If you are managing a sewage treatment facility, then you will know that it is fraught with potential risk. This is par for the course when you work in an industrial facility, but of course there is the added factor of the sewage itself, which can present a health hazard if it is not dealt with in the right way.
As you know, the potential consequences of any incident occurring within your sewage treatment facility can be huge. If you are proven to be running an unsafe business, then you could be shut down on the spot.
Therefore, it is vital that you follow the relevant safety regulations for the industry, and have a healthy dose of common sense. Staying safe within a treatment works doesn’t have to be rocket science: it just requires you and your employees to be smart with how you go about your business.
To help you stay safe within a sewage treatment facility, here are a few useful tips.
Use the latest approved equipment
As with any industrial facility, you need to ensure that your organization is using the latest approved equipment throughout, in order to reduce the risk of any of it malfunctioning.
While it might seem like a smart cost-cutting measure to use old equipment, this is almost always a false economy. What starts out as a cost-saving measure will end up risking the health of your entire enterprise if it fails or doesn’t function as effectively as the latest examples.
Therefore, make sure every item (including your centrifugal blower) is fully up to the latest safety and functionality standards, and replace them if they aren’t.
Wear safety gear at all times
You and your team should also be wearing the correct health and safety equipment at all times while working in the sewage treatment facility in order to minimize the severity of injury caused by an accident.
Not only does this protect you and your staff, but it will protect you in the event of a staff member pursuing legal action off the back of an injury sustained in the facility.
You should instill the wearing of this safety gear into the very fabric of your workflows (training each member of staff to take their personal safety more seriously).
Make sure all catwalks and other dangerous areas are safe – Sewage treatment facility
A sewage treatment works is rife with dangerous features; one of which is the many catwalks that are used to cross the water that is being treated.
It goes without saying that to fall in the water would be highly dangerous, especially given the toxic nature of it.
Therefore, you should ensure all catwalks are inspected by a health and safety professional, and that there are proper guardrails in place to prevent any falls.
Have strict hygiene standards
Last but certainly not least, you need to ensure that strict hygiene standards are upheld throughout the sewage treatment facility.
When you are dealing with a liquid as toxic as sewage, you need to ensure that germs are not being spread around the workforce.
Therefore, train your team to uphold the proper hygiene standards, and conduct regular inspections to ensure they are being adhered to.