New York Rural Water Association

It was on the news several weeks ago. A wastewater plant was cited for safety violations. Nothing major- inadequate emergency plan, and insufficient employee training, I believe, but violations still the same. The news story caught my attention for two reasons. One, I was looking for something to write about. The other, was the fact that this was the second or third time this year in my region that a plant was cited for safety violations. It got me thinking about the double-edged sword of safety. We all want to be safe and have a safe plant, but how do we accomplish this? I remember many instances when I was flushing sewer lines and manholes, or draining and cleaning a clarifier, when I asked myself "self, is there a safer way to do this?" I thought, "Maybe I should call OSHA and get some information, but WAIT… Do I really want to put up a red flag and open myself and my plant up to a safety inspection?" That double edged sword. I want to be safe, but those who can help me can also hurt me. What to do? We say, "I'll just use common sense." Common sense tells us we should not enter a manhole or pit or any other confined space alone or without the proper breathing equipment. But how many of you have dropped something in a pit and gone down to retrieve it - alone? My first experience with hydrogen sulfide was while grabbing effluent samples from a collection manhole on a closed sand filter. I got in the manhole and couldn't breathe- couldn't inhale- couldn't exhale. Scared the daylights out of me. I was lucky to get out. I swore that I would never go down there again without someone on top watching me (Except when there was no one available) then I would take a deep breath and hold it while I went down to collect the samples. Smart, huh? So much for common sense. In this era (or error) of one-person operations, it is very easy to find yourself in a safety-violating situation. While the whole confined space thing is a major concern and quite serious, it is just the tip of the iceberg. Have you ever gone swimming at your plant? I have (not at your plant but at mine). Ask me about it sometime. Anyway, picture this; you get to work one cold winter morning, it's just you, everyone else is out plowing snow, you find the overflow weir on your diffused aeration basin is freezing over so you carefully creep over to break it up, when SPLASH!!! Bad day, but it gets worse. Did you know that with diffused air you don't float? You sink. Or, you're breaking ice around your clarifier and a chunk gets wedged in your effluent launder. You climb down to dislodge it, when OOPS, SPLASH!!! In you go. With any amount of luck you can find your way back to the surface where you fell through, that is, of course, as long as you didn't hit your head on the way in. In either scenario, it doesn't matter because no one is there to assist you. Bummer. A bit gruesome, perhaps. An over exaggeration, it can't(won't) happen to me. Don't bet on it. We put ourselves in these situations more than we would like to believe. Thankfully, the consequences are very rarely that dire. Don't push your luck. Don't go it alone.

Back to the double-edged sword. OSHA is not the only source of safety information. Your local fire and rescue department can help in identifying problem areas, as well as, offer training and emergency planning. Or talk to the safety officer at another industry in your area. Ask questions, get information, and stay informed. It is better to be cut by the double-edged sword than to be stabbed by the very thing you are trying to avoid.