.jpg "Image illustrating Worker not feeling too well after plummeting into sewage")
A company has been fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 in costs for breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, after a worker fell and slid seven metres into a sewage well in Halesowen, Dudley.
The 34-year-old worker, who has asked not to be named, was clearing a blockage for Tardis Environmental UK Ltd at a partially completed housing development when the incident occurred on 26 August 2011.
To remove the waste from the bottom of the sewage well, which consisted of bulky material like nappies, the employee used a road tanker with pump and hose attachments. He opened a grid at the top of the well and stood over it to support and manipulate the hose. As he did, the hose kicked back and hit him, causing him to lose balance and fall into the chamber.
He managed to grab the hose as he fell and slid down it into the waste at the bottom where he stood disorientated for around twenty minutes before he realised he had his mobile phone with him and was able to call for help. He ingested raw sewage, sustained friction burns to his arms, and bruised his elbows, knees and head in the fall. He was off work for a number of days.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the Tardis employee had been trained in the use of the pumping equipment but had not received any instruction or training in how to empty deep, below-ground sewage wells with specific regard to the risks involved with working at height.
After the hearing HSE inspector Anthony Woodward said, "The incident was entirely preventable. The nature of the work meant the worker was right next to, and leaning over, the deep well. Although he was working at ground level the depth of the pit meant he was working at height so reasonable precautions to prevent a fall should have been provided by the company, such as a worker’s restraint or harness."
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