Sanitation workers provide an essential public service that all too often comes at the cost of the health, safety and dignity of those same workers. ‘Sanitation work’ includes emptying toilets, pits and septic tanks; entering manholes and sewers to fix or unblock them; transporting faecal waste; working treatment plants; as well as cleaning public toilets or defecation around homes and businesses.

Sanitation workers are some of the most vulnerable workers. Their jobs often exist in an informal economy without basic labour protections or rights. They remain invisible, unquantified, neglected and ostracised – facing conditions that expose them to debilitating infections, injuries, stigma and even death from toxic gases and pit collapses. These are not isolated incidents - they are part of a systemic problem.

Many more workers are needed to achieve the ambitious SDG agenda. Workers need to be recognized; have freedom and support to organize, and have formalized, safe and decent working conditions as called for by SDG 8.

Discover more at the sanitation workers learning hub.