A Major Challenges Advanced Underground Drainage Monitoring and Automatic Rescue System using Internet of Things

In this project, An Advanced Underground Drainage Monitoring And Automatic Rescue System using Internet of Things is proposed to protect the sanitation workers form health issues. In India sewage can be cleaned from manholes and drains are a difficult and risky task for anyone, but these people/workers are forced to do these jobs just to earn for their family economy. In order to overcome this issues, a new device is proposed to monitor the human health while entering into the sewage and provide the health parameters in the real time to the officials outside or the control room. Particularly, blood pressure of sanitation workers and toxic gas level of drainage is monitored using this new proposed rescue system. The main component of this system is Arduino controller. There are three types of sensors such as Toxic gas sensor, Methane gas sensor and Ultrasonic sensor used for the proposed system. Water level indicator is used when drainage is full to find from ultrasonic sensor, SMS will be send through GSM technology. Methane Gas and Toxic gas sensor level is high, Buzzer will be ON at the same time location will be share automatically with the help of GPS. The received sensor details display on LCD at receiver with help of GSM. The performance of proposed system is compared with other existing system and shown to be more effective in terms of protect the sanitation workers from health issues.

Defending the city’s cleanliness with their lives? A study of road traffic collisions involving sanitation workers in China over five years

Background With increasing urbanization in developing countries, sanitation workers are frequently involved in road traffic collisions. Our purpose was to study specific collisions involving sanitation workers and provide decision-making suggestions and reference measures for the sanitation industry and urban managers to reduce the occurrence of collisions. Methods We obtained online news data about sanitation worker road traffic collisions in China between 2013 and 2017 and analyzed occurrence time and location, victim characteristics, and causes of collisions. Results In China, between 2013 and 2017, 511 road traffic collisions were reported, with the fewest in February and July. Most occurred around 5:00 a.m. in Eastern regions and in urban areas. Victims were mainly over 50 years old, with more females than males. Collisions usually resulted in death at the scene. The ambiguity of laws, the exploitation of workers through industry outsourcing, and the difficulty of processing claims may be the main factors preventing victims from obtaining legal compensation. Conclusions The most common cause of collisions was drivers’ speeding, but workers also regularly risk death by crossing the road in pursuit of their duties. The absence of legal controls for environmental protection, the excessive pursuit of efficiency in urban governance, and the lack of basic education of sanitation workers are underlying causes of collisions. Raising awareness about sanitation worker road traffic collisions will help protect the work safety rights of this vulnerable group.

Occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica in municipal household waste collection and road cleaning workers

Despite the increase in the number of cases among South Korean sanitation workers, lung cancer as a result of exposure to occupational carcinogen has not been sufficiently investigated. This study aimed to identify exposure levels of sanitation workers to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) for various tasks and factors that affect individual RCS exposure. Exposure to RCS was assessed for 90 sanitation workers from seven companies. The obtained geometric mean value of the RCS was 2.6 µg m–3, which is a similar level to recommendations set by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's Recommended Exposure Limit. Meanwhile, coal briquette ash (CBA) collectors exhibited the highest RCS concentration (24 µg m–3), followed by road cleaning workers who used a blower, municipal household waste collectors, sweepers, and drivers (p < 0.05). Additionally, when the ANOVA was conducted, statistically significant differences were observed in RCS concentrations among various factors such as job task, season, employment type and city scale. Our study confirmed that sanitation workers who work outdoors could be exposed to RCS. Due to the possibility of exposure to high RCS concentrations, special attention should be paid to the collection of used CBA and road cleaning involving the use of a blower.

Risk of adenovirus and Cryptosporidium ingestion to sanitation workers in a municipal scale non-sewered sanitation process: a case study from Kigali, Rwanda

Sanitation workers provide essential services that protect public health, often at the cost of their own health and safety. In this study, we evaluate occupational exposure to fecal pathogens at each stage in a non-sewered sanitation process. Bulk fecal waste samples were collected during waste collection and waste processing tasks and analyzed for Cryptosporidium, adenovirus, E. coli, and total coliforms using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and culture methods. Structured observations of worker hand-to-mouth behavior were conducted, and worker hand- and glove-rinse samples were collected and analyzed for E. coli and total coliforms. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to model the dose of pathogen ingested and the risk of disease across two waste collection and processing tasks. The model results show that the probability of disease was highest from exposure to adenovirus during collection. Our analysis highlights that pathogen-to-indicator ratios are useful for predicting the risk to adenovirus which has a high detection rate. On the other hand, the use of pathogen-to-indicator ratios to predict Cryptosporidium concentration is fraught due to variable detection rates and concentration.