Dirtiest job in town has poor cleaning facilities

Health measures  for garbage collectors working for Panama’s Urban and Household Cleaning Authority (AAU) lag behind acceptable norms.

A La Prensa  investigation reveals that while on the one hand pickers do their work in uniforms with socks, and with or without gloves facilities at the collection bases are primitive. At  the Pacific base in the area of ??Curundú  cleaning materials are scarce and there are only two showers with the floor full of mold, three toilets and a washtub. Another base has only a toilet.

AAU, chief Virgil Solis, said the toilet area is supplied with soap, but other items, such as  cleaning alcohol should be bought by the workers. Next month  theybshould get new uniforms, boots, gloves and capes.

The AAU has 800 collectors,  spread over five bases. .

The Director General of Health, Lucas Eduardo Mora, said that taking a shower, rubbing well with antiseptic hand washing gel alcoholado "is the best cleaning process for anyone working with waste. The practice of these measures prevents infectious diseases such as diarrhea and skin allergies, he said.