Jim Kneiszel
The editor of a trade publication makes mistakes. I may misspell a word, get a pumper’s name wrong in a photo caption or even miss a safety violation shown in one of our photos. These things have happened a few times, and they are regrettable. But, fortunately, an editor’s miscue is not a life-or-death mistake.
But for pumpers working on a job site, it’s a different story. You work around heavy equipment, navigate trucks through crowds and work with loads of wastewater that contain all sorts of nasties that can cause serious illness. And transporting sloshing liquid loads to the treatment plant can be a harrowing experience given the inattention of the average motorist on the road these days.
You also bear a huge responsibility to leave work sites safe for homeowners and the public. Tank security is a major issue, and you take it seriously every time you finish pumping or making a repair and prepare to drive away. I know this weighs on the minds of pumpers because I’ve talked to you about the ongoing safety issues that appear frequently in the news.
One such incident happened recently in Frankford, Delaware, where a 1-year-old girl fell into an uncovered septic tank opening at a day care facility. Reading about the incident took me back more than a dozen years to the first time I wrote about one of these cases. Every one of these cases seems preventable, and the neglect of monitoring these systems is obvious.
“It’s a shame it happened. I don’t know how the lid got off, but they did everything they could to help that baby,” a witness, George Lewis, said after the girl fell into the uncovered tank. Miraculously, a day care employee jumped into the tank and saved the girl, and both were unhurt.
“That was a brave young lady who jumped in and got that baby out,” Lewis told Coastal Point. “She said her father had worked around septic systems and she wasn’t scared. She was in just over her head. It’s a slurry of septic. It’s all raw septic.”
The outcome of the Delaware story was better than might be expected. So many more cases like these lead to needlessly lost lives. After I read that story, I did a Google search of the words “septic” and “toddler,” and the list of similar stories is shocking and dismaying.
August 2019, Harlingen, Texas
An 18-month-old girl was running around with other children during a birthday party at a relative’s home when she wandered into the backyard. She fell into an uncovered septic tank and nearly drowned. She was pulled out and hospitalized on life-support systems and slowly recovered.
August 2019, West Perth, Ontario
A 2-year-old girl fell into a septic tank at a trailer park, and her father immediately pulled her out and sprayed her with a garden hose to clean off the wastewater. She was taken to a local hospital for observation and officials cautioned residents to check their septic tank access points.
April 2019, Calion, Arkansas
A 2-year-old boy was playing outside his home when he fell into a septic tank after his mother went into the house for a few minutes. According to media reports, a septic tank opening was covered with cardboard and bricks by the homeowner. The boy was pulled from the tank but died later.
January 2019, Edgewood, Washington
A 2-year-old boy fell into a septic tank and was pulled out by his mother, who got stuck in the tank in the process. Local firefighters were called and coached the boy’s 12-year-old sister over the phone to administer CPR and revive him. It was unclear how long the boy was in the tank, and officials asked residents to check their tank lids.
January 2018, Farmington, New Mexico
A family was visiting relatives to plan a funeral for their mother when the kids went to play in the yard as they always did. Awhile later one of the kids came into the house and said a boy was missing. A 3-year-old boy was apparently jumping on an unsecured septic lid when he fell through and died.
ONE IS TOO MANY
And that was just a few of the most recent incidents where children were harmed or died after falling into septic tanks. These stories are all too common across North America, where we generally have good safety rules and regulations. While we see a handful of these tragedies in the U.S. and Canada, they are seemingly weekly occurrences in third-world countries around the globe.
It’s time we put a stop to these heart-wrenching headlines, and I think the pumping community can play an important role. We should make it our priority in 2020 to focus on education — one homeowner after another — until pumpers never have to respond to a job and find a broken concrete lid or a plastic lid being secured precariously by a few loose screws. The public needs a wake-up call about the dangers of unsecured septic tanks, and we’re the people who can sound the alarm.
Where do we start in a commitment to promoting tank security? Here are a few ideas:
Be vigilant in safety inspections
Never leave a work site without making sure lids are secure, control panels are locked and all potential safety hazards are addressed. If you find damage to any physical barriers to tank entry, mention it to the customer and insist on making a repair. If a homeowner refuses what you see as a necessary safety repair and says they’ll fix a problem later, don’t take no for an answer. Tell the customer you will have to report the safety danger to the local health department immediately and don’t leave an unsecured lid under any circumstances. If it means absorbing the labor cost for the repair, so be it. By taking action, you could prevent a tragedy.
Create a safe work site before you remove a tank lid
When you arrive at a job site, inform the customer to keep all children and pets away from the area where you will be working. Put safety cones or fencing around open tank if needed. Don’t take a break or leave the work site for any period of time while the tank is open. It only takes you turning your back for a moment for tragedy to strike. Limit the time a tank is open and exposed as much as possible. Follow all rules of common sense and the manufacturer’s recommendations for securing lids.
Educate about septic tank safety
Spend five minutes at each appointment reviewing safety concerns with the customer. Make sure they understand the importance of frequent inspection of septic tank access points between your visits. Tell them to avoid driving over tank lids and to discourage kids from playing around the septic system. Tell them about additional safety products, such as nets that can be installed between the lid and the open tank to provide further security. Have these products available, and offer them for sale.
Go beyond the customer with your education efforts. Offer to speak to landlords, tenant groups, homeowners’ associations and Realtors about general septic system maintenance and tank safety. Write about the dangers of damaged lids or open tanks on your website, in your advertising and on social media. Constantly stress the importance of safety with everyone you meet.
SAFETY IS JOB NO. 1
Part of being a wastewater professional is ensuring the safety of your customers and the general public. We need to treat these frequent incidents involving children falling into tanks as a public health crisis and do everything in our power to put a stop to them. Pumpers are working on the front lines every day and are acutely aware of the issue, and it’s incumbent on us to raise awareness that is obviously lacking in the general community.
