The two workers who were injured when they fell into a manhole on North Barfield Drive two weeks ago have been released from the hospital, with one already back at work and the other awaiting a doctor’s clearance.
The injuries occurred when the workers lost consciousness from inhaling concentrated hydrogen sulfide fumes emanating from a manhole at the corner of Woodbine Court. One worker was climbing out of the hole after repairing a water pipe, just before he passed out and fell back in.
One was employed by the city, the other worked for the contracting firm D.N. Higgins.
Though city officials said the gas was not present in elevated levels outside the manhole, the incident heightened concern on the island that the gas could be present in its toxic form above ground.
One resident contacted the city last week to report concerns that the gas was present in his house, citing the tarnish his silver had taken on during a vacation.
City Public Information Officer Lisa Douglass said Tuesday that the gas, which is above ground in safe amounts, has leeched out of the ground as a result of the “dewatering” process happening in tandem with construction.
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The tubes and pipes running along the side of North Barfield Drive were put in place to pump groundwater out of the soil to enable construction work. The same process can be blamed for the hydrogen sulfide that hangs in the air in what city officials say are safe levels.
In order to lay the concrete underground pipe necessary for sewer lines, groundwater has to be pumped out to allow construction crews to work below the groundwater table. Douglass said the process causes underground gasses like hydrogen sulfide to enter the air, leaving the scent of rotten eggs often attributed to sulfur.
The city sent an emergency response crew to the North Barfield area to investigate the resident’s complaint, but tests did not register unsafe levels of gas.
Douglass said the city has not received any complaints since then and is not regularly checking hydrogen sulfide levels, but that construction managers at the work site are staying on the lookout for anything suspicious.
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Comments » 4
EdFoster writes:
Lisa,
Answer the real questions: were recommended procedures for working in confined spaces followed or not? Were H2S monitors in place in the manhole and functioning or not? Was the D.H. Higgins worker on a tether or not? Was the D.H. Higgens worker trained regarding the dangers and precautions to be taken when working in a confined space or not? Was the city employee trained regarding the dangers and precautionss to be taken when working in a confined space or not? In specific, was the city employee trained not to enter a confined space to rescue (heroic as that may be) but to remove the injured worker via the tether or not?
Simple questions, each of which can be answered with a straight yes or no. Let's hear the answers! And, if the answers are as I suspect, i.e., that there were no monitors in place and that no one was trained to work under these conditions, what steps have been taken to ensure that this tragedy does not reoccur?
Ed Foster
Lolala writes:
Ms. Williams: Please go back and report on what the City is doing to prevent this from happening again. Speak to the Fire Chief, I'm sure he will be happy to tell you what should be done. Call OSHA and ask them what recommendations they have to work in closed in spaces. Go to the following site http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadi... to find out what may be requied. As a citizen I am extremely concerned that the following statement implies there were no lessons learned, that this incident was an extrordinary event and that no additional safeguards have been put into place to prevent a re-occurance: "Douglass said the city has not received any complaints since then and is not regularly checking hydrogen sulfide levels, but that construction managers at the work site are staying on the lookout for anything suspicious." What "suspicious" things are the managers looking for? Gas with color? Strange smells? Workers falling down and passing out? Please follow up with this very important story. We had a close call, surely our city is more responsible then this statement implies.
sassie1 writes:
F.Y.I. Was it ever even brought to anyones attention that not only did the contract worker fall 13ft. back into the manhole while trying to exit, when he was over taken by H2S fume, the contract worker also was submerged in rising water that would have certainly taken his life, if not for the quick reaction of the city employee-unfortunatly there wasn't anything in place to have informed the workers of the true danger lurking in the manhole other than a slip+fall. Of course, you would have to assume if they were informed of the dangers, the incident would have been appoached differently.
karenglaub writes:
As I've said before, our City is complicit in these violations of worker protections by continuing to use companies like this to perform work in our City.
We should value people's health, no matter whether they are full-time, part-time city personnel, or workers that are contract employees who don't have a clue about the equipment they are supposed to be provided. It says a lot about what kind of people we are when health concerns are put on the back burner so the work can get done. As a citizen, I'm certainly unhappy that my representative government was not proactive from the beginning. These accidents should never happen.
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