Chennai Corporation workers continue to work with no appropriate safety gear

Chennai Corporation workers lack proper safety gear while cleaning drains, but new measures for PPE kits are approved.

Conservancy workers of Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) still use cloth gloves instead of latex ones while cleaning stormwater drains, collecting garbage and spreading bleach on roadsides.

Recently, on Anna Salai, two workers were sharing one pair of gloves while cleaning stormwater drains. “No boots were provided since we do not get into the drains,” said one worker.

Valli, who was assisting the male workers on July 29 on Anna Salai, said: “We are given cloth gloves, but they tear easily. They are uncomfortable. We remove them when they get drenched in wastewater while cleaning silt catch pits, manholes or stormwater drains. We have become used to the itching and hands turning rough. No medical camps to address these issues, have been held in the three years I have worked with the GCC.”

Another temporary worker, Sarada, of Perumbakkam, appointed on that day was not provided any safety gear, including the vest, which is part of the uniform.

Murugan, 50, who was cleaning the drains without boots and a cloth glove in one hand, said that no boots were handed out since they were not standing inside the drains running below the pavements of Anna Salai near P.Orr & Sons. “I share the pair of cloth gloves with another worker. The cloth ones are softer, whereas the latex gloves are not suitable for work. Some of us work bare feet as it is more comfortable,” he said. Murugan was seen removing garbage — plastic, food waste, domestic waste — along with sludge with the equipment and collecting them in plastic bags.

In photographs posted by the Greater Chennai Corporation on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), workers were seen using cloth gloves while collecting garbage, and sprinkling bleach on roadsides with bare hands sans any safety gear.

Higher authorities in the Corporation said that this issue had not been followed up and needed attention.