30 HEALTH AND SAFETY
Trench warfare: Winning the battle against wastewater bugs
By
Chris Coetzee, OHSS Consulting
When you are out on a site in the early morning, looking down at a leaking sewer line or a collapsed drainage trench, your hands are ready to work.
You see mud, you see dirty water, and you see a hard job that needs to get done so you can earn your day ' s pay. But there is a major secret about that mud. It is actually a battlefield, and the enemies are completely invisible.
When we work with sewage infrastructure in South Africa, we are not just dealing with bad smells or dirty overalls. We are dealing with living, breathing biological hazards. The government calls them Hazardous Biological Agents, but we can just call them wastewater bugs. These tiny germs can slip into your body, make you incredibly sick, and stop you from working.
Taking care of your health in a trench is not about being soft, it is about being smart enough to protect your body so you can keep providing for your home.
1. The big three: Know what is waiting in the sludge You cannot fight an enemy if you do not know its name. In our local South African water systems, there are three main types of germs that love to live in raw sewage.
• First, there are bacteria like E. coli and cholera. If you accidentally swallow even a microscopic drop of contaminated water, these bugs can cause severe stomach issues, cramping and dehydration.
• Second, there is hepatitis A. This is a tough virus that attacks your liver, turning your skin and eyes yellow, and leaving you so weak that you cannot lift a tool for weeks.
• Third, there is tetanus, which loves the deep, dark mud of old trenches. If you scratch your hand on a rusty pipe or a sharp stone covered in sewage sludge, tetanus can enter your blood and lock up your muscles.
These germs do not care how strong you are. If you give them a chance to enter your body, they will take you down.
2. The doors into your body A germ cannot hurt you if it stays outside your skin. It needs a doorway to get inside you. For a plumber, those doorways are open all day long. unwashed hands, or smoke a cigarette while leaning over an open pipe, you are opening the door wide for those germs.
Another major doorway is any small cut, scratch or open blister on your hands and arms. Sewage water will leak right into that open skin, causing painful infections that can turn your arm red and swollen within hours.
Even your eyes are a target. If a high pressure drain jetter splashes a single drop of wastewater into your eye, those germs are absorbed into your body instantly.
3. Your personal shield: Wearing your armour You would never go into a swarm of bees without protection, so why go into a sewer line without your proper safety gear? Your PPE is your personal armour against these invisible bugs. Heavy duty, waterproof gloves are your first line of defence. They must be thick enough to stop sharp stones and glass from cutting your skin, and long enough to keep the dirty water from splashing up your arms.
If you are working with high pressure jetting machines or clearing a major blockage that might spray, you must wear safety goggles or a clear face shield. Keeping that water out of your face is a priority.
Your boots need to be steel toe, waterproof and kept clean. Do not wear your dirty work boots into the bakkie or inside your own home at night, because you will just be carrying those toxic bugs back to your children.
4. The decontamination routine The most important part of the job happens when you pack up your tools. You need to wash those bugs off your body before they find a way inside. Washing your hands with just regular water is not enough. You must use strong soap and clean water every single time you finish a job, especially before you touch any food, drink a cold beverage or light a cigarette. Keep a bottle of sanitiser or hand soap in the bakkie as a standard rule.
The most common doorway is your mouth. You might think, " I would never drink sewage water," but it happens in sneaky ways. If you wipe mud off your face with a dirty sleeve, touch your phone with
If your overalls get soaked in wastewater during a shift, do not sit around in them. Change into dry clothes as soon as possible. When you take those dirty overalls home, wash them completely separate
www. plumbingafrica. co. za @ plumbingonline @ plumbingonline @ PlumbingAfricaOnline September 2026 Volume 32 I Number 07