Health and Work Conditions of Garbage Collectors: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Waste is considered everything that has lost utility after being use; therefore, it no longer has value to a person or a community. After objects have lost their value, they need to be removed from homes, workplaces, stores, markets, etc. Hence, waste collectors remove the garbage left on the streets and allocate it to appropriate places. From a historical perspective, waste disposal is closely related to consumption and values of cleanliness, purity, and organization of the current society. Objective: To analyze health and work conditions of waste collectors and the association of these parameters with the length of service. Methods: Cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 112 participants. Questionnaires addressing sociodemographic, work, and health conditions were used. The analysis of the association between health conditions and length of service was performed using Fisher's exact test with a significance level of p < 0.05. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the length of service (more than two years) and a higher occurrence of injuries such as sharp injuries (p <0.001), headache (p = 0.036), back pain (p = 0.008) and work leave (p = 0.021). Conclusion: The working health conditions of waste collectors described in this study are associated with back pain, headache, and work and sick leave.