Plant Services

Wastewater Treatment Plant Safety Inspection Checklist

plant safety

• Develop a response plan for all types of in-plant risk. These would include: exposure to chemicals, disease and weather events such as tornadoes; handling, transportation and storage of materials.

• Thoroughly document all procedures for each risk response. 

• Familiarize all employees with the documented response plan. 

• Post response plan procedures in public areas of the wastewater treatment plant as another way to promote awareness and understanding.

• Conduct drills on a regular basis, again to promote awareness and understanding — and also to reduce the potential for confusion or panic in the event of a real injury or accident.

• Make sure employees have the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) for all areas of the plant, including the lab. OSHA has extensive PPE standards, which can be reviewed here.

• It is common in wastewater treatment facilities to have visitors and tour groups. These people may not be acquainted with safety procedures or even aware of the potential hazards. 

• Take care in specifying areas of the facility that visitors should not have access to. Make sure visitors are always accompanied by one or more trained, experienced employees during their visit.

• Appoint a specific individual to be responsible for the safety program. Unless safety is a top priority for someone, it may become a low priority for everyone.

• Make sure your wastewater treatment plant is in conformance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidelines; specifically, NFPA 820. 

• OSHA safety requirements may also apply to areas within your wastewater treatment plant.

• Create safety teams to expand interest in and leadership of the safety initiative. Team members should have a presence in every shift of the operation.

• Report safety statistics prominently in the plant. Fortunately, accidents and injuries are not an everyday occurrence in most wastewater treatment plants. 

• Bring in outside safety trainers. While it may not be advisable to outsource complete responsibility for safety to an outside consultant or firm, it does make sense to supplement in-house training with outside resources. 

• Keep learning. Along similar lines, safety leaders and all operations managers should regularly attend conferences, meetings and online webinars devoted to industrial safety in general and wastewater treatment plant safety in particular.