Sewage or Septic Pump Safety Warnings

Watch out: Our dog and daughter fell into sump pit; dog died.

I recently moved in a house with this nasty hole in the basement.

The first night my dog fell in and my daughter fell in the get the dog.

2 hrs later the poor dog died but my daughter in ok.

What can be put over this sump pump hole firmly so this does not happen again?

I am devastated for my dog but what if it was my 3yr ..my landlord was uncaring can you help! - T.C.

[A photo of the sump pit was subsequently provided by the reader - shown here]

Reply: consult your doctor, inform your landlord in writing, look for other unsafe conditions

A competent onsite inspection by an expert usually finds additional information that can help understand just what the hazards are in your home, not just around the sump pit. Your email raises these concerns in my mind:

1. What kind of "sump" are you talking about?
   
   If this was a groundwater ejector pump or typical "sump pump" installation, the hazards may include injury, even drowning, as well as exposure to possible contaminants in groundwater;
   
   if you are talking about a sewage ejector pump the hazards of bacterial and other pathogenic infections to your daughter and family are significant; in either case you should consult your family doctor immediately if your daughter was exposed to potential contaminants or sewage.
2. Watch out: serious safety hazards at open sump pits:
   
   The inexperience or inattention that causes a building owner to leave a sump pit open, exposing occupants to a trip and fall hazard even if there are no other biological health hazards involved, leads me to suggest that there could be other safety hazards at the property.

While the topic is different, our advice to renters who encounter mold contamination at a property includes the importance of making sure that the building owner and manager know, in writing, of your concerns.

Details are at RENTERS & TENANTS GUIDE TO MOLD

Watch out:

1. Block or rope off access around this hazard;
   
   depending on the type of sump pit that was installed, there may be a prefabricated and safe cover that can be installed over the opening. Such covers are sold at building supply stores such as Home Depot and Loews.
   
   Normally I'd expect that correction to be the responsibility of the building owner. But your first priority is to prevent another accident.
2. Inform your landlord of the accident and of this unsafe condition.
3. Read also SEPTIC & CESSPOOL SAFETY 

Please keep me posted on how things progress, and send along photos of the sump hole if you can. Such added details can help us understand what's happening and often permit some useful further comment. What we both learn may help me help someone else.

Reader Follow-Up:

These are the pictures I have.

And I have no idea what kind of pump it is.help me please. im scared for my kids.also little fly nat bugs are coming from it.

Moderator's comments and advice:

Your photos show an ordinary sump pump used to remove groundwater from below a basement slab and to carry off water that leaks into the basement, runs across the floor and enters the sump pit.

It also looks as if in most of the photos a sump pit cover was in place - so it would be useful to know if the cover has just been added, or was it left off, or how else did your daughter and pet fall into the pit?

From your photo [see covered sump pup pit photo above] it looks as if the pump and controls are so high in the sump pit that the cover, perhaps a home-made one, includes a large opening in its top through which a child or pet could step.

Also, one of your photos [photo of open sump pit shown at left] shows the sump pit with the cover off - and the water in your photo (it's a bit blurry picture) looks sudsy.

If the building dumps a laundry sink or washer into the pit and is then pumping that washer drainage to the ground surface outside, that'd most likely be a health and plumbing code violation.

Finally, it also looks as if the floor is broken up around the sump pit, perhaps to improve water entry into the pit from the floor surface? Is that uneven surface also a trip hazard.

Meanwhile, make sure the sump cover is secure and block off access to this corner to protect your family from trip and fall hazards.

 

Watch out: as we explain at SEPTIC PUMP INSPECTION & MAINTENANCE, typical grinder pump owners guides and manuals warn that you should not try to repair the septic pumping system itself by yourself.

If you're not properly trained and equipped there are health and safety hazards such as risk of electrical shock or fire, or exposure to sewage pathogens that could make you seriously ill.

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Below are links to content that was previously found on this page.

How to Select the Proper Septic, Sewage, or Sump Pump Type

Now found at SEWAGE PUMP BUYERS GUIDE & MANUALSon.

Sewage Pumps Clogging Failures

Details about cause and prevention of sewage pump clogging and damage have been moved to a separate article

at SEWAGE PUMP DAMAGE & REPAIR.

Don't Flush These Items Down the Toilet - They Clog or Burn Up the Grinder Pump

Details about what can and can't be flushed down toilets and what will foul or clog a sewage or grinder pump are now found

at TOILETS, DON'T FLUSH LIST

Producers of Septic Pumps, Sewage Pumps, Grinder Pumps, Effluent Pumps

Now found at SEPTIC PUMP BUYERS GUIDE & MANUALS

 

Thank you to our readers for their generous comments

I'm really glad there are people that do this for me. I don't think I could do that on my own. Thanks for the great article! (May 20, 2014) Tara

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