Glass shard in garbage cuts WAMCO worker’s hand, severing nerve

A glass shard in garbage bags a young employee of Waste Management Corporation (WAMCO) collected from a residence in Male’ City cut through a nerve in his hand on Wednesday, leaving him in need of surgery to repair the damage.

The WAMCO worker, a 24-year-old Maldivian male, sustained the injury at approximately 11:00 pm on Wednesday.

His wife posted on Facebook that the glass shard cut the young man’s left hand, severing a nerve.

She said that he requires surgery to remove the severed nerve.

“A glass shard cut his hand, severing a nerve. He requires surgery to remove the nerve. There’s no other way to stitch the area,” she said.

She expressed concern over such careless disposal of glass shards.

“Everyone must agree that being careless and putting items such as glass shards inside [garbage bags] may pose a great danger. We must understand that WAMCO workers are also human,” she said.

A family member told Sun the young man is currently under surgery at Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

Photos shared by the family show he sustained a deep cut near the palm of his left hand, leaving his severed nerve visible.

WAMCO confirms the injury.

WAMCO’s General Manager for Business Development, Ismail Ubaid told Sun that their workers take safety measures, and are provided gloves.

Ubaid said that its was a sad incident, urged people to ensure dangerous waste such as glass shards are safely packed.

“We have previously also appealed to have items such as glass properly packed when putting out garbage. The public needs to pay extra attention to this. The public must understand that a second party will be handling the garbage they put out,” he said.

Though not commonplace, unsafe disposal of such dangerous items have resulted in injuries to WAMCO workers in the past. A worker sustained a hand injury in suburban Hulhumale’ on May 10. However, WAMCO said the injury was minor.