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Wenzhou News - Under the scorching sun, the road surface is almost "roasting" people. Yet, like other outdoor workers, road sanitation workers still need to stick to their posts for professional reasons. Behind this dedication, there often lurks danger. According to the latest statistics from Wenzhou Yellow River Cleaning Co., Ltd., in the 20 days between July 2 and July 22 this year, eight sanitation workers were involved in traffic accidents, resulting in one death, one amputation, and six still hospitalized.
On July 2, Ms. Li, a 61-year-old sanitation worker from Anhui province employed by Yellow River Cleaning Co., Ltd., was unfortunately hit by a car while working and remains in the hospital for treatment. "I took this job to earn money to support my family, but now I've become a burden on my family," Ms. Li lamented. The reporter learned from the Lucheng District Cleaning Industry Association that the vast majority of road sanitation workers come from very poor families, and being involved in traffic accidents has truly been a case of adding insult to injury.
According to recent data from Yellow River Cleaning Co., Ltd., nearly 30 sanitation workers are involved in traffic accidents each year while working, with an incident rate approaching 1%. "Many drivers tend to drive fatigued, making every summer a high-risk period for sanitation workers to be involved in traffic accidents. Due to poor visibility and high speed during early morning and night hours, these times also see more frequent accidents," explained General Manager Huang Chen of the company.
A staff member of the Municipal Sanitation Department introduced that the working hours for road sanitation workers are from 4:30 AM to 11:30 PM. During work hours, they perform three routine sweeps of the road and carry out cleaning duties throughout the day. "Frequent crossing of roads is one reason why sanitation workers frequently encounter traffic accidents. Additionally, most current sanitation workers are older individuals whose reaction capabilities to emergencies do not match those of younger people."
Huang Chen said, "Every little effort we make could provide sanitation workers with a safer working environment. Drivers should cultivate an awareness of caring for sanitation workers and abide by traffic regulations; citizens should avoid throwing garbage in the middle of the road to reduce the number of times sanitation workers need to cross the road."
"Currently, insurance has been purchased for each employee. Our sanitation workers work very hard, and we cannot let them sweat and bleed at the same time," said Huang Chen.
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Sanitation Work Has Become a High-Risk Profession
In an article titled "Do Not Let 'Angels of the Road' Cry Again" published in the magazine "Half-Monthly Talks," it is pointed out that sanitation workers face increasing troubles: threats from traffic accidents, harm from toxic gases, and even discrimination from society, as mentioned in the blog of zzf000zxyr2. Furthermore, there are repeated encounters with institutional voids regarding work injury recognition and wage improvement.
Professor Sun Ping of Northeastern University's Department of Administrative Management said that the sanitation industry has currently become a high-risk profession, and relevant departments should consider purchasing personal insurance for the workers. Moreover, developed countries generally use motor vehicles to clean street sanitation, which eliminates safety hazards and beautifies urban appearances. Although China may not immediately be able to eliminate manual cleaning, greater investment should be made to gradually replace manual labor with motor vehicles, which would be a fundamental solution.
Representative Ma Ruixue of the Shenyang Municipal People's Congress believes that maintaining urban hygiene by citizens is key to reducing sanitation worker accidents. Pedestrians and vehicles should not discard garbage indiscriminately, reducing the amount of garbage on the road. This will not only decrease the workload of sanitation workers but also lower the risk coefficient when they work. People must not have the mentality of "they get paid, so they should do this." Instead, we should genuinely respect our sanitation workers.
Reported by Huang Wei (Source: Wenzhou Business Daily)