Eighteen public works and utility employees in Pierce County, Wash., will receive the Governor's Lifesaving Award on Sept. 28 for rescuing a construction worker who was swept into a large sewer interceptor just upstream of the Chambers Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant last March. The incident was reported in the July 2011 edition of Municipal Sewer & Water magazine.
The workers will pick up their awards at the Governor's Industrial Safety and Health Conference at the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center. In all, nearly 30 workers, plus members of West Pierce Fire and Rescue, helped with the rescue.
It was on March 21 that a contractor employee working on a county construction project became unhooked from his tether while working ins a 6-foot-diameter sewer. The flow of wastewater carried him more than a half mile to the treatment plant, where the county workers located him and pulled him to safety through a manhole. Details about the incident, including pictures and video, are available at www.piercecountywa.org/sewerescue.
