Although snorkeling through sewers sounds far from appealing, a TasWater invention called the vacuum truck ‘snorkel’ is being credited with the ability to drastically improve safety for water utilities.
The snorkel is the brainchild of TasWater operations and maintenance crew members Haydn Charlton, Mathew Loone and Mark Richardson, who took out the Water Industry Safety Excellence category at the recent Australian Water Association awards with their invention.
The snorkel is a rigid attachment which fits on the end of a flexible suction hose. The idea is to give greater control when cleaning out wet wells and other points where the sewerage network can be accessed for maintenance and cleaning.
Usually, the hose has to be positioned by hand, to not only suck up the contaminated material but also to maintain an optimum mix of air and liquid for the suction action to work effectively.
Using the snorkel means employees don’t need to physically be down the well, as the snorkel automatically maintains the ratio of air to liquid.
TasWater’s Department Manager Health and Safety, Peta Forster, said the snorkel removes the risks involved with employee’s getting into a confined space surrounded by contaminated material and the potential of coming into contact with biohazards.
“The invention's potential is quite extraordinary,” she says.
“Not just for the water services industry, but any number of other applications and service providers where people are dealing with significantly contaminated or hazardous material that needs to be isolated, collected and disposed of; for example, oil spills.
“It also reduces the risk of on-site injuries and accidents as a result of slips, trips and falls”.
TasWater says the snorkel is in use across a number of its job sites, and has been endorsed by “a number of local suction truck contractors”.
Forster says there are big plans for the snorkel.
“What we've proposed to do is patent the snorkel; we will then undertake a selection process to identify a Tasmanian service provider which can manufacture these units,” she explains.
Image 1: Haydn Charlton, Mat Loone and Mark Richardson holding the snorkel unit they designed. TasWater.
Image 2: The snorkel. TasWater.