Equipment used for manual street sweepings
Equipment used for manual street sweepings are; brooms, shovels, and containers. These are described in the following sections:
11.5.1 Brooms
Instead of using short handled brooms which require bending of the body while at work, causes fatigue to the workforce and causes back pain in the long run, the workforce may be advised to use long handled brooms, which will not require bending, reduce fatigue and increase their productivity. In cities where a broom allowance is given, or only broom sticks are provided to sweepers, they may be persuaded that long handled brooms may be used or made by them for street sweeping. While making such brooms, a metal blade which can scrape the material sticking on the street should be fixed on the top of the broom, or a separate metal scraper may be given to the sweepers, to remove sticky material from the street while sweeping. There is no yardstick about the number of brooms to be given to sweepers per month. In some cities three brooms per month are given, whereas in other cities only one broom is given per quarter of a year. One long handled broom per month is considered to be adequate for street sweeping. The bamboo (long handle) to which the broom is attached need not be given once a month as it has a long life. The same bamboo should be reused while making the broom. The bamboo may be replaced as and when required. It could be once in six months or once a year depending upon the local conditions of the city.
Delhi Model Broom, as shown in Fig. 11.1 is being extensively used in large cities and towns. General specifications of Delhi model broom are: Length of the broom 80-85 cm Weight of the broom 1 kg Binding material 20 gauge MS sheet ring having width of 1.5-2 cm Handle of the broom Bamboo of 135 cm length, 3-4 cm dia Weight of the bamboo handle 900 gm (approximately) The bamboo sticks should be free from ruts, insects and of good quality.
The handle of the broom should be solid and smooth in texture and free from insects. The bamboo should have a pointed edge on one end for proper fixing with the broom.
11.5.2 Shovels
The function of the broom is to gather the street wastes into small heaps, which then have to be picked up completely, and placed in a receptacle. The conventional tool for this purpose is a large straight-blade shovel. However, when the wastes comprise large quantities of very light materials such as leaves, a shovel is ineffective because dried leaves fall of or are blown away during transfer. A good solution to this problem is to use a pair of flat boards, usually plywood, between which the wastes are retained by hand-pressure. A typical design of hand shovel with specification is given at Fig. 11.2.
11.5.3 Container for Transfer of Sweepings
Various types of containers are used by the sweepers engaged in street sweepings for facilitating easy transfer of street-sweepings from the streets into the handcarts. Containers, which are normally used, made up of Cane, Bamboo, Plastic, Low Density Plastic (LDP), Metal or Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP).
While selecting a particular type of container, economic consideration must be given keeping in view the life of the container. A general description of alternative containers for sweepers is given in Table 11.2.
Table 11.2 : General Description of Alternative Containers for Sweepers
Cane basket
Bamboo basket
Other material bin
Plan cross section shape Circular Circular Square
Top dimension (diameter or side) (mm) 440 450 450
Bottom dimension (mm) 380 350 300
Height (mm) 360 350 500
Weight (kg) 4 1.5 4
Capacity (litres) 25-40 25-40 25-40
