“An activation of a personal alarm is in effect a “near miss” and should be reported and recorded.”
In 2013 a successful group litigation action was pursued against Gregory Distribution Ltd and South West Water on behalf of 52 tanker drivers who between them secured damages of £350,000. The tanker drivers alleged that they suffered ill health due to exposure to hydrogen sulphide [H2S].
H2S is produced by the action of anaerobic sulphur fixing bacteria on materials that contain sulphur and is commonly associated with raw sewage. It is a colourless gas which at low concentrations has an odour similar to rotten eggs. At higher concentrations, H2S rapidly deadens the sense of smell. Whilst particularly high concentrations can cause immediate collapse and unconsciousness, generally lower level exposure results in more transient symptoms such as nausea and headaches of short duration.
On the back of this success and their commitment to ‘Greening the Workplace’, unions, including GMB, have actively pursued claims on behalf of members against major UK water companies.
Whilst most water companies were aware of the risks of H2S exposure to employees working in confined areas what is surprising is that many claimants did not (in the main) undertake activities in confined areas but often worked in open areas in which it was not previously believed H2S would pose a risk to health, due to anticipated low concentrations of a gas which is heavier than air and dissipates quickly.
Examples of employees who have made claims include tanker drivers whom it is found may be exposed to short term exposure when working at certain positions relative to their tanker during pumping operations, sewage plant workers, maintenance technicians and even a gardener.
It is clearly unacceptable to expose employees to risk from exposure to injurious concentrations of H2S, above what the law recognises as “actionable levels”. Most workers affected will experience minor transient symptoms, however for those who have suffered a deadening of their sense of smell or taste damages awards could exceed £15,000.
Whilst water companies will inevitably face the risk of hundreds of historic claims, action should now be taken to prevent exposure and protect against future costly claims.
Water companies should undertake enquiries through consultation, environmental surveys and monitoring to identify “hotspots”. Employees working in identified areas of risk (not just confined spaces) should be required to wear personal gas monitors and be instructed as to the hazard posed by H2S. They should be trained on how to use monitors and, if their alarm activates, to move to an area of safety until the gas dissipates which may simply be moving a sort distance away for a few minutes.
An activation of a personal alarm is in effect a “near miss” and should be reported and recorded. This will assist water companies in building a picture of risk areas and identify contributory factors, such as location, activity and environmental factors- air pressure and movement.
Whilst occupational health programmes provide an opportunity to monitor health complaints due to H2S exposure, it is no guarantee that all cases will be picked up due to the normally mild and transient symptoms that modest H2S exposure will cause which by their nature are difficult to distinguish against everyday ailments unconnected to the workplace.
This in turn poses a challenge to medical advisors and insurers in identifying the underlying cause of medical symptoms which will need to be mapped against employment histories and medical records. Here the importance of record keeping is key to be able to plot the jobs an individual undertook, when, where and to compare any claimed exposure to environmental surveys and monitoring records.
Whilst the water industry now faces the prospect of hundreds of expensive claims, the lesson to be learnt for water and waste companies alike is to keep an open mind as far as future potential hazards are concerned and challenge existing understanding of risk. This will be particularly important going forward with increasing use of new technologies such as anaerobic digesters turning waste into energy. Also the opening of the water market to competition from 2017 is intended to drive efficiency through new technologies and processes – all of which will present their own challenge when it comes to protecting employees and members of the public alike from smells, gasses, acids, metals, spores and whatever else may, in future, be claimed to give rise to possible medical symptoms.