Urban cleaning agent

 Urban cleaning agent
sanitation agent, collection agent, cleaning agent, sanitation agent, garbage collector
The urban cleaning agent keeps the city and its neighborhoods clean, with increasingly mechanized tools. He carries out his activity outdoors and in contact with the public. Good physical condition is necessary. The ability to work in a team, rigor and compliance with instructions are also essential to ensure your own safety. The employers are municipalities or private cleaning companies.

Professional life
Public and private
The main employers are local authorities such as municipalities and private cleaning companies. The latter are most often under contract with a municipality, a department or a region. In the private sector, interventions with different clients, for sanitation missions for example, require frequent geographical travel within the department, or even beyond.
Employment prospects
The opportunities are not as numerous as one might suppose. At issue: the regrouping of collection circuits, the growth of communities of municipalities, the mechanization of skips. The trend is towards an increase in the number of employees in private companies to the detriment of public jobs.
Career developments
The cleaning agent can progress to the position of cleaning team leader: at the head of a team, he manages the schedules of his agents and the proper execution of the work. Municipalities are increasingly calling on a specialized firm to implement tools for measuring urban cleanliness. The position of urban cleanliness quality controller is a possible development: it verifies the adequacy of the service provided with the content of the specifications.
Beginner's salary
Smic (plus bonuses or compensation linked to working conditions).
Working conditions
Variable hours and various functions
Working hours differ depending on the positions. Its mission may result in restrictions (weekends and public holidays) or time variations due to security requirements: objects across the streets after a storm, for example. Early in the morning, late in the evening, it's time to collect household waste or bulky items. Others are sometimes carried out in 3 x 8 shifts (morning, then evening, then night) such as sorting industrial or urban waste.
Safety in mind
Motorized machines and automatic skips take over from manual cleaning: handling is therefore part of the job. The agent must ensure his safety when, for example, he crosses in front of motorists to collect trash cans from the sidewalks. There are also risks linked to the handling of toxic products requiring strict compliance with safety instructions. Wearing protective equipment (gloves, fluorescent vests
Alone or in a team
The agent works with at least 3 teammates including the driver of the collection truck. But he can also be autonomous by taking care of an area to be cleaned alone (collecting dead leaves, sweeping, mowing
SKILLS
A good physical condition
This job is aimed at those who love movement and working outdoors. Subject to bad weather, most often standing, the agent must also handle loads. He carries out technical cleaning operations by sweeping, washing or removing snow from surfaces. If the tasks evolve with the technicality of the cleaning machines, handling is part of the job and requires good physical condition.
Be quick and vigilant
Bags, trash cans, wheelie bins
Think about your backup
As part of his profession, the agent is exposed to infectious risks generated by waste. This is why he is subject to reinforced medical examinations. Likewise, to avoid accidents with automatic shredders and cuts with collected sharp materials, he must ensure scrupulous compliance with safety instructions. It is preferable to hold a workplace lifeguard certificate.
Nature of the work
Sanitize public spaces
The agent clears sidewalks and public spaces of household or extra-household waste (furniture, household appliances, mattresses
To preserve the environment
At a time of better waste management, the agent contributes to respecting the environment. In addition to driving dump trucks or collecting trash, the agent can also work in a recycling center. On site, he helps sort the garbage that arrives in a dump truck, or he advises and directs individuals, who have come to deposit their garbage themselves, to the appropriate dumpsters (paper, plastic, metal, glass, wood).
Make cities clean
Maintain and clean urban facilities, such as public benches, sidewalks, gutters, graffitied walls, bus shelters, trash cans