HEALTH & SAFETY
10 tips to ensure
safe sewer cleaning An industry expert explains how to protect operators from some of the industry’s most common mistakes
Municipalitiesmust safely clean and maintainmanymiles of sewer line annually to eliminate blockages and prevent sanitary sewer overflows, which are regulated by the EPA. However, the use of high-pressure equipment in underground sewers can be dangerous unless operators are well trained and fully understand the hazards.
Understanding and correcting some of the most common operatormistakes in sewer cleaning can go a long way toward keeping themsafe. So, safety expert Dan Story, OperationsManager at KEGTechnologies, who has instructed operators for decades, provides 10 tried-and-true sewer cleaning safety tips that address themost common errors that he has observed. The Spartanburg, SC-based company is a manufacturer of sewer and stormline products including Tier 1 to Tier 3 nozzles, chain cutters, floor cleaners and camera nozzle systems.
As a national trainer of best-practice 54
techniques, the company is amember of NASSCO, the National Association of Sewer Service Companies, and its Tier 3 High Efficiency nozzles, such as the Torpedo, Royal and OMG, provide up to 98% efficiency.
Tip #1 – Properly set up the area around the sewer vacuumtruck to ensure operator safety in street traffic
“To start sewer cleaning, when you park the vacuumtruck in themiddle of the road, you need to block off the traffic so it can pass in a safemanner. Set safety cones in front and behind the work zone andmake sure the hazard flasher lights are functioning correctly,” says Story.
Tip #2 – Keep equipment noise levels low enough to hear traffic
Revving the sewer truck engine and running its vacuumpump can be noisy. So, Story advises keeping RPMs low enough so operators can hear and avoid approaching vehicles and converse with co-workers as
| July 2023 |
www.draintraderltd.com needed.
One way to lower sewer vacuumtruck RPMs during engine operation is by only using the vacuumwhen needed and allowing the water to pass through as the solids remain.
“You can put the nozzle in the bottomof the sewer pipe and let the water run around it. The solids remain to vacuumas needed. You do not need to run continuously high RPMs,” says Story.
Anothermethod is usingmore efficient nozzles, which enable sewer cleaning with lower pressure water, reducing engine RPMs.
Tip #3 – Understand how your specific sewer truck boomoperates
There are differences in how every sewer truckmanufacturer configures, deploys, and extends the booms that control the vacuumhose. Some deploy rapidly, some articulate, some telescope. Operatorsmust understand these differences before
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