In a laudable move recently, Kathmandu Municipality decided to provide safety materials to its sanitation workers. In the initial phase, raincoats, tracksuits, gumboots, caps, masks, gloves, and goggles were distributed to 150 workers, and the municipality plans to extend the distribution to all 800 of its workers in the field. Such a move was long overdue. Sanitation workers directly handle the waste materials from our households, and are very vulnerable to communicable diseases like cholera that thrive in garbage. Besides, exposing unprotected skin to waste materials also makes a person vulnerable to skin infections, and many sanitation workers suffer from respiratory problems. Since sanitation workers have no option but to expose their skin to the pollutants everyday, it increases the risk of infection. Safety equipments like gloves and masks are essential to the protection of their health, but their wages are often insufficient to cover protective clothing. And so it falls upon the government to look out for them, but until now, not much attention had been paid to protective clothing in Nepal. [break]
The need for safety equipments for workers has been felt for long in many sectors in Nepal. In western nations, plastic gloves have become standard for the food industry to meet hygiene standards, but they are just trickling in some private institutions in Nepal. Hazardous industries like mining and construction have their own safety equipments including helmets. Few of these standards have been applied in Nepal. Department of Animal Health’s emergency response team wears protective gear against the threat of bird flu, but sanitation workers who face threats every day wear no more than ordinary clothes. The tourism sector has been active in this count, making lifejackets mandatory in water sports; and other safety equipments like belts and harnesses compulsory for other adventure sports. Even then, the safety regulations are mostly targeted at consumers rather than workers of the sector. It is about time we took the safety of our at-risk workers seriously and came up with policies, standards, and equipments for them. Kathmandu Municipality’s safety initiative was supported by different organizations like the European Union, Practical Action, PRISM, and Centre for Integrated Development, but in future, the municipality should make workers safety a priority of its own as well.
The Kathmandu Municipality’s handover ceremony also included the component of respecting sanitation workers. Though they are at the frontlines of battling pollution in our cities, and are an integral aspect of urban management, their occupation is still looked down upon by many in our society. It is time we realized that without sanitation workers; our city would be messy and unlivable. If for one day they do not collect garbage from public places, we complain about the state of the city, but we never give a thought to the workers who actually do the dirty work, literally. The time has come for us to respect them as essential and critical links in the chain that makes up our world. We hope the Kathmandu Municipality keeps up its good work and other municipalities of Nepal follow its lead to make sanitation workers feel safe and valued in the society.
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