Policy Silences and the Case for Dedicated Legislation for Street Sweepers in India: Policy Content Analysis using the READ Approach

Abstract

Street sweepers play a vital role in sanitation through solid waste management. They are exposed to a number of occupational hazards, including dust, infectious agents, ergonomics-related disorders, and injuries. Street sweepers are identified as sanitary workers and also municipal solid waste management workers, resulting in fragmentation of guidelines, manuals and legislations governing street sweepers. This necessitates a comprehensive review of existing policy, legal and implementation guidelines, which might apply to street sweepers in India. Content analysis of both policy and nonpolicy documents following the READ approach was done. Thrust areas related to health and safety measures were identified through thematic extraction of health and safety recommendations from the systematic reviews. The document search resulted in one key occupational health policy, four legal documents and nine implementation documents. The policy document analysis identified three key thematic areas, including Enforcement and Compliance, Standards and Awareness and Research, and Monitoring and Evaluation. It was found that there is no separate legislation governing the occupational health of street sweepers. The standards for equipment used, manuals, and job rotation are still in formative stages. There are no fixed medical criteria for joining and continuing as street sweepers. The thematic area research, monitoring, and evaluation was poorly represented. Street sweepers require separate legislation to govern their occupational health and safety. Appropriate standards for equipment, medical criteria for sweepers and regular monitoring should be set up. Researches should be carried out to explore the health risk of sweepers, especially ergonomic and respiratory-related illness.