World at work: refuse collectors.

R efuse is collected all around the world. The following collecting methods are mentioned in the literature: bags (plastic and paper), bins (110–150 l), drums (110–210 l), twowheeled containers (80–360 l), and four-wheeled containers (300–1800 l). Over all, the job of a refuse collector can be characterised by frequent lifting, carrying, pushing, and/or pulling of heavy objects. In the Netherlands, most production systems to collect domestic refuse make use of a closed refuse truck with an automatic lifting device to empty two-wheeled containers (fig 1) or four-wheeled containers (fig 2). 3 Only in a few parts of the Netherlands, especially in city areas where households have no space to place a container, are bags collected. In general, the wheeled containers are collected by a team of a truck driver and one or two refuse collectors. Table 1 presents the time spent on the different tasks and activities. An average work day of a refuse collector lasts about 8 hours (range 6–12). A refuse collector of twowheeled containers collects about 11 000 kg of refuse per day, and a refuse collector of four-wheeled containers about 14 000 kg. This is about 500 (22 kg of refuse per container) twowheeled containers and 130 (110 kg of refuse per container) four-wheeled containers each day. In general, a refuse collector pushes and pulls one twowheeled container at a time. Pulling of the two-wheeled container is often done with one hand behind the back. A fourwheeled container is in general transferred by two persons. The work is mainly performed by male employees, although there are also some female employees in the Netherlands. The aerobic power of a refuse collector does not differ from workers without physically demanding tasks. Refuse collectors seem to have larger muscle strength compared to workers without physically demanding tasks. This may be due to a training effect or due to ‘‘a healthy worker selection effect’’.