Glenda Anderson, Staff Reporter
HUNDREDS OF sanitation workers across the island are at increased risk from continuous exposure to infectious and hazardous material as they are not being regularly vaccinated against several deadly diseases.
More than 300 are employed in the Corporate Area alone and public health officers say the situation is now very worrying.
"There is a concern because we don't know how they live and what it imparts to their families and communities," one senior technician at the island's Public Health laboratory in Kingston said.
Acting Chief Public Health Inspector at the island's Public Health Department, Everton Baker, said the workers are at risk for diseases like typhoid and other diseases as well as physical injury.
A 1996 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report revealed that workers could contract diseases such as cholera and leptospirosis and could suffer from infected wounds, eye and respiratory infections, bone and muscle disorders, poisoning, and chemical burns.
This was confirmed by Chief Medical Officer for Kingston, Dr. Herb Elliot, who said ideally, sanitation workers should receive regular vaccinations to protect against the deadly infections.
Mr. Elliot said that "In their case, they should have had (vaccines) hepatitis A/B, anti-tetanus, the new mumps measles and rubella (MMR), and boosters against poliomyelitis."
However, several workers interviewed by The Sunday Gleaner said they had never been vaccinated.
One man had worked with Metropolitan Parks and Markets/National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) as a groundsman for 12 years.
Director of operations at the NSWMA, Ann-marie Rodriques, admitted that the situation was a serious concern. She said a programme of vaccinations at the company's expense had been started in the past year but had not yet been completed, in part due to cost constraints.
NO MONITORING
And the health status of hundreds, who are employed to persons contracted to the NSWMA, is not known as zonal monitors, charged to monitor them are not doing so. Although the NSWMA had the responsibility to monitor the activity of its contractors, she said the issue of vaccinations to these contracted workers had not been "aggressively addressed".
The NSWMA manages the Metropolitan Parks and Markets (MPM) and has 20 main contractors.
Noel Downer of Downer Services in upper St. Andrew, admitted that his workers most of whom had been with the company "for some time" had not had preventive injection: "No, they have not been vaccinated, the company did not have them vaccinated."
He said he wasn't aware of the range of shots they were to receive as he had received no guidelines from the Health Ministry. The company employs 10 sanitation workers.
Disposal and Sanitation Systems (GDSS) Manager, Paul Allen, said the company's services were contracted out to drivers who, in turn, hired their own sidemen/loaders and so he could not say whether those men had ever been vaccinated against infections.
He said that two years ago GDSS had invited Health Ministry representatives to come in and conduct checks and administer vaccinations. This had been done.
But Dr. Elliot has dismissed the suggestion that the Ministry must be held responsible for the health of the workers: "All workers are supposed to protect themselves. It is their (responsibility) or their unions or their employers. The Ministry only facilitates persons up to age 18 years."Although some workers claimed ignorance, Dr. Elliot said, "They may not know about it but the fact is that the information is out there. The booster against polio and tetanus are available at any health centre."
But any vaccine not provided by the employer must be accessed at the worker's expense at local health centres or private doctors.And some workers say they are not paid enough to take proper care of themselves: "A sideman will get $400 a day for an eight-hour week, a driver will get something like $580 day, there is no insurance coverage, and when I take injections every few months it costs me $800 for one injection. But I do it because I know."
Eighty-four per cent of the persons interviewed for a University of the West Indies postgraduate research, (Everton Francis, 2003) were not covered by health insurance.
A driver who says he has been contracted to the MPM for the past five to six years, says while it is not the Ministry's responsibility, the workers need help.
"Because most of the workers cannot speak for themselves or are not educated enough, they don't know what is dangerous for their health and what is not," he said.
George, a groundsman, conceded that the job was dangerous and his condition could be helped by input from "the bigger heads dem. If we did have a union things would be much better for me."
He said a back-to-school loan of $15,000 which he will be repaying to the company (MPM/NSWMA) in the New Year will see deep cuts into his already meagre salary. Vaccines and health checks are out of the question for at least another year.
