Abstract

The activity of waste collection is fundamental for preserving human health and the environment. As the world population increases, so does the waste production, consequently leading to a higher number of professionals involved in the collection activity. The objective of this study was to identify the main causes of accidents in urban waste collection and to verify if the implementation of containers would reduce the number of accidents in the sector. The causes were identified by analyzing accidents in two waste-collection companies for 4 years. Company A had 3,859 employees with 756 registered accident cases, while company B had 2020 workers with 189 cases. In total, it was analyzed 945 accident cases from urban waste collection. One municipality from company A which implemented the highest number of containers was studied thoroughly to verify if the implementation of containers reduces the number of accidents. The analysis shows that the household collection had the highest accident rate, with 65.61%. Sharp materials and falls were the leading causes of accidents, representing 53% in the company A and 62% in the company B. After containers implementation, the number of accidents caused by sharp materials and falls decreased from 37 without the container in 2014, to 18 with the container in 2015, and 11 with the container in 2016. It was concluded that the implementation of containers improves occupational safety and health during the urban cleaning process. Further studies should be conducted in order to improve the working conditions in the urban cleaning sector.

Highlights

  • According to the Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies (Abrelpe, 2017), Brazil annually generates 78.4 million tons of urban solid waste

  • This illustration aims to show the groups of urban cleaning services with most accident cases

  • The household collection was responsible for 620 accidents, representing 65.61% of the total number of accidents

Read more

Summary

Introduction

According to the Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies (Abrelpe, 2017), Brazil annually generates 78.4 million tons of urban solid waste. In 2017, the Brazilian municipalities invested an average of R$ 10.37 per inhabitant per month in the urban cleaning service. The urban cleaning service consisted of 337 thousand formal jobs, where 59.1% of the produced waste was collected and destined to landfills, while additional waste was discarded inadequately. This shows that the urban cleaning sector still needs to grow in order to attend present necessities and that in the near future it will be necessary to apply more resources and hire new professionals.

Objectives
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call