Violations at sewage plant lead to fines
The state Department of Labor and Industries on Friday fined the city of Spokane $66,600 for 16 violations of worker safety uncovered following an explosion last May that killed one worker and injured three others at the city’s sewage treatment plant.
Twelve of the 16 violations carry fines ranging from $11,000 to $600.
The L&I investigation focuses on a string of lapses arising from installation of new processing equipment at the plant, and a lack of training in how to operate the equipment. In addition, investigators found inadequate directional markings on pipe valves that controlled sewage flow.
The investigation did not identify a cause of the accident, but it uncovered failures in the overall supervision of the plant. The fines fall in the middle range of L&I penalties.
Maintenance mechanic Mike Cmos Jr. was killed when a sewage sludge “digester” overfilled and began spilling its slurry-like contents on May 10. Workers reportedly scrambled to reverse the tank flow in the minutes leading up to the accident.
Cmos had gone onto the roof to contain the spill when the roof violently separated from the tank walls and collapsed back into the tank’s nearly 2 million gallons of warmed sludge. His body was recovered near the bottom of the tank two days later, after much of the remaining contents had been removed.
“I am troubled by the whole thing,” said Joe Cavanaugh, president of Local 270, the labor union that represents workers at the plant. “It’s astounding to me there were that many things wrong that hadn’t been dealt with.” He called the safety lapses “unacceptable.”
Cavanaugh said it appears the city installed a new processing system without bringing all of the plant workers “up to speed on how to operate it safely.”
The $11,000 violation stemmed from a finding that the city had failed to maintain current and accurate operating procedures even though investigators had cited the city for a similar problem in 2003. City officials said the 2003 violation arose from problems uncovered in a system used to add chlorine as a disinfectant to city drinking water.
“Written procedures and practices were not updated when piping changes made such updates necessary,” investigators said.
Mayor Jim West last week reiterated an earlier pledge to get to the bottom of the problems to ensure another accident never happens.
“We are going to make the changes we need to make it a safer work place,” Marlene Feist, the city’s public affairs officer, said on Friday.
Labor and Industries Director Paul Trause said in a press release that the city had cooperated with investigators and appeared intent on improving worker safety.
Cavanaugh said he believes that the mayor is sincere in his pledge.
But Cavanaugh said he and other workers still expect the city to provide a clear explanation of what caused the accident, or it risks another one.
City officials said they are awaiting a final report from a city-financed investigation by Exponent Failure Analysis Associates of Menlo Park, Calif. The accident is believed to be the only one of its kind ever in the country.
West last week said there has been no evidence of gross negligence on the part of anyone involved in the plant operation. He has appointed a citizen oversight panel to review the investigative information. Plant officials have said the cause was likely a series of problems rather than one single failure.
“There’s no smoking gun, necessarily, on this. There is going to need to be more information on that,” Cavanaugh said.
Workers at the plant reported having problems processing sludge for more than a year because of installation of a new component called a “gravity belt thickener.” The system was designed to improve efficiency as part of a series of upgrades intended to meet state and federal requirements to improve the quality of water effluent from the plant.
The new component caused sludge to be thicker and heavier, and thus, more difficult to pump and to heat for processing. The sludge is warmed to about 100 degrees and “digested” by anaerobic bacteria into a safe fertilizer byproduct. The digesting process gives off volatile methane gas, itself an industrial hazard, which is recaptured and used as an energy source at the plant.
Employees said that prior to the accident the digestion process in tank No. 2 had essentially stopped, a condition they referred to as going “sour.” Sewage from tank No. 2 was being pumped to tank No. 3, which was still working. That is when the level in tank No. 3 rose quickly and unexpectedly overflowed. Workers said the plant’s computerized monitoring system had been giving unusual readings in the previous weeks.
In one of the violations, L&I investigators said, “There were no written operating procedures for initial startup of digesters (either new ones or ones that have been temporarily taken out of service).” The violation notice goes on to state that procedures could include instructions on “reactivating a digester that has ‘gone sour.’ ” The fine for that violation is $5,500.
In another violation, the investigation alleged “the employer did not ensure that each employee, before being involved in operating the digesters and digester gas system, was trained …” The fine for that violation is $4,500.
Another $6,500 was levied against the city for failing to implement written procedures regarding maintenance of “valves used to control the flow of sewage sludge into, out of, and between the digesters.” A separate $5,500 fine said the employer did not update safety information “after numerous changes to the system …”
Investigators also found that pipes had inconsistent color coding and that directional arrows on piping did not match the directions that flows could occur and that some valves were installed in a way that employees could not see markings that showed their positions. The violation on that issue is $4,500.
The city was ordered to post the violations at the plant and was given 15 days to appeal the fines. Feist said the city may challenge two or three issues, including a requirement that city come into compliance in 30 days.