Wastewater treatment plants need safety measures in place

OSHA cites NY contractors for safety violations at Canastota Wastewater Treatment Plant

SYRACUSE, NY – Serious workplace safety violations were found in connection with the September 2013 explosion at the Canastota Wastewater Treatment Plant that killed one worker and injured another.

Chemical gases and fumes pose health
risks at wastewater treatment plants.

Joy Process Mechanical Inc. of East Syracuse and M. Hubbard Construction Inc. of Mottville were hired by the plant to replace piping inside a methane gas dome, a confined space.

The Joy Process Mechanical worker was welding inside the dome when the explosion occurred, burning him and a Hubbard Construction worker who was standing atop a stepladder opening to the confined space.

"This tragedy could have been prevented had basic safety precautions been implemented," said Christopher Adams, OSHA's area director in Syracuse. "Confined spaces and hazardous atmospheres pose dangerous risks to workers. Employers must provide the equipment and safeguards that prevent workers from getting hurt."

Investigators from OSHA's Syracuse Area Office found that both employers failed to ensure safeguards and to train workers on the hazards associated with methane gas and confined spaces. Workers were not provided with a meter to measure the presence of combustible gas.

The confined space also lacked adequate ventilation and a retrieval system for swift exits in an emergency. Hubbard Construction was also cited for ladder misuse and for using electrical equipment that had not been rated safe in a hazardous atmosphere.

As a result, Joy Process Mechanical was issued three serious citations with $14,700 in proposed fines. Hubbard Construction was issued seven serious citations with $31,020 in fines. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.

Source: OSHA

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City wastewater system caused smell that plagues residents

(Florida) The residents of Paradise Island mobile home park have smelled it. But they did not cause it. That was what a $60,700 study concluded, settling once and for all a yearslong disagreement between Paradise Island park manager Nancy Perry and Largo City Manager Mac Craig over who's to blame for the funky smell that periodically blankets the 828-unit park.

The study, summarized last week for the City Commission, puts the blame on the city's wastewater system. Which is what Perry has been saying for two years.

"Do I feel vindicated? Yes, I do," Perry said. "I pinpointed the problem. And I feel very good about that."
When Perry first complained in 2010, Craig told her the problem had to be in Paradise Island's private lines because Largo spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on odor control for its wastewater system. The odor control works by neutralizing the chemical that causes sewage stink: hydrogen sulfide.

Staff from Webster Environmental Associates, a Louisville, Ky., company that specializes in odor control, still found high levels of hydrogen sulfide in the city sewer system near Paradise Island, 1001 Starkey Road.
Webster Vice President J.W. "Buz" Rush told commissioners several factors create the high levels of hydrogen sulfide, including a lift station not far from the park. Lift stations are spots where pumps move wastewater through low-lying areas because gravity doesn't do the trick.

"Any time you have a lot of splashing and turbulence," Rush told the commission, "that's when hydrogen sulfide is released."

The city will enact a number of short-term fixes over the next six months that cost about $10,000, said City Engineer Leland Dicus. Among them: trying different odor control chemicals and making design improvements to the city's wastewater system in the area.

City staff will also incorporate the study's findings into more expensive long-term improvements. Largo is making those improvements to its wastewater system already as part of a 2006 consent order from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for violating federal and state regulations.

Dicus did not say, however, whether Largo will reimburse Paradise Island $15,000 Perry says the park spent repairing corrosion in private sewer lines that caused a sinkhole in 2009. Perry says more repairs are needed, and she said her park will spend another $15,000 to $20,000 to fix corrosion caused by hydrogen sulfide from Largo's system.

Craig said he will meet with Perry to discuss a resolution.

"We are willing to work out something that both sides can live with," he wrote in an email.
Perry is happy the city paid for the study and hopes the recommended fixes to the city's sewer lines work.
"We're watching the situation," she said, "as it flows along."

Source: Tampa Bay Times

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