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A union representing Big Island wastewater treatment plant employees say their working conditions are unsafe due to deteriorated equipment and low staffing levels.

The aging plants in Hilo, Papaikou and Kulaimano are included in an administrative consent order recently signed between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Hawaii County that aims to bring the facilities into compliance with federal environmental law.

Federal, county and union officials agree that the plants have been neglected for years due to deferred maintenance and have had repeated problems with overflow. The documents numerous instances where sewage has flowed onto public streets and gushed into waterways connecting to the ocean.

, which represents plant operators, issued on April 19 that said its workers are “overwhelmed and overworked.”

The workers have been advocating for more than a decade for Hawaii County to replace corroded equipment, including grit screening tanks and a dewatering centrifuge that’s been inoperable for years.

“When we talk to our members, they say the working conditions are hazardous,” said union spokesman Maleko McDonnell.

Ramzi Mansour, director of the county Department of Environmental Management, agreed that staffing is an ongoing problem. Despite efforts by the county to recruit and retain workers, including offering stipends of up to $500 for new operator trainees, it’s been difficult to hire employees, he said.

It’s a nationwide problem trying to find certified operators of wastewater treatment plants, Mansour said.

“I’m a certified operator. I probably get an email every other day from somebody trying to recruit me within the United States,” he said.

Worker safety is a top priority, according to Mansour. On days when staffing levels are low, he said his department ensures employee safety “through coordination of work and added layers of communication.”

Several plant operators, who asked not to be named for fear or retaliation by management for speaking out, said they are often alone on the job. Two workers said they fear falling into wastewater tanks or otherwise getting injured with no one around to help them.

Alan Fukamizu, a shop steward, said numerous complaints have been filed with the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division about unsafe working conditions and lack of training for workers at the plants.

“We have nine operators covering four treatment plants and eight pump stations, 365 days a year,” Fukamizu said. “Unlike some divisions, we never close for holidays.”

Some days, there’s only one or two workers to oversee all the plants, depending on schedule challenges or people calling in sick, he said. The Hilo plant is routinely operated by a lone worker on weekends, he added.

Fukamizu filed a discrimination and whistleblower complaint against the county, alleging he was suspended in March 2022 after raising safety concerns including confined spaces, fall protection issues and lack of employee training.

In a , the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations agreed that the county discriminated against Fukamizu for raising safety concerns and ordered the county to pay a $700 penalty. The county has contested the finding.

Over the last five years, 10 complaints over safety matters at the three plants have been filed with the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division, said Bill Kunstman, deputy director for the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

One resulted in an inspection and a , he said. The county was cited for failing to properly convey health and safety policies and procedures to plant operators.

Mansour put some of the blame for the staffing issues on the union for not doing enough to fill vacancies and for having rules that make it hard to adequately cover shifts.

“They need to help us with the recruitment,” Mansour said. “Instead of tying our hands in managing the staff, they need to work with us to maximize the usage of the current staff.”

If people are working alone, especially during weekend shifts, that’s a union matter that needs to be resolved through collective bargaining, he said.

“Everyone wants to take the weekend off because the union allows it,” Mansour said, adding he believes the operators are doing the best they can under difficult circumstances.

Fukamizu said the staffing problems have nothing to do with union rules and are solely the result of the county failing to recruit and retain an adequate workforce.

We’re not only competing with other jobs in the private sector, we’re competing nationwide.”

Council member Heather Kimball

County Council member Heather Kimball, whose district includes the Papaikou and Kulaimano plants, said she’s not surprised that skeleton staffing and potential safety issues plague the dilapidated sewage facilities. The Department of Environmental Management has a vacancy rate that hovers around 30%, Kimball said.  

To attract new operators, salaries need to become more competitive, she said.

“We’re not only competing with other jobs in the private sector, we’re competing nationwide,” Kimball said.

The Big Island’s Parks and Recreation Department has had success dealing with similar staffing challenges by paying people to be on-call. That’s something the Department of Environmental Management might consider doing with the wasterwater treatment operators, she said.

Amy Miller-Bowen, chief of enforcement and compliance assurance for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9, said her agency is aware of the challenging working conditions at the plants.

“I’m not surprised to hear what the workers are saying,” she said. “The Hilo plant is by far the worst plant I’ve ever seen.”

EPA inspections of the Big Island plants turned up equipment literally being held together with duct tape and trees growing in the middle of wastewater holding tanks.

The Hilo plant is at risk of a catastrophic failure at any time and that’s why the administrative consent order, with its timelines and requirements, is key to addressing longstanding problems at the facilities, Miller-Bowen said.

Civil Beat’s coverage of environmental issues on Hawaii island is supported in part by a grant from the Dorrance Family Foundation.