BURNOUT AND STRESS AMONG THE SANITARY WORKERS

Dear Editor – in -Chief

 Sanitary workers are the ones who contribute directly towards the cleanliness of the society and it is their routine work to be assigned and monitored by their supervisors. The social structure and social stigma in the community deny human dignity to the sanitary workers by ill-treating them as untouchables, not responding to them while they try to communicate, also by not sticking to the guidelines to segregate degradable and nondegradable wastes and not respecting them in public. In this regard Degavi, G. et al. (2021) indicated that it is essential to implement basic occupational health services, such as the use of personal protective equipment and regulating the activities of solid waste collectors. Furthermore, approximately seventy-five percent of the participants demonstrated a solid understanding of how to prevent occupational health hazards (1) Sanitation workers in Tirunelveli, like many others across the globe, they endure significant physical and mental strains daily. The nature of their job exposes them to harmful hazardous conditions, including exposure to chemicals, pathogens, and physical strain from heavy lifting and repetitive tasks. These conditions can lead to various health issues, including respiratory problems, skin diseases, and musculoskeletal injuries. (2) The previous research longitudinal study was conducted to assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on community chemists. Age and gender are not connected with post-traumatic stress, burnout symptoms, or psychological issues among health care employees. (3) The research aimed to assess the health status and determine the risk factors among street sweepers and sanitary workers. Results revealed that a considerable proportion of these individuals encountered musculoskeletal problems, followed by respiratory and ophthalmic issues. Furthermore, the study underscored inadequate utilization of personal protective gear and healthcare facilities within this population. (4) The French health care workers frequently experienced post traumatic disorder at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. A proportion of the participants reported moderate to severe burn out symptoms they found substantial consequences of the level of exposure to COVID-19 on emotional symptoms. (5) Workers in the Sanitation and waste management industries perform vital services to the cities, so statutory precautions must be taken to maintain their safety while they work in environments that raise their risk of developing numerous illness and accidents, COVID-19. The infrastructure is also insufficient to facilitate preventive actions (6) Previous study relied on Quantitative and empirically based descriptive research was used for these studies. The outcome of the study found that the majority of the respondents describe that, heavy workload cause tiredness, disturbance in sleeping, weight loss, body and joint pain, stress, hypertension, and cardiovascular disorders. (7) Purpose of this study to Investigate the specific factors contributing to increased burnout and stress levels, such as increased workload, fear of infection, lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), and emotional strain. All the sanitary workers working in the Vilar and Nanjikkottai Panchayat of Thanjavur District, Tamil Nâdu are included in the study. There are a total of 46 sanitary workers here and all the Research formulation were interviewed for this data Collection. The Researcher adopted descriptive research Design and Census method for sampling. The Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen) The ProQOL scale developed by Stamm B.H (2009 was used by the Researcher for the data-collection along with the additional data related to Personal and family details. The result showed that the Chi-square test also reveals that the age and the burnout level (P >0.026) of the respondent have no significant relationship, however the table shows that the age between 41 to 50 years of age have moderately high level of burnout comparing to other respondent falling under other age categories. The Chi-square (x2 =9.2940) test suggests that there is an association between age and burnout.