Protecting waste collectors all around the world
- Correspondence to: Prof. Dr M H W Frings-Dresen Academic Medical Center, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Coronel Institute for Occupational and Environmental Health, PO Box 22700, 1100 DE Amsterdam, Netherlands; m.fringsamc.uva.nl
Commentary on the paper by da Silva et al (Occup Environ Med, October 2005)*
Waste collection is a necessary activity all around the world. Fortunately for the health and living conditions of inhabitants, there are professional waste collectors. For waste collectors, however, the risk of disease resulting from exposure to various work hazards is high,1–5 as is the risk of fatal and non-fatal occupational accidents.6
Waste collection can be practiced as either an occupation6 or an essential means of survival.7 The socioeconomic status of both types of waste collectors is low, and their working conditions are unfavourable. In the occupational setting, however, many preventative measures have been proposed and implemented in order to reduce the risk of accidents and occupational disease. Such measures involve increasing safety and reducing the risk of musculoskeletal, fatigue, respiratory, gastrointestinal, …
