020. Epub 2018 Jun 23.
The net volume of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated in Himachal Pradesh is 350 tons per day (TPD) with an annual growth rate varying between 1 and 1.33%. This leads to serious considerations regarding potential occupational health hazards of workers associated with MSW. The study generated from non-engineered landfill sites was carried out at three locations- Shimla, Solan, and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, India. . The main aim of this study was to determine existing occupational hazards in relation to MSW management at these locations, to coordinate with the different municipalities and suggest suitable remedial measures for our study locations. In particular, the exposure assessment to the work force comprising of street sweeping, waste collection, waste processing, and rag picking were assessed using an interview scheduling technique. A questionnaire survey was carried out on these workers with the questions asked related to their work culture, socio-economic conditions, general awareness of occupational health risks and related occupational health hazards associated with the work being performed by them. The results showed that the workforce mainly comprised of males with a low percentage of literacy rates. The age distribution showed that majority of waste collectors and street sweepers were above 30 years of age (67%) and that the rag pickers in Mandi town were below 20 years of age. Income variation between casual and regular workers was highly significant with regular workers (INR 600-1200; USD 9-18) getting almost six times the payment of the casual workers (INR 100-200; USD 3-7.5). From the studies conducted the study deduced that about 64% of waste collectors, 80% of street sweepers and 10% of rag pickers in Solan and about 6.67% street sweepers, 57.47% waste collectors and 100% of rag pickers in Mandi were not provided with any protective equipment. Interestingly, in the capital city of Shimla a small fraction of the street sweepers (28%) and waste collector (6%) confirmed that they were given protective equipment twice in a year. The lack of provisions of protective equipment along with the ignorance of the workers results in occupational health hazards due to different types of external injuries. The major occupational health issues reported by various categories of waste workers were muscle and ligament sprain, cuts and lacerations and different allergies varying between 1.97 and 66.67% [ for e.g. in Solan it varies from 32.47-66.67%; Shimla 1.97-10.16% and in Mandi 9.52-16.67%], 6.36-67.95% and 5.77-42.86%, respectively. From this study, it was observed that such workers are ill-protected against such occupational health hazards new laws and policies are needed to be introduced for their protection.
喜马偕尔邦产生的城市固体废弃物（MSW）净量为每天350吨，年增长率在1%至1.33%之间。这引发了对与城市固体废弃物相关工人潜在职业健康危害的严肃思考。该研究在印度喜马偕尔邦的三个地点——西姆拉、索兰和曼迪的非工程垃圾填埋场进行。本研究的主要目的是确定这些地点与城市固体废弃物管理相关的现有职业危害，与不同市政当局协调，并为我们的研究地点提出合适的补救措施。特别是，采用访谈调度技术对包括街道清扫、垃圾收集、垃圾处理和拾荒在内的劳动力的接触情况进行了评估。对这些工人进行了问卷调查，问题涉及他们的工作文化、社会经济状况、对职业健康风险的总体认识以及与他们所从事工作相关的职业健康危害。结果表明，劳动力主要由男性组成，识字率较低。年龄分布显示，大多数垃圾收集者和街道清扫工年龄在30岁以上（67%），而曼迪镇的拾荒者年龄在20岁以下。临时工和正式工之间的收入差异非常显著，正式工（600 - 1200印度卢比；9 - 18美元）的收入几乎是临时工（100 - 200印度卢比；3 - 7.5美元）的六倍。从所进行的研究中推断，索兰约64%的垃圾收集者、80%的街道清扫工和10%的拾荒者，以及曼迪约6.67%的街道清扫工、57.47%的垃圾收集者和100%的拾荒者没有配备任何防护设备。有趣的是，在首府西姆拉，一小部分街道清扫工（约28%）和垃圾收集者（约6%）确认他们一年能领到两次防护设备。防护设备的缺乏以及工人的无知导致了因各种外部伤害而产生的职业健康危害。各类垃圾处理工人报告的主要职业健康问题是肌肉和韧带扭伤、割伤和撕裂伤以及不同程度的过敏，发生率在1.97%至66.67%之间[例如在索兰，发生率在32.47% - 66.67%之间；西姆拉为1.97% - 10.16%，在曼迪为9.52% - 16.67%]，分别为6.36% - 67.95%和5.77% - 42.86%。从这项研究中可以看出，这些工人在防范此类职业健康危害方面防护不足，需要出台新的法律和政策来保护他们。
