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Septic Tank & Drainfield Construction Health Hazards
Soil & bacterial hazards when excavating sewage-contaminated soils

 

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Septic Tank & Drainfield Construction Health-Safety Warnings

Septic drainfield trench cross section - USDA - DJFHealth Hazards from Septic System Construction

Watch out: dust from septic system excacation can be dangerous, even fatal!

Besides the obvious hazards associated with excavating any hole in the ground to install a septic tank, drywell, cesspool, or sewer/septic pipe line (falling in), there are may be serious health hazards from sewage pathogens in soil dirt and other debris that are stirred enough to become airborne during excavation and installation of septic tanks and related equipment.

Bacteria in sewage include pathogens that can cause typhoid, cholera, gastroenteritis, or even pneumonia and sepsis.

Such airborne sewage pathogen hazards are more-likely to be present when excavating to investigate, repair, or replace an existing septic system as there will already have been sewage and sewage effluent discharge into the soils being disturbed.

The editor [DF] reports on an interview with a now-retired septic system contractor who worked installing and repairing septic systems in New York State's Hudson Valley. Over the course of decades of septic excavation work the contractor, who usually operated the excavating equipment himself, was exposed to sewage-contaminated airborne dust without ever giving it a thought.

The contractor developed infectious pneumonia, and after eight months of walking pneumonia that was undiagnosed, he was hospitalized at the Castle Point VA Hospital. The contractor said he never realized just how sick he was until becoming suddenly extremely ill, hospitalized, and diagnosed with sepsis.

The septic contractor/excavator was given a 13% chance of survival. That was worse even than the average 30-day sepsis mortality rate of about 24% and 90-day sepsis mortality of about 32%.

Fortunately the contractor, treated by the V.A. at Castle Point, and he recovered to give us this warning.

Sepsis Mortality & Septic System Construction Hazards Research

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