Water Utilities Implement New Safety Protocols to Manage the Pandemic

Many water utilities across the U.S. have moved rapidly to put new safety protocols in place to help manage the coronavirus pandemic.  It’s an impressive feat, because unlike electric utilities, water utilities have historically been less impacted by service-interrupting weather events and therefore have less experience with emergency planning and recovery operations.  But the current pandemic has served to level the playing field in this regard. 

How Water Utilities are Enhancing Safety Protocols

Obviously, water utilities are essential businesses, and as such they don’t have the luxury of furloughing employees or slowing operations.  Employees still need to report for work, so one of the key safety enhancements in the water utility sector has been the implementation of social distancing policies.  As an example, the water and wastewater division of Connecticut-based Groton Utilities implemented the following directives:

• Reducing direct contact between employees and customers
• Maintaining a 6-foot distance between employees at all times (if a 6-foot distance cannot be maintained, face masks are required)
• Separating water treatment employees into 2 teams per plant
• Taking temperatures of workers as they report for duty
• Rolling out updated hand-washing directives
• Dispatching crews to separate and distinct areas
• Limiting the number of employees per vehicle
• Mandating that employees who enter customer homes wear full PPE and ask the home’s occupants to leave while the work is being done
• Proactively contacting company suppliers to ensure an ample supply of water and treatment chemicals
• Providing supplies and instructions to disinfect vehicles and equipment
• Developing social distancing protocols for company employees that interact with employees from other utilities and government agencies (i.e., mutual assistance)
• Deploying a staggered shift schedule to keep a “minimum crew” of workers at home on standby in order to ensure the safety and availability of those workers

As you can see from this list alone, there are many new safety protocols that water utilities are implementing.  And, many if not most, of these new safety protocols will stick around even after the pandemic wanes.  The bottom line is that safety is first, and water utilities – as well as utilities in other sectors – are clearly doing their part to help keep employees safe and healthy during these unprecedented times.