Garima Ao Rees 8 eel ell Core Sanitation Workers For protection & welfare of Core Sanitation Workers dealing with faecal matter in toilets / septic tank/ sewer and treatment facilities Government of Odisha Housing & Urban Development DepartmentGovernment of Odisha Housing & Urban Development Department FOR SAFETY & DIGNITY OF CORE SANITATION WORKERS chs garima TRANSFORMING THE LIVES OF CORE SANITATION WORKERS: To ensure protection & welfare of Core Sanitation Workers dealing with faecal matter in toilets / septic tank/ sewer and treatment facilitieseek eN zeae ane 2s Contents Rationale Definitions Scope Expected Outcomes: Key Components 5.1. Ensuring safety in service delivery system 5.2. Setting up of "Emergency Response Sanitation Unit (ERSU)" 5.3. Services in Confined Spaces 5.4. Provision for PPE & Safety Devices 5.5. Provision for appropriate Cleaning Devices 5.6. Assured Mi um Wages 5.7. Risk & Hardship allowance 5.8. Health Insurance 5.9. Life Insurance 5.10. Disability Support 5.11. Reduced working hours 5.12, Health and Safety 5.13. Illness allowance 5.14. EPF 5.15. Issue of Caste Certificate 5.16. Retirement Benefit 5.17. Post Service benefit 5.18. Other benefits ‘Survey for identification of core sanitation workers, Registration of PSSO Orientation of core sanitation worker Periodic Capacity Building Skill Development App based grievance monitoring System o1 01 04 04 05 05 05 05 05 05 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 o7 o7 o7 08 08 08 08 08 09 09 09 0912. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21 22, 23, 24, Social Security benefits 12.1 Pucca house 12.2 Mobility support 12.3 Mobile Support 12.4 Education of children 12.5 Empowerment of women members of the family 12.6 Individual Entrepreneurship Corpus Fund Enforcement Providing citizen centric services Institutional arrangement 16.1. Constitution of the “State Commission for Prohibitation of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation” 16.2. State level Steering Committee 16.3. State Implementation & Review Committee (SIRC) 16.4. District level Coordination Committee 16.5. ULB Level Committee Responsibilities of the Technical Support Unit (TSU) Responsibility of the Urban Local Body Responsibility of Private Sanitation Service Organisations Responsibility of Sanitation Service Seekers IEC and BCC MIS for the Scheme Budget & Fiscal Monitoring Role and Responsibilities of Departments 09 09 09 09 09 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 "1 12 12 13, 13 14 14 14 14 15 15‘Scheme for Safety and Dignity of Core Sanitation Workers This Scheme is introduced to ensure that core sanitation services undertaken in urban areas of Odisha is done in a safe and dignified manner and shall come into force from the date of its notification and continue until further orders. The Scheme will be implemented by the Housing & Urban Development Department through the 114 Urban Local Bodies of Odisha. 1. Rationale : The use of technology, as well as the demand & supply for core sanitation services are increasing exponentially which has augmented activities to safeguard the environment and provide a liveable habitat. Various types of services provided under it are hazardous in nature — some are moderately hazardous while many of them are extremely hazardous. Consequently, there is an urgent need to ensure dignity, safety and providing suitable working conditions for the core sanitation workers who are the bedrock for delivery of sanitation services with all updated resources for the purpose. Core sanitation workers are one of the most marginalized and excluded population for which their protection and upliftment is critical to ensure inclusive and equitable growth. Atpresent, core sanitation services get delivered in various forms / modes — formal delivery through Governmental institutions or through Service Providers contracted by Urban Local Bodies and also by unregulated, informal service providers. The ULB's active engagement for regulating core sanitation sector is critical to ensure providing sustained and safe sanitation. 2. Definitions Inthis scheme, unless the context otherwise requires,- (1) “Act” meansthe Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013; (2) “Agency” means any agency, other than Urban Local Body, which may undertake sanitation facilities in an area and includes a contractor or a firm or a company which engages in development, operation & maintenance of sanitation services; (3) “Certified core sanitation worker” means any core sanitation worker having completed the required number of hours of training as prescribed by the National Skill Development Corporation; (4) “Commissioner or Executive Officer” means administrative head of a Municipal Corporation or Municipality ora NAC; (5) “Cleaning device” means any device including, but not limited to, the equipment referred to in rule 5 of the Rules; wot(8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) “Community toilet (CT)” means a shared facility of toilet blocks which are used primarily in low-income and/or informal settlements or slums, where space and/or land are constraint in providing a household toilet and are used, owned and maintained by community members or Urban Local Body; “Confined space” means a space which contains or has a potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere or material that has the potential for engulfing an entrant or has an internal configuration such that an entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls or by a floor which slopes downward and tapers to a smaller cross section or contains any other serious safety or health hazard; “Core Sanitation work” means and includes services involving (i) desludging of onsite sanitation systems (ii) maintenance of sewerage network (ii) cleaning of drain (iv) operation and maintenance of Sewage Treatment Plants or Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants and (v) cleaning, operation and maintenance of public and community toilets, “Core Sanitation Worker” means any person engaged in or employed for any core sanitation work other than domestic work by the Urban Local Body or outsources agency for at least a period of 50 days in a financial year and registered in the concerned Urban Local Body or engaged through a PSSO; “Desludging” means the operation of removing sludge from septic or digestion tanks or pit latrines or any other primary treatment unit; “Drain cleaning” means cleaning of covered or uncovered channels or ditches through which wastewater and storm water flows; “Emergency Response Sanitation Unit (ERSU)” means a unit set up in an Urban Local Body to ensure that no person, Urban Local Body or any agency engages or employs, either directly or indirectly, any person for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or septic tank as required under provisions of section 7 of the Act; “Enumerator” means any person engaged by the Government or Urban Local Body for the purpose of survey or verification of core sanitation workers; “Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant’ means a faecal sludge and septage treatment facility for remediating the solid and liquid components to the prescribed standards for safe disposal and reuse; “FSTP/STP technicians” means the sanitation professionals employed either by Urban Local Body or Government or private agencies for treatment of faecal sludge and septage for remediating the solid and liquid components to prescribed standards for safe disposal and reuse; Wo2(16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) “Government” means the Government of Odisha in Housing & Urban Development Department; “Hazardous cleaning” means cleaning by any core sanitation worker in relation to sewer or septic tank manually without appropriate protective gear and other cleaning devices and without observance of safety precautions, as may be prescribed or provided under the Act or in any other law for the time being in force orthe Rules made thereunder; “Manual scavenger” means any person engaged or employed by an individual or Urban Local Body or an agency or a service provider for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track or in such other spaces or premises; “Prescribed” means prescribed by the Rules made under the Act; “Private Sanitation Service Organizations (PSSO)” means any private organization empanelled or licensed by respective Urban Local Bodies to provide an assured number of core sanitation workers; “Protective gear” means personal protective gear that are to be provided, worn or used by core sanitation workers while performing sanitation work including and not limited to the materials referred to in rule 4 of the Rules; “Responsible Sanitation Authority(RSA)” means the officials of an Urban Local Body designated as such by Government to discharge duties and responsibilities relating to the Emergency Response Sanitation Unit; “Rules” means the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavenger and their Rehabilitation Rules, 2013"; “Safety precaution” shall include, butnot limited to, the precautions referred to in rule 6 of the Rules and are all steps necessary to reduce the risk, avoid acquiring or exposure to diseases, injuries to the core sanitation workers; “Sanitation cell” means a cell established in an Urban Local Body to monitor various matters pertaining to core sanitation services under the scheme; “Sanitation service seeker” means an individual or institution seeking sanitation services from Urban Local Body or Private Sanitation Service Organisations (PSSO) to undertake a sanitation work including cleaning / maintenance of Community Toilets / Public Toilets , septic tank, STP / FSTP, sewer and open drainage system etc.; “Scheduled employment” means an employment specified in the schedule, or any process or branch of work forming part of such employment as defined under clause (g) of section 2 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948; 03(28) "Septic tank” means a water-tight settling tank or chamber, normally located underground, which is used to collect and hold human excreta, allowing it to decompose through microbial activity; (29) “Sewage” means the wastewater containing human body waste matter (faeces and urine etc), either dissolved or undissolved, discharged from toilets and other receptacles intended to receive or retain such human body wastes and includes the effluent coming out of septic tanks or any such facility; (30) “Sewage Treatment Plant (STP)” means a facility where the process of treating sewage taken up with dedicated infrastructure, to remove as much solid, liquid and gaseous contaminants as possible, which produces liquid suitable for disposal to the natural environmentand sludge; (31) “Sewerage System” means the underground conduit network of sewer appurtenances intended for collection and conveyance of sewage generated from each of the properties to a sewage pumping station for pumping to sewage treatment plant for treatment and disposal; (32) “Sewer Entry Professional(SEP)” meanscore sanitation workers, those who have been traditionally employed as core sanitation workers, registered with the Urban Local Body or PSSO, comprehensively trained on their job , safety and security measures so that they do not risk their lives during regulated cleaning of sewer or septic tanks; (33) “Urban Local Body (ULB)” means the Municipal Corporations constituted under the Municipal Corporation Act 2003 and Municipality and Notified Area Council constituted under the Odisha Municipal Act, 1950; 3. Scope: Primary focus of the scheme will be to create and regulate safe working conditions, social security and benefit measures for the core sanitation workers and their family members. 4. Expected Outcomes: This Scheme aims at achieving the following in the ULBs of Odisha: (1) Constitution of State Commission for core sanitation workers; (2) Develop institutional and regulatory framework; (3) Creation of “Corpus Funds” for extending financial support in social security measures for the core sanitation workers; (4) Provisioning for “Risk and hardship allowance"; (5) Decentwages; (6) Identification, registration of core sanitation workers and creation of database; 04(7) Zero fatality and accident-free work environment; (8) Formalized, skilled and protected workforce to deliver and perform with safely managed sanitation services with dignity; (9) Social security and benefits for core sanitation workers; (10) Enforcement of statutory provisions; (11) Robust monitoring system; (12) Increased accountability and responsibility of the stakeholders, service seekers and service providers; 5, Key Components The Scheme focuses on following components to ensure improvement in sanitation services: [A] TECHNICAL MODALITIES 5.1. Ensuring safety in service delivery system In order to ensure safety and quality in core sanitation services, the individual / PSSO shall be registered with the ULB who will only be authorised to render such services with the help of certified core sanitation workers under the supervision of ULB/PSSO. 5.2. Setting up of “Emergency Response Sanitation Unit (ERSU)” The Emergency Response Sanitation Unit (ERSU) shall be set up in each ULB headed by Responsible Sanitation Authority (RSA) [Commissioners / Executive Officers / Authorised Officers] who will be responsible for timely and safe delivery of sanitation services and protect the core sanitation workers from hazards. 5.3. Servicesin Confined Spaces Delivery of services in confided spaces shall be strictly monitored in terms of provisions contained under the Rules. 5.4. Provision for PPE & Safety Devices The primary line of defence for safety and security being the PPE & safety devices the same as spelt out under rule 4 of the Rules shall be procured and supplied by the ULB/ PSSO to the core sanitation workers concerned and proper use of the same must be ensured 5.5. _ Provision for appropriate Cleaning Devices Cleaning devices as stipulated under rule 5 of the Rules but not limited to require from time to time shall be made available by the ULB / PSSO to the core sanitation workers for rendering safe and qualitative sanitation services. 05[B] SERVICE BENEFITS 5.6. 5.7. 5.8. 5.9. 5.10. 5.11. 5.12. Assured Minimum Wages Core sanitation work should be considered in high skilled and skilled category and as a special category on scheduled employment by the Government. Minimum wages shall be paid timely and in accordance with the revised category. Risk & Hardship allowance Asuitable fixed percentage of monthly remuneration shall be earmarked as risk and hardship allowance in recognition of hazardous and arduous nature of work assigned to the core sanitation workers. Health Insurance Exposure to everyday hazardous situation entails them as well as their family members to be protected against any health hazards for which health insurance preferably under Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana be covered, if any premium, needs to be provided for them, the said premium shall be borne by the ULB from the Corpus Fund. Life Insurance Providing day to day services in sanitation sector which has been categorised as an essential service and without which the environment is prone to unsafe and unsecured maladies for which the said core sanitation warriors should be covered under appropriate life insurance, premium of which shall be borne by the ULBs from the Corpus Fund. Disability Support Core sanitation workers are prone to injuries and infections which may lead to partial and permanent disability which shall be compensated through ex-graita payment by the ULB / State from the corpus fund Reduced working hours While on the job, as the core sanitation worker is exposed to tiresome, hazardous and risky nature of work threatening their health and safety the normal working hours shall be reduced to six hours per day. The workers are entitled to get full wages even if the working hour is reduced to six hours in consonance with the provisions of section 15 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.This will invigorate worker to work with energy without compromising on the long term health of the workers. Health and Safety (1) Periodic Health Check-up N06The ULBs/ PSSOs are mandated to provide periodic health check-up of core sanitation workers and their family members to ensure normal health condition and to take up remedial measures immediately, if adverse conditions found. The time spent by workers to undergo health check-up should be treated as working hours. (2) Treatment 5.13. 5.14. 5.15. Any treatment required, the worker shall be covered under the respective health insurance scheme. In case any disease or aspect is not covered under the health insurance, Government may consider for appropriate measures to reimburse the admissible expenditure. Iness allowance In case any core sanitation worker is unable to attend duty fora period as may be certified by the physician concemed and allowed by the ULB due to injury / illness, etc. for such period of leave / authorised absence from duty as the case may be; (1) When in Regular service establishments — The ULB shall pay the emoluments for the leave period. In the circumstances, When no leave is due and admissible, leading to no pay, such deficit and admissible amount may be drawn from the Corpus Fund. (2) When in contractual engagement The period of authorised absence from duty for the injury /illness etc. of the core sanitation worker shall be borne by the ULB from the Corpus Fund. (3) When outsourced— The period of absence from duty for the injury /illness etc. of the core sanitation worker shall be informed to ULB by PSSO before availing such leave and emolument for the certified period shall be borne by the ULB from the Corpus Fund. EPF Employees’ Provident Fund as would be applicable in tune with the statutory provisions contained under the Employees’ Provident Funds Act, 1952 (19 of 1952), shall be extended to the eligible sanitation workers.The workers shall also be covered under the Employees’ State Insurance Act,1948 as per the applicability. Issue of Caste Certificate Special Drive shall be made for issue of Caste Certificate in respect of the core sanitation workers in consultation with the ST &SC Development, Minorities ov