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Through the webinar, the alliance brought in innovators and government representatives to discuss the safety issues faced by sanitation workers, and various strategies to address them
India
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New Delhi, August 28, 2020:
National Faecal Sludge & Septage Management (NFSSM) Alliance brought together the country’s leading innovators, policy makers and city leaders to deliberate on “Safety and Mechanisation in Urban Sanitation Innovation and Opportunities”, through a webinar last evening. The webinar showcased innovative solutions for improving the safety and well-being of sanitation workers and discussed strategies for replication and scaling them nationally.
The NFSSM Alliance undertook a study on “Mainstreaming Occupational Health and Safety in the FSSM Sector”, that was unveiled on during the webinar by the keynote speaker Dr. K. Rajeswara Rao (IAS), Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog. The study focuses on creating enabling conditions to ensure usage of the Personal protective equipment (PPE) and guidelines on standardizing PPEs keeping in mind needs of sanitation workers. In support of empowering sanitation workers through entrepreneurship, Mr. Rao also highlighted about convergence of multiple central and state government schemes and institutions, like Atal Innovation Mission and Start-up India which support sanitation workers who want to engage in entrepreneurship.
“Most of our safai karamcharis who are losing their lives are doing so in septic tanks in narrow ghettos and colonies of India,” asserted Yogita Swaroop, Managing Director, NSKFDC, Ministry of Social Justice, further highlighting that the government has tried to tackle the problem by addressing infrastructure-related problems and bringing in stronger legal provisions for safety of workers.
Currently, about 70% of urban households in India rely on on-site sanitation options (septic tanks/leach pits). The sanitation workforce associated with desludging operations of these onsite systems is at high risk due to weak implementation of safe operating practices. Even with the enforcement of the Prohibition of employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act (Manual Scavengers Act) 2013 and availability of mechanised systems for desludging, treatment and reuse, cases of sanitation workers’ death due to asphyxiation while cleaning septic tanks continues. In order to enhance safety and welfare of these frontline warriors, there is an urgent need to bring in product and process innovation in urban sanitation.
Elaborating on the study’s findings related to worker safety and PPEs usage in the sanitation sector, Dhawal Patil, Co-Founder of Saniverse Environmental Solutions said, “There are guidelines and SOPs available for safety, but they are not enforced. When it comes to occupational health and safety, there are laws and acts for large scale industries however, they are not applicable to the MSMEs in the sanitation sector. There is a need to review the regulatory framework to strictly enforce SoPs and PPE usage guidelines.”
The risks of not using PPE and coming in contact with faecal waste becomes more prominent while desludging septic tanks in informal settlements with narrow lanes. Since large trucks used for mechanized cleaning cannot enter narrow spaces, sanitation workers are expected to manually clean the tanks. In order to enable safe access for sanitation workers in informal settlements, multiple innovations such as split cesspool vehicles and booster pumps are being deployed. These innovations provide access to either compact machinery or pipes which can be extended across a larger distance to reach the farthest septic tanks.
The discussion also stressed upon the need to enable sanitation workers to control their own livelihood. While there are efforts towards providing access to technology, it is essential to build capacity of these sanitation workers as entrepreneurs.
“The benefits of technology are not reaching the safai karamcharis as their job is limited as workers and are not managing the operations,” remarked Shri Ravi Kumar Narra, National President at The Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce (DICCI). He also elaborated on how DICCI has worked with state governments to develop business models for engaging sanitation workers, ensuring they become contractors, who can further employ desludging operators following strict regulations and SoPs.
The webinar was attended by over 370 participants ranging from national government representatives, city and state officials, practitioners and researchers.
The esteemed panel included Dr. K. Rajeswara Rao, IAS, Additional Secretary, Niti Aayog; Ms. Yogita Swaroop, Managing Direct, NSKFDC, Ministry of Social Justice; Shri Ravi Kumar Narra, National President, DICCI; Shri Dana Kishore, IAS, MD, HMWSSB; Mr. M. Krishna, MD, Kam-Avida; Mr. Rakesh Kasba, Co-Founder, Jalodhbust; Ms. Debisha Sharma, Associate Project Manager, CDD Society; Mr. Dhawal Patil, Co-Founder and Director, Saniverse Environmental Solutions. The webinar was moderated by Prof. Srinivas Chary Vedala, Director, ASCI and Shri. Sasanka Velidandla.
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