Prepare for not stopping even if garbage collectors in Tokyo's 23 wards are infected

At the cleaning plant that disposes of garbage in the 23 wards of Tokyo, which is indispensable to the lives of the citizens of Tokyo, a large number of workers were infected by the fifth wave of the new corona last year, and they were forced to absent from work.

Now, as the infection spreads rapidly again, the infection of 6 workers has already been confirmed, and even if more infected people come out than the 5th wave, the factory will not be stopped, so the replacement personnel will be decided in advance and listed. We are making preparations.

In the 23 wards of Tokyo, household waste and general waste from business establishments are incinerated at 21 cleaning factories of the "Tokyo 23 Ward Cleaning Partial Office Association", and the average amount of waste brought in is 8,000 tons per day. Go up to.

According to the "cleaning partial-affairs association," 45 people, including factory workers, were infected in the fifth wave of last year when the infection spread rapidly.

The cluster did not occur due to measures such as wearing protective clothing to prevent the spread of the infection, but the workers who became close contacts had to be absent, and up to eight people were absent a day.

Many factories are automated, but it is said that it will be difficult to operate if more than one-third of the workers are absent at one time in one factory due to equipment control and inspection.

For this reason, the "partial-affairs association" has formulated a "supporter list" for each factory.

Since the method of controlling and inspecting equipment differs depending on the factory, the list shows people who have worked at that factory from the headquarters of other factories and unions, and if there are absentees, they are immediately replenished. I am trying to do it.

In the rapid spread of this infection, as of the 17th, the infection of 6 workers was already confirmed, so the "partial-affairs association" has taken into consideration the infectivity of the Omicron strain and 4 of the 5th wave. We are preparing for the possibility that nearly twice as many infected people will come out.

Even if one factory stops, the collection will not stop immediately because another factory will accept the garbage instead, but if more than half of the factories stop for more than a week, the collection will have to be stopped. It may not be there.

Yo Kodate, general affairs section manager of the "Clean Authority of Tokyo 23 Ward," said, "In the 5th wave, when information does not come immediately from the health center, we make our own judgment and give the worker who has contact with the infected person home. I had them wait. However, if I continued to do so, I was annoyed because there were more and more staff and I couldn't work. It is an indispensable job when the infectious disease spreads to the world, so I would like to think about what I can do at this point and deal with it. "