ABSTRACT
The term sanitation refers to adequate treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage, and provide clean drinking water. The aim of sanitary system is protecting human health by providing safe and clean environment. It helps to prevent transmission of diseases which are spreading through faecal-oral route. Sanitary workers are protecting the society from diseases such as diarrhoea, ascariasis, cholera, hepatitis, poliomyelitis, schistosomiasis and trachoma with their effective services.Sanitary services are given by the sanitary workers for the betterment of human health. Sanitary workers are doing the work such as sweeping streets, collecting waste from house to house and streets, latrine or pit cleaning, cleaning school toilets, public toilets, toilets of municipalities, government and private offices, operating waste collecting trucks, management of faecal sludge, desludging the septic tank, cleaning sewer, cleaning manholes, cleaning sewage treatment plants and handling waste water and sludge at sewage treatment plants.Sanitary workers are the key persons responsible for cleanliness of the country. At the same time, they are facing many challenges such as (i) issues related to their health and safety: cuts, injuries, musculoskeletal problems, respiratory problems, gastro intestinal problems and infectious diseases like gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, typhoid fever and tetanus.; (ii) legal and institutional issues: poor enforcement of law, lack of standard operating procedures, poor legal protection and workers safety which is influenced by the availability of equipment and materials used for doing the work and also by customers and employers; (iii) insecurity in financial status and social issues; social stigma like intergenerational discrimination.Sanitary workers are not concentrating on their own health and nutritional status due to lake of awareness. There is a need to enrich the knowledge of workers regarding prevention of health problems, protection from health issues and promotion of their health. The employer has to ensure that workers have undergone training before placement in the job and also, they must be provided with proper guidelines. Workers must get adequate facilities in the working area. Sanitary workers must be provided with personal protective equipment and insisted to use it properly. Regular medical check-up, vaccination and follow up are very important to protect the sanitary workers.
ABSTRACT
Background: Hospital waste is a potential reservoir of pathogenic micro-organism and requires appropriate, safe handling. Sanitary workers entail to do waste collection, handling, storage and disposal. Hence they have higher chances of exposure to numerous risk factors. The objective of the study was to assess the adoption of ‘standard precautions’ among sanitary workers pertaining to hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), prevention of needle stick/sharp injuries, handling of soiled linen and finding out the reasons for non-adoption.Methods: A cross sectional study was done in two health care institutions in Chennai and Madurai, Tamil Nadu during January to May 2018. Institutional ethics committee approval was obtained. All sanitary workers willing to participate in the study were included. After getting informed consent, data was collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS 20.0. Mean, frequency and percentages were calculated.Results: Sanitary workers included in the study were 118. The overall hand hygiene was satisfactory among 35.6%. Only 62.7% were using gloves while handling waste. 54(45.8%) had NSI in last one year. Immersing soiled linen in hot water was done only by 15 (12.7%) before washing with disinfectant and autoclaving.Conclusions: The adoption of ‘standard precautions’ among sanitary workers is inadequate due to lack of proper orientation
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the effect of comprehensive interventions on protective behaviors of sanitary workers against occupational exposure in hospitals. Methods Comprehensive interventions were done in 50 sanitary workers in our hospital during September 2013 to September 2014, with the intervention contents including establishment of sanitary workers management system, education training, on-the-spot inspection, signature of duty informs, planning of occupational exposure prevention flow chart. The intervention lasted 12 months. Then the score on occupational exposure prevention knowledge and behaviors, the qualification rate of all indexes and all occupational harms in pre-intervention and post-intervention were compared. Result The score on occupational exposure preventive knowledge after intervention was significantly higher than that before intervention , the qualification rate after intervention was higher than that before intervention and the incurrence of occupational harms was significantly lower than that before intervention (P < 0.01). Conclusion Multiple measures including education, supervision, inspection, duty informing and flow chats can strengthen the awareness of preventing occupational exposure and lower the incidence of occupational harms among the sanitary workers.