When I saw this piece online I was horrified and felt physically ill.

The story is about Barton, a garbage collector, who unfortunately had to manually empty the wheelie bins from a medical clinic.

In the process:

“an improperly secured bin spilled up to two litres of medical waste – including blood, human biopsies and chemotherapy chemicals – over Mr Wallis as he tried to lift it onto the truck.”

Horrifying!

Worse still – Barton swallowed some of the waste.

What a horrible horrible situation to find yourself in. This poor man.

This is the stuff of nightmares.

As someone working every day in this industry and fully aware of the dangers biohazards pose, I am horrified this incident could have occured.  I’m not surprised at all Barton is reporting “depression, anxiety and mood swings.” I can’t imagine the horrors and fears that would be charging through his mind.

No matter what the role – especially emptying clinical waste – employers must provide basic safe working conditions.