Reducing Health Risks to Workers Handling Human Waste or Sewage

Workers who handle human waste or sewage may be at increased risk of becoming ill from waterborne diseases. To reduce this risk and protect against illness, such as diarrhea, the following guidance should be followed by workers and employers.

Basic Hygiene Practices for Workers

• Wash hands with soap and water immediately after handling human waste or sewage.

• Avoid touching face, mouth, eyes, nose, or open sores and cuts while handling human waste or sewage.

• After handling human waste or sewage, wash your hands with soap and water before eating or drinking.

• After handling human waste or sewage, wash your hands with soap and water before and after using the toilet.

• Before eating, removed soiled work clothes and eat in designated areas away from human waste and sewage-handling activities.

• Do not smoke or chew tobacco or gum while handling human waste or sewage.

• Keep open sores, cuts, and wounds covered with clean, dry bandages.

• Gently flush eyes with safe water if human waste or sewage contacts eyes.

• Use waterproof gloves to prevent contact with human waste or sewage.

• Wear rubber boots at the work site and during transport of human waste or sewage.

• Remove rubber boots and work clothes before leaving work site.

• Clean contaminated work clothing daily with 0.05% chlorine solution (1 part household bleach to 100 parts water).

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Workers handling human waste or sewage should be provided proper PPE, training on how to use it, and hand washing facilities. Workers should wash hands with soap and water immediately after removing PPE. The following PPE is recommended for workers handling human waste or sewage:

• Goggles: to protect eyes from splashes of human waste or sewage.

• Protective face mask or splash-proof face shield: to protect nose and mouth from splashes of human waste or sewage.

• Liquid-repellent coveralls: to keep human waste or sewage off clothing.

• Waterproof gloves: to prevent exposure to human waste or sewage.

• Rubber boots: to prevent exposure to human waste or sewage.

Training for Workers

All workers who handle human waste or sewage should receive training on disease prevention. The training should include information on basic hygiene practices; use and disposal of personal protective equipment, and proper handling of human waste or sewage. Workers must also be urged to promptly seek medical attention if displaying any signs or symptoms of diarrhea, such as vomiting, stomach cramps and watery diarrhea.

Vaccination Recommendations for Workers

Vaccination recommendations for workers exposed to sewage or human waste should be developed in consultation with local health authorities. Tetanus vaccinations should be up to date, with consideration also given to the need for polio, typhoid fever, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B vaccinations.

The recommendations made in this document are based on best practices and procedures. Worker health and safety risks are likely to vary among specific locations and a trained health and safety professional should be consulted to create site-specific worker health and safety plans.

Promoting Respiratory Safety in the Workplace

To ensure your workplace exemplifies the highest standard of safety when it comes to respiratory protection, consider these tips in promoting respiratory safety in the workplace:

Have a written program in place (It’s the law)

In workplaces where respiratory protection is mandated, it is legally required for the municipality to have a written respiratory protection program in place. It must be one of the sections of your Safety and Health Policy and Procedure Manual required by OK Department of Labor’s PEOSH division as per NIOSH regulations (42CFR Part84) . Even if respiratory is simply recommended, writing out an official policy ensures workers have a resource to promote their safety and managers have a document to refer to for suggested protocols and procedures. Finding ways to create safer workplaces should be of utmost importance.

Choose the appropriate type of respirator(s)

OSHA/PEOSH mandates that a company/municipality must do an exposure assessment before choosing a particular type of respirator. This requires identifying what type of airborne contaminants pose a risk (particulate, biological, or chemical), as well as how much of these contaminants a worker can be exposed to. By quantifying these risk factors, employers can then choose the appropriate type of respirator for specific jobs and environments. Remember to take into account the comfort of your workers when wearing respirators for long periods of time. Be aware of medical conditions that may prevent an employee from wearing respiratory masks.

Make sure employees are using respirators properly

If you employees don’t wear respirators correctly or take them off in hazardous environments, then the devices do nothing to protect them. For example, a worker with a full beard or sideburns may not get a good seal. Or an employee that wears glasses may not be able to get a good seal because their respirator is not designed to be worn with glasses. Train employees on when to wear respirators, what kind of respirator is best for them, and make sure they know how to properly adjust the respirator to properly fit for effectiveness and comfort. Fit testing is required by OSHA/PEOSH when respirators are worn. Make sure employees read and understand instructions on new types of respirators to make sure they are wearing and using them properly. Make sure respirators aren’t inhibited by other safety gear like safety glasses and hearing protection.

Make sure maintenance is a priority

Disposable respirators should be discarded after one use and reusable ones require the filter be changed regularly. Employers are responsible for ensuring reusable respirators are properly cleaned, sanitized, stored, and repaired. Respirators should be stored in a clean area in which they will not be exposed to environmental damage. When replacing filters, make sure excess packaging is removed and that the filter is inserted properly.

Have ample replacement respirators and filters available

If your employees rely on reusable respirators, make a point of having plenty of replacement filters available. Besides having ample filters, cartridges, and replacement parts, take time to organize all your supplies so they can be accessed efficiently. Same goes for disposable masks respirators if that is your municipalities preferred method of protection. Keep your supply well stocked and make sure your workers are following your written procedures and using your respirator protection equipment. It will keep them and your organization safer.

New year, new you, new benefit - Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Starting February 1, 2020, the Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group (OMAG), began offering an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to all Plan Participants and their employees. The EAP, available at NO COST to Plan Participants, their employees, and their employees’ family members, can help them:

•   Be more present and productive at work

•   Get help when they don’t feel like themselves

•   Grow their personal and career skills

•   Receive care after a traumatic event or diagnosis

•   Make healthy lifestyle choices

•   Improve and inspire their daily lives

Available through OMAG, the EAP offers a wide variety of resources to help people best manage their lives. This FREE benefit can help with almost anything to make life easier:

• Counseling (in-person, online, telephonic, in-the-moment)

• Personal assistance for daily tasks

• Life coaching

• Financial & legal consultation

• Help to improve relationships

• Referrals to almost anything

Visit ndbh.com using the code OMAG or call 800-624-5544 to learn more about how EAP can help you stress less, balance work and life, improve relationships, reduce debt, live healthier (+ so much more!) today.

Questions? Contact Monica Coleman at 405-657-1422.

HERE'S TO A BETTER YOU!

Crisis Management Planning

Spring is often the time when we think of Crisis Management Planning or Emergency Action Plans. Are we prepared for a flood? What do we do if we take a direct hit from a tornado? How do we survive an extreme drought? We face potential disasters each day, though – not just in the Spring. It could be a major water main break, a citywide power outage, or a horrible accident causing injury or death to an employee. Municipal leaders must be prepared and prepare for their employees and their communities to experience and deal with these types of crises on any day or at any time of the year.

Developing resilient communities requires leadership from government and business. Preparing the workforce, building safe facilities, investing in supplier relationships, and connecting to the community are all key pillars of creating community resilience from boardroom to storefront. The path to being a leader in reaching this goal involves connecting with the right people and resources and committing to action by helping the whole community (people, businesses, organizations) mitigate the hazards they face and bounce back quickly after an incident. Being prepared can also decrease the overall costs of disruption by disasters.

The Leadership Path

The most successful leaders act in a coordinated and collaborative way. They integrate a supportive environment that recognizes effective and actionable best practices and understand what makes public-private partnerships successful. This, in turn, enables state and local partnership development and growth. It also integrates planning, preparedness, and operational activities.

• Connecting: The first step to becoming better prepared or becoming a leader in connecting within the community and local industry. As the connections to people and resources grow across sectors of the community, trust, aptitude for transparency, and efficiency in developing a preparedness program grow too.

• Integrating: Planning, Training, and Drilling (exercises) are fundamental to community preparedness. Identifying challenges facing both government and private sectors through scenarios contributes to mutual understanding and community resilience.

• Coordinating: Solving problems together in disruption, disasters, or crisis scenarios helps the whole community work through adverse situations. Businesses have a unique opportunity in identifying capabilities that can help during emergencies. The government has a responsibility to help businesses stay in business. As a result, customers and citizens benefit.

• Collaborating: Talking issues through with all parties influences the way ahead through mitigation, recovery, and strategies that will enable resilience.

• Committing: Your role is to be committed, which will make you grow in the community and encourage others to connect and act.

• This leadership path gives businesses and municipalities of all sizes a road map to follow for building their own all-hazards preparedness and contributes to the resilience of the whole community.

Information Sharing

Decisions need to be made before, during, and after a disruption, regardless of the magnitude. For business there is either the normal or the not so normal; It doesn’t matter if it is a local, state, or federal declaration of emergency or disaster. Every day businesses and organizations of all sizes are constantly identifying problems, risks, and coping with crises.

Sharing information helps translate vagueness into clarity. Sharing is also based on a trusted relationship. Developing this trust within a municipal, community, or state emergency operations center and other information-sharing centers can enable government and business leaders to improve decision making.

Pillars of Business Preparedness

Whether you are a city/town mayor, a city manager/town administrator, or a business owner, there’s much you can do to help.  Preparing employees, evaluating and mitigating risks or systems, and engaging the community will make your municipality more resilient.

• Employee Training: Prepare your employees for the threats and hazards likely to impact your community. By preparing your staff for the threats and hazards likely to impact your municipality, you can ensure your people know how to stay safe in a disaster.  Whether it is a fire, storm, earthquake, or shooter incident they will be prepared.

• Structures and Systems: Taking deliberate actions to evaluate, mitigate, and reduce physical, cyber, and operational risks will help protect some of your largest investments: buildings, computer systems, equipment. etc.

• Suppliers: Working with suppliers to share preparedness strategies, expect business continuity practice, and build confidence in your supply chain will calm concerns and provide peace of mind. Securing your supply chain, both locally and globally, is an essential component of improving your municipality’s likelihood to cope with disruptions and survive a disaster.

• Service: Engage with community leaders, emergency managers, planners, and your elected officials to support pre-incident preparedness planning. In addition to preparing your municipality, it is important to understand your local tribal and state emergency plans and capabilities. Focusing on these pillars builds capacity and can yield a competitive advantage benefiting local businesses and citizens.

To learn more about Crisis Management and Preparedness go to www.ready.gov. There is a multitude of resources to help you develop these programs.