ILOILO City – A Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) resolution urged the Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) of the city government to encourage traffic enforcers to wear face masks while on duty.
According to Councilor Candice Magdalane Tupas who sponsored the resolution, air pollution is an occupational hazard for traffic aides.
They could be inhaling air with pollutants such as harmful metals, she said.
Majority of traffic enforcers do not wear masks, observed Tupas.
Citing a study, Tupas said traffic aides are vulnerable to high blood pressure and other respiratory diseases due to pollutants.
The lady councilor also urged the city government to provide medical face masks for the use of traffic aides.
Air pollution levels remain dangerously high in many parts of the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
New data from WHO showed that nine out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants.
WHO estimates that around seven million people die every year from exposure to polluted air.
Ambient air pollution alone caused some 4.2 million deaths in 2016, while household air pollution from cooking with polluting fuels and technologies caused an estimated 3.8 million deaths in the same period, according to WHO./PN
