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After mercury spill, East Lansing City Council discusses safety at local waste water treatment plant

March 5, 2015

The steps to improve safety at the waste water treatment plant following a mercury spill incident was a major discussion topic during this week's City Council meeting.

Following the decision at last week’s work session to have East Lansing come out as a city in support for the freedom to marry, the City Council met officially Tuesday night. At the meeting, City Manager George Lahanas read a statement regarding the safety concerns and inspection of the plant.

The incident occurred in October of 2013, when a small amount of mercury was spilled on the plant’s floor. An employee took action to dispose of the mercury, but neglected to report the spill to management. The waste water treatment plant management was not informed about the accident until March of 2014, which brought about citizen concerns for safety and a lawsuit related to the safety codes of the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

“The safety of both residents and employees is of great importance to us,” Lahanas said. “When management was notified of the mercury incident, appropriate actions were immediately taken and additional safety improvements have been implemented over the past year. We have updated or adopted a number of safety-related policies, delivered training to better prepare our employees and improved safety through upgrades and modifications to the physical plant as well as safety equipment.”

MIOSHA has worked with the plant in a thorough inspection to make recommendations about potential future incidents. An investigation also revealed that no employees were in contact with the mercury or harmed in any way.

The leadership at the waste water treatment plant has since been restructured. The former Department of Public Works director,Todd Sneathen and the WWTP superintendent, Catherine Garnham both voluntarily resigned from their positions following human resources investigations.

Lahanas reported that a data analysis showed there had been only one case of an employee missing work due to a work-related injury in the past five years. He asserted that all the employees were working under safe conditions.

“Mistakes have been made, but we are moving forward and making good progress,” his statement concluded. “We take the safety of residents and our employees as the highest priority.”

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