Union calls for body cams for refuse workers

Refuse workers and street cleaners should be equipped with body cameras to protect them from escalating verbal and physical attacks, GMB Congress has demanded.

The union passed the motion today, arguing that body cams would act as a deterrent to would-be aggressors and provide an indisputable record of any incident — supporting complaints, disciplinaries, and personal injury claims.

GMB delegate David Chatterton, a Luton-based refuse worker, told Congress that daily aggression had become a grim reality for workers in the sector. He described witnessing a colleague chased and threatened with a hammer.

Chatterton highlighted the particular vulnerability of street cleaners, who frequently work alone and have no means of recording attacks when they occur.

‘Anyone who attacks the hardworking people who keep our streets clean cannot act with impunity,’ he told delegates.

Body cameras are already widely used by other public-facing workers across the UK.

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