The Hindu 06.01.2010
Conservancy workers to get uniforms, protective gear
Special Correspondent
| They must wear gloves, boots and masks while removing garbage |
Photo: M. Periasamy 
Mayor R. Venkatachalam (third left) distributing uniforms to conservancy workers of the Coimbatore Corporation on Tuesday. –
COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation will provide protective gear such as gloves, gum boots and masks to all workers who remove garbage and clean the drainage across the city. This is to ensure that the workers do not contract any infection as they are bound to handle hazardous waste.
Mayor R. Venkatachalam and Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra gave away on Tuesday uniforms to conservancy workers and the protective gear to drainage workers.
Assistant City Health Officer R. Sumathi said the uniforms had been procured for 2,187 conservancy workers. By the end of this week they would be provided with masks, gloves and gum boots also. On Tuesday, 30 drainage workers were provided with the protective gear. The others would get these later.
“I found one of the workers using bare hands to clean the drainage. The workers have to wear protective gear to ward off infection. I asked the worker to demand the gear to carry out the work,” the Commissioner said.
Dr. Sumathi said the Commissioner had instructed that the workers should put on footwear during conservancy work. “Hookworm infection and the resultant anaemia are common among the workers. They are exposed to the risk of infection when they get into the drainage for cleaning or while dealing with sewage overflow on roads,” Dr. Sumathi explained.
If workers did not wear gloves while removing garbage, they ran the risk of getting dermatitis. Though bio-medical waste was now taken to a common disposal facility, non-medical needles could be mixed in garbage. This problem could continue till segregation of waste was total across the city.
Dr. Sumathi said the workers should wear masks as inhalation of gases in waste dumps or drainage could cause serious problems.
Asked whether the Corporation would ensure that workers would use the protective gear, the health official said the civic body had found during its monitoring in nine model wards that the workers wore the masks, boots and gloves while at work.
Quality
On why workers were not wearing these regularly earlier, she said there were problems relating to quality and size of gloves. This was why the workers had not worn these. Now, the Corporation had bought gloves of five different sizes.
The other problem was that all the protective gear and raincoats were procured through a single tender system. The gloves should be replaced every three months, the boots and reflector jackets lasted for a year and raincoats for two years. Therefore, the workers had to wait for a long time to get new gloves.
Now, each gear was procured through individual tenders. This would enable replacement at the appropriate time, Dr. Sumathi said.
