SYSTEMATIC ASSESSMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY FACTORS AMONG INFORMAL RECYCLING ACTORS IN ISLAMABAD: CHALLENGES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR OCCUPATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY
Main Article Content
Keywords
Occupational health and safety condition, Informal recycling sector, Worker training, Solid waste management practices, Safety hazard, Work-related health issues, Personal protection
Abstract
Although informal recycling actors retrieve valuable resources and relieve pressure on municipal services, they largely exist beyond labour regulations, health monitoring and social protection. This research evaluated OHS concerns among the informal recycling actors group in Islamabad, Pakistan. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in May, 2024 among 121 informal recycling actors (divide into 5 roles, i.e., waste pickers, mobile buyers of waste, local junkshops, scrap dealers and informal processors of recyclables). Structured interviews were conducted on their demographic information, work pattern, injuries, common symptoms, trainings, PPEs usage, provision of medical or social protection and income effects. Role specific patterns were examined using descriptive statistics. The majority of the sample population was men, low in education and informal work training. Waste pickers were the most vulnerable, 86.7% with no formal education and no work-related training; processors and dealers reported high exposure, mainly in informal settings, to work-related training. Almost all workers were injured, nearly all had some scratch or cut, the greatest numbers with piercing injury were among junkshop owners and waste pickers, burning injuries mainly among processors and broken bones most among waste pickers, mostly with sharp items, metal parts, nails, pins, wires and heavy manual labour. Workers also had common reports of skin irritation, musculoskeletal pain, nose irritations, coughs, anxiety and fatigue. The provision and use of PPEs was poor and in particular that of waste pickers and mobile buyers of waste. The mean number of lost working days was 18.6 and the median was 18 days in last 12 months, indicating that otherwise seemingly small injuries could have significant income implications. Informal recycling actors do not form one homogeneous occupational group and different tasks along the recycling chain hold different risks. Recommendations for the cost-effective provision of PPEs, safer work areas (sorting zones), waste segregation, occupational training, vaccination, basic first aid access, and gradual legitimization of informal recyclers into urban planning should be developed in consultation with them, without jeopardizing livelihoods.
References
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2. Acquah, A. A., D’Souza, C., Martin, B. J., Arko-Mensah, J., Dwomoh, D., Nti, A. A. A., Kwarteng, L., Takyi, S. A., Basu, N., Quakyi, I. A., Robins, T. G., and Fobil, J. N. (2021). Musculoskeletal Disorder Symptoms among Workers at an Informal Electronic-Waste Recycling Site in Agbogbloshie, Ghana. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(4), 2055.
3. Ali, A.F. and Yusuf, R.O. (2021) ‘Prevalence of injuries among waste pickers: a case study in Nigeria’, Detritus, 17, pp. 89-96.
4. Al-Khatib, I.A., Kontogianni, S., Nabaa, H.A., Alshami, N. and Al-Sari, M.I. (2020) ‘Assessment of occupational health and safety among scavengers in Gaza Strip, Palestine’, Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2020, 3780431.
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6. Binion, E. and Gutberlet, J. (2012) ‘The effects of handling solid waste on the wellbeing of informal and organized recyclers: a review of the literature’, International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 18(1), pp. 43-52.
7. Black, M., Karki, J., Lee, A.C.K., Makai, P., Baral, Y.R., Kritsotakis, E.I., Bernier, A. and Fossier Heckmann, A. (2019) ‘The health risks of informal waste workers in the Kathmandu Valley: a cross-sectional survey’, Public Health, 166, pp. 10-18.
8. Chen, M.A. (2012) The Informal Economy: Definitions, Theories and Policies. Cambridge, MA: WIEGO.
9. Chokhandre, P., Singh, S. and Kashyap, G.C. (2017) ‘Prevalence, predictors and economic burden of morbidities among waste-pickers of Mumbai, India: a cross-sectional study’, Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, 12, 30.
10. CIOMS (2016) International Ethical Guidelines for Health-related Research Involving Humans. Geneva: Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences.
11. Cointreau, S. (2006) Occupational and Environmental Health Issues of Solid Waste Management: Special Emphasis on Middle- and Lower-Income Countries. Washington, DC: World Bank.
12. Dias, S.M. (2016) ‘Waste pickers and cities’, Environment and Urbanization, 28(2), pp. 375-390.
13. Eckhardt, B. and Kaifie, A. (2024) ‘Bridging the knowledge gap! Health outcomes in informal e-waste workers’, Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, 19, 11.
14. Ephraim, P., Stephens, J. K., Myers-Hansen, G. A., Otwey, R. Y., Amon, S., Kporxah, M. K., and Abaka-Yawson, A. (2021). Prevalence and determinants of occupational injuries among solid waste collectors of Zoomlion Ghana Limited. Journal of environmental and public health, 2021(1), 6914529.
15. Ezeah, C., Fazakerley, J.A. and Roberts, C.L. (2013) ‘Emerging trends in informal sector recycling in developing and transition countries’, Waste Management, 33(11), pp. 2509-2519.
16. Ferronato, N. and Torretta, V. (2019) ‘Waste mismanagement in developing countries: a review of global issues’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(6), 1060.
17. Forti, V., Baldé, C.P., Kuehr, R. and Bel, G. (2020) The Global E-waste Monitor 2020: Quantities, Flows and the Circular Economy Potential. Bonn/Geneva/Rotterdam: UNU, UNITAR, ITU and ISWA.
18. Gowda, B., Gurusiddappa, L.H. and Kalikeri, S. (2023) ‘Study on occupational health hazards of municipal solid waste workers: a review’, World Journal of Environmental Biosciences, 12(1), pp. 24-31.
19. Greenacre, M. (2017) Correspondence Analysis in Practice. 3rd edn. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
20. Gutberlet, J. (2015) ‘Cooperative urban mining in Brazil: collective practices in selective household waste collection and recycling’, Waste Management, 45, pp. 22-31.
21. Hughes, R. A., Heron, J., Sterne, J. A. C., and Tilling, K. (2019). Accounting for missing data in statistical analyses: Multiple imputation is not always the answer. International Journal of Epidemiology, 48(4), 1294–1304.
22. ILO (2018) Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture. 3rd edn. Geneva: International Labour Organization.
23. ILO (2019) The Recycling Industry: Addressing Child Labour and Other Decent Work Challenges. Geneva: International Labour Organization.
24. ILO (2023) Rapid Assessment of Child Labour in Waste-picking in Pakistan. Islamabad: International Labour Organization.
25. Jayakrishnan, T., Jeeja, M.C. and Bhaskar, R. (2013) ‘Occupational health problems of municipal solid waste management workers in India’, International Journal of Environmental Health Engineering, 2(1), 42.
26. Kamran, A., Chaudhry, M. N., and Batool, S. A. (2015). Role of the Informal Sector in Recycling Waste in Eastern Lahore. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 24(2).
27. Kasinja, C. and Tilley, E. (2018) ‘Formalization of informal waste pickers’ cooperatives in Blantyre, Malawi: a feasibility assessment’, Sustainability, 10(4), 1149.
28. Kaza, S., Yao, L., Bhada-Tata, P., and Van Woerden, F. (2018). What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050. World Bank Publications.
29. Khalil, A., Adnan, M., Khan, F. N., and Farooq, M. U. (2022). Frequency and risk factors of bloodborne infectious diseases among informal solid waste handlers: A cross-sectional study. The Professional Medical Journal, 29(11), 1708-1713.
30. Kumar, A. and Agrawal, A. (2020) ‘Recent trends in solid waste management status, challenges and potential for the future Indian cities: a review’, Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, 2, 100011.
31. Lasota, A.M. and Hankiewicz, K. (2020) ‘Self-reported fatigue and health complaints of refuse collectors’, Central European Journal of Operations Research, 28, pp. 633-643.
32. Lissah, S.Y., Ayanore, M.A., Krugu, J.K., Aberese-Ako, M. and Ruiter, R.A.C. (2022) ‘Our work, our health, no one’s concern: domestic waste collectors’ perceptions of occupational safety and self-reported health issues in an urban town in Ghana’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(11), 6539.
33. Lund, F. (2012) ‘Work-related social protection for informal workers’, International Social Security Review, 65(4), pp. 9-30.
34. McGrath, O., and Burke, K. (2024). Binomial confidence intervals for rare events: Importance of defining margin of error relative to magnitude of proportion. The American Statistician, 78(4), 391–403.
35. Medina, M. (2008) The Informal Recycling Sector in Developing Countries: Organizing Waste Pickers to Enhance Their Impact. Washington, DC: World Bank.
36. Ministry of Climate Change (2022) National Hazardous Waste Management Policy 2022. Islamabad: Government of Pakistan.
37. Muhib, F.B., Lin, L.S., Stueve, A., Miller, R.L., Ford, W.L., Johnson, W.D. and Smith, P.J. (2001) ‘A venue-based method for sampling hard-to-reach populations’, Public Health Reports, 116(Suppl. 1), pp. 216-222.
38. Mukiibi, A., Ndungutse, D., James, W. and Mutekanga, D.R. (2023) ‘Factors associated with prevalence of occupational injuries among workers in informal recycling businesses at Kiteezi Landfill, Wakiso District, Uganda’, Journal of Quality in Health Care & Economics, 6(2), 000329.
39. Nawaz, M., Yousafzai, M. T., Khan, S., Ahmad, W., Salman, M., Han, H., and Vega-Muñoz, A. (2021). Assessing the formal and informal waste recycling business processes through a stakeholders lens in Pakistan. Sustainability, 13(21), 11717.
40. Newcombe, R.G. (1998) ‘Two-sided confidence intervals for the single proportion: comparison of seven methods’, Statistics in Medicine, 17(8), pp. 857-872.
41. Newcombe, R. G., and Altman, D. G. (2000). Proportions and their differences. In D. G. Altman, D. Machin, T. N. Bryant, & M. J. Gardner (Eds.), Statistics with confidence (2nd ed., pp. 45–56). BMJ Books.
42. Ohajinwa, C. M., van Bodegom, P. M., Vijver, M. G., Olumide, A. O., Osibanjo, O., and Peijnenburg, W. J. (2018). PW 0451 Injuries and health risks awareness of electronic waste workers in the informal sector in nigeria.
43. Ohajinwa, C.M., Van Bodegom, P.M., Vijver, M.G. and Peijnenburg, W.J.G.M. (2017) ‘Health risks awareness of electronic waste workers in the informal sector in Nigeria’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(8), 911.
44. Ostertagová, E., Ostertag, O. and Kováč, J. (2014) ‘Methodology and application of the Kruskal-Wallis test’, Applied Mechanics and Materials, 611, pp. 115-120.
45. Paulsen, A., Overgaard, S., and Lauritsen, J. M. (2012). Quality of data entry using single entry, double entry and automated forms processing—An example based on a study of patient-reported outcomes. PLoS ONE, 7(4), e35087.
46. Porta, D., Milani, S., Lazzarino, A.I., Perucci, C.A. and Forastiere, F. (2009) ‘Systematic review of epidemiological studies on health effects associated with management of solid waste’, Environmental Health, 8, 60.
47. Raifman, S., DeVost, M.A., Digitale, J.C., Chen, Y.H. and Morris, M.D. (2022) ‘Respondent-driven sampling: a sampling method for hard-to-reach populations and beyond’, Current Epidemiology Reports, 9, pp. 38-47.
48. Riani, M., Atkinson, A. C., Torti, F., and Corbellini, A. (2022). Robust correspondence analysis. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C: Applied Statistics, 71(5), 1381-1401.
49. Ross, R. K., Breskin, A., and Westreich, D. (2020). When is a complete-case approach to missing data valid? The importance of effect-measure modification. American Journal of Epidemiology, 189(12), 1583–1589.
50. Sapkota, S., Lee, A., Karki, J., Makai, P., Adhikari, S., Chaudhuri, N. and Fossier-Heckmann, A. (2020) ‘Risks and risk mitigation in waste-work: a qualitative study of informal waste workers in Nepal’, Public Health in Practice, 1, 100028.
51. Schenck, C.J., Blaauw, P.F., Viljoen, J.M.M. and Swart, E.C. (2019) ‘Exploring the potential health risks faced by waste pickers on landfills in South Africa: a socio-ecological perspective’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(11), 2059.
52. Sourial, N., Wolfson, C., Zhu, B., Quail, J., Fletcher, J., Karunananthan, S., Bandeen-Roche, K., Béland, F. and Bergman, H. (2010) ‘Correspondence analysis is a useful tool to uncover the relationships among categorical variables’, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 63(6), pp. 638-646.
53. Tasnova, S. I., and Rafizul, I. M. (2024). Assessing the efficacy of training program to promote a positive occupational health and safety culture among informal workers at open dump site in khulna using inductive thematic analysis. In 7th International Conference on Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development (ICCESD 2024), Bangladesh.
54. Uhunamure, S. E., Edokpayi, J. N., and Shale, K. (2021). Occupational health risk of waste pickers: a case study of northern region of South Africa. Journal of environmental and public health, 2021(1), 5530064.
55. UNEP and ISWA (2024) Global Waste Management Outlook 2024: Beyond an Age of Waste - Turning Rubbish into a Resource. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme.
56. Velasco Garrido, M., Bittner, C., Harth, V. and Preisser, A.M. (2015) ‘Health status and health-related quality of life of municipal waste collection workers: a cross-sectional survey’, Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, 10, 22.
57. von Elm, E., Altman, D.G., Egger, M., Pocock, S.J., Gøtzsche, P.C. and Vandenbroucke, J.P. (2007) ‘The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies’, PLoS Medicine, 4(10), e296.
58. WHO (2021) Children and Digital Dumpsites: E-waste Exposure and Child Health. Geneva: World Health Organization.
59. Wilson, D.C., Velis, C. and Cheeseman, C. (2006) ‘Role of informal sector recycling in waste management in developing countries’, Habitat International, 30(4), pp. 797-808.
60. Wilson, E.B. (1927) ‘Probable inference, the law of succession, and statistical inference’, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 22(158), pp. 209-212.
61. World Bank Group (2024) Unseen Green Jobs: A Study on Informal Waste Workers in Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR. Washington, DC: World Bank.
62. World Medical Association (2013) ‘World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects’, JAMA, 310(20), pp. 2191-2194.
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Aug 13, 2024
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Ismail Ahmad, Faheem Kamran, Nadia Akhtar, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Muhammad Zaman Ul Haq, & Adnan Ullah Khan. (2024). SYSTEMATIC ASSESSMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY FACTORS AMONG INFORMAL RECYCLING ACTORS IN ISLAMABAD: CHALLENGES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR OCCUPATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY . Journal of Population Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology, 31(8), 3999-4019. https://doi.org/10.69980/1prwz961
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All articles published in JPTCP are licensed under Copyright Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Author Biographies
Ismail Ahmad
Department of Environmental Science, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Faheem Kamran
Department of Environmental Science, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Nadia Akhtar
Department of Environmental Science, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Muhammad Irfan Khan
Department of Environmental Science, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Muhammad Zaman Ul Haq
Department of Environmental Science, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Adnan Ullah Khan
Department of Environmental Science, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan
How to Cite
Ismail Ahmad, Faheem Kamran, Nadia Akhtar, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Muhammad Zaman Ul Haq, & Adnan Ullah Khan. (2024). SYSTEMATIC ASSESSMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY FACTORS AMONG INFORMAL RECYCLING ACTORS IN ISLAMABAD: CHALLENGES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR OCCUPATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY . Journal of Population Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology, 31(8), 3999-4019. https://doi.org/10.69980/1prwz961
