Sludge Watch ==> Synagro Sludge Explosion - Maryland Occupation Safety Investigates

[Maureen Reilly]

Monday March 26, 2007

Agency continues probe into explosion
by KAREN HANNA  karenh at herald-mail.com


HAGERSTOWN - The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health agency is 
investigating the explosion that tore a hole in the roof of a building at a 
City of Hagerstown wastewater treatment plant.


Since the explosion March 13, city officials say some operations have 
resumed at the building where a private company turned sewage into 
fertilizer.


Donald Barton, wastewater operations manager for the City of Hagerstown, 
said Sunday that Synagro, which works under contract with the city, now 
presses sludge before sending it on to the landfill.


Before the explosion, the company turned sewage into fertilizer, but some of 
the machinery used in that process was damaged, Barton said. Investigations 
into the explosions are continuing, he said.


"Right now, there's no heat in the process at all," Barton said.


Linda Sherman, communications director for the state department of labor, 
licensing and regulation, said Wednesday the state's safety and health 
office is investigating the explosion, but she did not know who reported the 
incident.


"We are generally called into a company if there's an incident. That's our 
job - health and safety," Sherman said.


Mike Spiker, director of utilities for the City of Hagerstown, said at the 
scene that one man sustained minor injuries but declined treatment after the 
explosion. Hagerstown Fire Marshal Tom Brown said he did not know whether 
the explosions were related to three fires in two days that had broken out 
in a drying drum at the facility just before the explosion.


Brown was not available for comment last week, a Hagerstown Fire Department 
firefighter said.


In an e-mail Thursday, Spiker said Synagro has been processing sludge since 
March 17.


"The building has been repaired and Synagro is in the process of replacing 
the damaged equipment so that they may assume normal operations, hopefully 
by the end on the month," Spiker wrote. The company was assuming 
responsibility for the costs, the e-mail said.


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