The workplace has a significant impact on people's health and safety and poor management of workplace safety and health can lead to work related ill-health, injuries and to extreme cases death. With the advent of the newly proclaimed OSHA 2005, the Government of Mauritius stated that with the expansion of the economy, the occupational health system is undergoing a major shift from protection of health at work to the promotion of health of the workforce.
In recent years, occupational health and safety legislation has taken massive strides, compelling organisations to develop policies that safeguard employees' safety and health at work. The implementation of legislation and policy however remains a key challenge for many governments and organisations, as does the issue of monitoring and review of policies, practices and procedures.
Since Occupational Safety and health is getting a rising importance in Mauritius, our study will base on a risk assessment done at Mare-Chicose landfill station .It has been opted in an attempt to make appropriate suggestions or further implementations of Safety and Health in the landfill station.
Solid waste management is an issue which needs attention not only by the government but also of its management as Mare-Chicose is the only landfill in Mauritius. Our assignment has focused on how Solid waste management is regulated and the safety and health aspect of workers has also been highlighted.
The methodology used for this study is based on extensive literature search on books, publications and the internet. A preliminary checklist was prepared and a site visit was then initiated from which a risk assessment was then performed.
Finally, the study leads to a set of proposed recommendations that will give a better management of the landfill station.
Introduction
Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics.
Solid waste management is a polite term for garbage management. As long as humans have been living in settled communities, solid waste, or garbage, has been an issue, and modern societies generate far more solid waste than early humans ever did. Daily life in industrialized nations can generate several pounds of solid waste per consumer, not only directly in the home, but indirectly in factories that manufacture goods purchased by consumers. Solid waste management is a system for handling all of this garbage; municipal waste collection is solid waste management, as are recycling programs, dumps, and incinerators.
The increase in the economic development has changed the life style and the consumption pattern of the population. Consequently, this has led to an increase of the amount of solid waste generated.
Background information.
The Mare-Chicose landfill has been created in the 1990s, which is the only landfill in Mauritius which receives domestic solid waste. The urbanization and rapid industrialization during the past decade has led to changing production and consumption patterns that continue to present new demands for natural resources and create new waste streams. It is estimated that solid waste produced in Mauritius is about 380,000 tonnes a year and is expected to reach 418,000 tonnes in 2014 The management recently identified that the landfill needs an extension of about 5 hectares to cope with the future requirement.
Who control Solid waste management in Mauritius?
The Ministry of Local Government and the Rodrigues Regional Assembly are responsible for solid waste management. Solid waste collection is undertaken by the local authorities in areas under their jurisdiction and disposed of at the Mare Chicose landfill via a network of transfer stations situated at St Martin, Roche Bois, Poudre d'Or and La Brasserie
The transfer stations carry out compaction of waste prior to their transportation to the landfill site. The Mare Chicose landfill, which was originally planned to receive 400 tonnes of waste daily, is now receiving about 1000 tonnes
The life span of the disposal site at Mare Chicose has dramatically been reduced from 19 years to 8 years.
Budget:
Government spending amounts to nearly Rs 500 million per annum for the collection, transportation and disposal of refuse waste. This amount includes the collection costs of over Rs 300 million per year and about Rs 155 million is incurred yearly for the operation of transfer stations (Rs 75 m) and disposal site at Mare Chicose (Rs 80 m), which are operated by private contractors. In spite of heavy investment, the present disposal system is inadequate.
Government's policy is to promote waste reduction, minimise its generation, encourage the adoption of environmentally sound methods of resource recovery and modernise the institutional and legal framework for the entire logistical chain - collection, storage, transfer and disposal - and introduce a cost recovery mechanism.
Solid waste management
Robinson (1986) defines solid waste management as the application of techniques that will ensure the orderly execution of the functions of collection, transport, processing, treatment and disposal of solid waste. The ever increasing global concern on environmental health demands that wastes be properly managed and disposed of in the most friendly and acceptable way. This is to minimize, and where possible, eliminate its potential harm to humans, plants, animals and natural resources.
With the advent of new technologies there are different types of solid waste recovery and disposal techniques that exist worldwide. The different types of solid waste treatment are illustrated in the diagram below:
Figure1-(Adapted from- http://viso.ei.jrc.it/iwmlca/aboutiwm.html)
In Mauritius, the only disposal method we use is the landfill and this makes our sole landfill Mare-Chicose always under operation. Unfortunately the safety and health aspect related to the landfill is neglected and the hazards present in the landfill is quite neglected. To assess the safety and health aspect related to the landfill, our group has use the checklist method to collect data and do the risk assessment.
Hazards present in a landfill station
Biological
Biological hazards refer to biological substances that cause a threat to the health of living organisms, primarily that of humans. This can include medical waste or samples of a microorganism, virus or toxin (from a biological source) that can impact human health
Chemical
A chemical hazard arises from contamination of an area with harmful or potentially harmful chemicals. Possible sources of chemical hazards include the burning of fossils, materials, pollution of the environment and water supply, chemical spillages, industrial accidents, and the deliberate release of toxic materials. (adapted from Wikipedia)
Physical
Physical hazards are the most common and will be present in most workplaces at one time or another. They include unsafe conditions that can cause injury, illness and death
Approximately all the Municipal Solid Wastes are dispose at the landfill which increases the risk of potential hazards involved in the practice of waste disposal. The disposal of wastes in landfills presents several hazards including fires hazards, diseases from organism, offensive odors, and methane leakage, leaching of toxic and corrosive materials into surface and underground waters or accident with the vehicle use at landfills.
Michael F. Waxman (1996, p.126) comment that hazards can be group as three type namely physical chemical and biological. Chemical hazards at landfill consist of flammable liquid and vapor, toxic gases and carcinogen. Physical hazards consist of noise, electricity, temperature, heat, slip and trip whereas biological hazards consist of infectious medical waste and research materials. This gives an idea of the large number of hazards present at the landfills which can cause a high risk of accidents and diseases.
Regarding to hazards at landfills, it appears that people respond to the health hazards with feelings of fear and rejection. Daniel R. Faber and Eric J. Krieg (2002) examined the health hazard present at landfills the likes of chemical waste which include mercury, dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls, arsenic, lead, and heavy metals such as chromium, have been dumped at the landfill as no proper verification is done.
Moreover the site is exposing to contamination of the ground water and can potentially cause cancer, birth defects and liver cancer. But research was made to quantify the severity of waste at different section in waste disposal programme and the severity was quantify from 1 to 25, showing a rating of to the municipal solid waste showing being the less hazardous site than others that is 5 compared to incinerators which is 20.
Landfill hazards associate with worker.
As research was made before the landfill is link with different type of hazards like biological, chemical and physical. These hazards are more expose to worker than inhabitant nearby landfill as they are the one who are working with hazardous materials.
According to Dino Drudi (1999) he made a survey and collect data of the fatality rate present at landfill compared to other duties of worker associated with landfill. He found that between 1992-97, nearly three quarters of the 223 refuse systems workers suffering fatal job injuries were either refuse collectors (69 fatalities), truck drivers (63 fatalities), or non-construction laborers (30 fatalities).Moreover he in the stated that worker at landfill are more expose to hazards like struck by vehicle, mobile equipment, transportation of waste, crashes and other incidents, Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects and other type of hazards. Furthermore he found out landfill waste is more hazardous to worker among all type of waste collection methods.
According to Joseph A. cimino (1975) landfill hazards to worker are greater and worker are expose to hazards like back pain , injuries from nails and glass wounds and bacteria and other type of biological, physical and chemical hazards. According New York City Department of Sanitation (1968-1969) data was collected to quantify the Probability of injury occurring in percentage and according to the data different work involve higher risk of injury to accident Lifting 16%, walking with load 10%, Dumping 17%, Stepping off curb 3%, Leaving vehicle 6%, Entering vehicle 2%, walking in work area 8%, Slipping 10% and other 28%.According to the data higher risk of injury at landfill is when dumping of waste and lifting of equipment which can cause injuries like back pain, etc.
The occupational safety and health aspects at the landfill station Mare-Chicose
Health and safety of worker
In Mauritius, typically for a manually loading truck, a crew of 4 or 5 persons is common. In many cases, the driver and helpers alternate roles. The drivers who dump the waste at the landfill sites are at risk due to hazardous roads resulting in overturned vehicles.
Machinery guarding
The employer shall ensure that all the machines at the landfill are safe to use and they have the right safeguards. Moreover the machine should be used by only authorized persons. The operators should be trained to use those machines and should be given enough information and instruction so as to perform the task safely. The workers should report to their supervisors in case of faulty controls and guards. It should be noted that you should not clean a machine while it is in motion as this can be dangerous for the person.
Slips and trips
The large number of injuries caused by slips and trips are not unavoidable. The solutions are usually cheap, simple but can result to better; easier working conditions and also the work effectiveness is improved.
The following measures can be taken to reduce the risk of slips and trips at the landfill:
Employer should ensure that spillage of wet and dry substances and items are prevented. However, if spillages of items are unavoidable, cleaners should ensure that spillages are clear away immediately and if where floors may remain wet for some time should ensure that the pedestrian are warned and sidetracked by using appropriate barriers and signs.
The use of rough ground should be eliminated where this can be reasonably achieved.
The lighting system should be suitable and properly maintained such as the bulb should be kept clean and end-of -life bulbs should be replaced; also if needed the lighting levels should improved.
The drainage should be improved so as to remove standing water.
Health of workers
The worker should protest their skin by working safely and wearing the protective gloves and clothing. The worker should avoid contact with chemicals as toxic chemical may be combined with the waste like aggressive cleaning fluids or oils. These can cause irritation to the skin and can cause dermatitis. The workers should wash their hands regularly with soap under running water such as before eating, drinking or smoking. This will reduce the risk of 'bugs' or chemicals into their hands to get into their mouth. Moreover worker should keep away their hand from the nose, eyes and mouth for their own safety
Furthermore, the health and safety officer should ensure that all workers are vaccinated regularly. These vaccinations would include tetanus and polio. However depending upon the nature of work carried out by the worker; he may be needed to be vaccinated for other likely illnesses
Landfill workers who fall ill have to inform their doctor about the types of job that they performed as it may help the doctor to decide which treatment is suitable for them.
The health of the workers should be regularly monitored so as to identify any problems at an early stage. Medical examination has to be carried out by occupational health doctor or nurse or there may be simple questionnaire that are to be filled by the workers.
Welfare facilities
Welfare facilities of workers and visitors should be well maintained so as to reduce the risk of illnesses. These include that the toilet should be clean and well ventilated and it should be separate for men and women. There should be provision of wash basin of adequate size; with both cold and hot running water. Also consumable materials such as soap, towels, toilet paper should be available and kept stocked.
Furthermore workers and visitors should be provided with barrier cream and skin-conditioning cream where necessary. If the workers perform outdoor work; drying facilities for their wet clothes should be available. Rest facilities and change facilities for workers should be in place. The employer should ensure that the welfare facilities are kept clean and well maintained. In order to achieve this somebody will need to be given the responsibilities.
Personal protective equipment
PPE are said to be the last line of defense. Worker should protect their head by wearing a helmet as this will protect the worker if there is a real risk of item falling on him. Also they should protect their eyes by wearing protective glasses to prevent particles and heavy dust to enter their eyes. Noise can cause permanent hearing loss; therefore workers should wear ear plugs or muffs. Face mask should be provided to workers so as to protect their lungs from heavy dust.
The Aims and objectives Of the Analysis are:
To carry out an in depth analysis of the working conditions of the workers and the environment of the Mare-Chicose landfills with a particular focus of their Health and safety
To identify health and safety performance in Mare-Chicose.
To analyse the risk level of the hazards present in the landfill.
To make recommendations for the improvement of the safety and health aspect at Mare-Chicose landfills
To make suggestions for the promotions of Safety and Health management culture at the landfill.
Methodology
Methodology
Landfill is the most appropriate form for disposal of municipal solid waste management. From houses to houses, many people on average whether rich or poor, generate about 1200T of solid waste per day. However, landfill comprises of many hazards. People working at landfill station face a lot of health problem. For the purpose of this assignment, a survey was carried out at Mare Chicose landfill Station to identify all the possible hazards that exist there. Moreover, ways to combat those hazards will be further be elaborated.
The use of a checklist was needed to identify all the possible hazards that exist at Mare Chicose landfill Station. The hazards that are present at the landfill station were categorized under physical hazards, chemical hazards biological hazards and psycho-social hazards. The types of hazards associated in landfill were found in literatures and journals. While reading journals, books and literatures concerning hazards at landfill station, the above mentioned hazards that existed in landfill station were perceived.
Procedure for Data collection
The procedure to collect data in order to analyze the extent of hazards present at Mare Chicose landfill Station was performed by a site visit with the student of BOSHM/08/FT. It is to be noted that before going to Mare Chicose, a preliminary checklist was prepared by students who were assigned for the landfill's project. The checklist was prepared according to published articles or journals concerning landfill station.
While performing site visit at Mare Chicose landfill station, with the help of the preliminary checklist, most of the hazards were identified and were noted down. Some hazards which were not present in the checklist were further added with the help of an engineer working at the landfill, helped us by giving some information of hazards present there.
Results and discussion
This section deals with the analysis, findings and discussions of the data collected. The methodology discussed in the previous section has helped us to do the risk assessment. The data have been presented mainly by the use of the bar charts and the risk assessment sheet.
This Risk assessment Matrix is based on the HSE research report 240 "Mapping health and safety standards in the UK waste industry". It has been used in conjunction with the Guide, which can be downloaded from the HSE website. The report describes a study on the nature of the UK waste industry and its health and safety standards.
Risk
Risk is determined by two factors:
How often might a particular hazard arise?
How much harm is likely to result?
Likelihood groupings
To perform the risk assessment we have to go through a number of steps. We have to rate the likelihood of a hazard occurring and its expected frequency (% of occurrence) . likelihood has been further divided into
Unlikely- can assume it never occur
Remote - may occur at some point of time , rarely
Possible - the probability of occurrence exist
Likely- can occur several times
Frequent can occur often, continuously, experienced
Severity groupings
1-No injury2-Minor injury
3-Marginal
4-Major injury
5-Catastrophic
Risk level = Likelihood x Severity
Risk level is then compared to the table below
4
After comparison we use the table below to identify risk: for example of the risk level of a hazard is 16 which fall under the category the risk is low.
Biological hazard assessment
Biological Hazards
Likelihood
Severity
Calculated risk level
Medical waste
3
3
9
Pest and rodents(disease vectors)
5
4
20
Airbone bacteria fungi
5
3
15
Offensive Odour
5
3
15
Medical waste - From the above table it can be seen that the calculated risk level is 9. That is it is a medium risk level and a tolerable and acceptable level. The amount of medical waste entering the landfill should be controlled as it has a quite risk level. Medical waste may result in skin and eye fungal and bacterial infections. Therefore control measures have to be put in place to minimize the amount of medical waste in the landfill. Moreover, appropriate PPEs should be given to the workers and provide decontamination.
Pests and rodents - From the table it can be seen that the calculated is 20. It has a high risk level; therefore management should ensure that it is controlled. The symptoms of exposure to pests and rodents vary from mild irritation to anaphylactic shock and death. Moreover, deer ticks may cause Lyme disease. Therefore Periodic inspections of the site should be performed to identify bee hives and wasp nests, and for the presence of snakes. Professional exterminating companies should be consulted for removal. Tick and insect repellents may be used for exposure control. However, workers should check their skin and clothing for ticks periodically throughout the work day.
Table 1 - Result for biological hazards
Offensive Odour- The risk level is 15 which lie in the red area; it is a high risk. Common sense
dictates that odour is an unacceptable risk. Odours themselves are not dangerous but they may indicate presence of harmful odourless gases (e.g. odourless methane). Unpleasant odours can cause a variety of health effects like nausea, vomiting, upsetting of sleep, decreased heart rate and constriction at blood vessels in skin and muscles. Therefore, substantial improvements in risk control measures are necessary so as to reduced to a tolerable level. For instance an adequate gas collection method can be put in place.
Physical hazard
Physical hazards
Likelihood
Severity
Calculated risk level
Heat stress
4
2
8
Muscle injury
1
1
1
slip
2
4
8
The presence of landfill gas.
5
5
25
The presence of soil contamination
3
4
12
Leachate handling
4
4
16
Uneven ground settlement and poor drainage
2
3
6
Capping material
2
3
6
Burn
1
Chemical hazards
Chemical hazards
Likelihood
Severity
Calculated risk level
Methane generation
5
5
25
Solvent
3
5
15
Waste chemical (leachate)
4
4
16
Comparison of result
From the above diagram, we can note the increase of level of hazards present in the landfill radioactive hazards being the least occurrence and physical hazard being the most.
LIMITATIONS
The data on solid waste workers and their related health effects are scarce in Mauritius. The data from studies discussed below are often flawed due to small study size, recall bias, lack of good control population, and sparse statistics, as discussed. Another problem is that the studies have mainly focused on acute injury, not chronic disease. Due to the virtual lack of long term studies and lack of follow up, chronic disease and other related data are almost nonexistent.
During our site visit, we were given information how the cells was prepared but no information about the safety and health about the workers.
We could not do a second time visit to ensure a recheck of our assignment due to lack of time which on the contrary could help us to find a better analysis.
Recommendation
From our study it can be said that the health and safety of workers and visitors at landfill are given that much importance. It has been seen that there are many hazards that are not properly controlled and it can caused harm to both workers and visitors.
Based on the work undertaken, the following recommendations are presented as means of improving health and safety within the landfill:-
According to Mr. Avinash, there is a health and safety officer employed on a part-time basis. Therefore it can be concluded that taking into consideration the amount of hazards present at the landfill; a health and safety officer is not enough to ensure a safe place of work at the landfill. Hence, it would be preferable to employ a full-time health and safety officer so as to have a proper health and safety management in place. This would surely help to the reduction of hazards and the number of accidents occurring at the landfill.
There should be an improvement in safety culture among the workers especially among the layman at the landfill because there are those who are mainly exposed to those risks. This will include incident reporting that is supervisor should encourage the workers to report any incident at the landfill. There should be a proper clarification of Responsibilities among the management level and guidance for small operators on the best ways to improve safety.
Give proper health and safety training to the worker so as to promote a safety culture at the landfill. This will encourage the worker to wear the PPE where necessary as they will be aware of the importance of PPE after attending the training session. People need to understand why they have to wear PPE rather than just be told to wear it. Training will also raise awareness of people's limitations in terms of what is safe and what they are qualified to perform.
At the landfill, enter and exit signs should be placed in such a way that it will be visible to the lorry drivers so as to prevent confusion. For example during our site visit, it was found that a lorry entered the landfill through the wrong passage and this has caused a sort of traffic jam.
A proper health and safety management should be put in place by the top level management so as to provide a safe place of work and reduce the risk of accident at the landfill.
Concerning the road through which the Lorries have to pass to reach the top of the landfill, it was seen that it is not properly maintained and no speed limit signs were seen. In order to prevent accident, the road should be properly maintained and a speed limit sign 20 km/h should be placed along the road.
Taking into consideration all the old electronic devices that are normally a nuisance for more households and office as we have to find a place to keep them. The landfill could have built cells that would accommodate all these electronic devices as it can be harmful to the environment if they are placed in open air.
Conclusion
To conclude, we would like to say that there is no doubt that with urbanization and rapid industrialization there is bound for waste generation to increase. We should also note that the population of the country is also increasing at a steep rate. Given the diversity of material generated by the population coming on the heading of waste, there is considerable potential for hazardous exposure to occur through the management of waste. However this assignment does not generally support these concerns.
Measure need to be taken rapidly as the Mare-Chicose landfill is being optimize. Other solutions needs to be further implemented for example upgrading of existing transfer stations and construction of a new one. It should be well planned and modernize with the facilities. Construction of a pilot green composting plant and construction of civic amenity centres for bulky wastes are also being planned.
The government focused that they are presently working toward making the waste management sector ass efficient as possible but since the Landfill stays a short and medium term, the promotion of a waste avoidance and recovery culture need to be given priority. Individuals, households, and institutions are to be sensitized on the need to minimize waste at source, of the value or re-use and recycling and the possibilities for converting waste to resources.
Last but not the least, safety and health management is a field that should be taken into good consideration. The whole hierarchy of management itself needs to be consistent and enhance the safety and health of workers and also cater for the people living in the proximity.
Referencing
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-Vianna NJ, Polan AK. Incidence of low birthweight among Love Canal residents. Science 1984; 226: 1217-9
-Occupational Safety & Health Administration: Summary report: Hazardous waste site safety hazards study, U.S. Department of Labor, 2002 from: (www.osha.gov/SLTC/hazardouswaste/finalsitesafetystudy.html). {Access on 15/10/2010]
-Waste guide, from: www.wasteguide.org.uk/issues/mn_culture.stm.
Environment Agency: Strategic Waste Management, 2002.
-http://www.frtr.gov/matrix2/health_safety/chapter_2.html (Access on 24/11/2010]
Mapping health and -Mapping health and safety standards in the UK waste industry - prepared by bomel limited - For the health and safety executive 2004.
-Allen. H.E and Chen P.H., 1993. "Remediation of metal contaminated soil By EDTA, "Environmental Progress, 12 (4), pp.284
