'Serious' Safety Violations Found At Middletown Sewerage Authority: NJ

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The state of New Jersey found multiple safety violations at the Township Of Middletown Sewerage Authority, and the men and women who work there say it is not a safe place.

This all comes four months after employee John Molnar died at the sewage treatment plant in late May.

The Middletown Sewerage Authority is locally known as TOMSA, and the plant is located on Beverly Way in Belford. TOMSA also manages the McClees and Fairview pump stations, which are vital assets to protect Middletown from flooding.

Middletown residents pay a quarterly bill to the Authority to process their sewage.

Molnar's death remains under investigation by Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health (PEOSH), which has yet to finish its investigation into how he died, said a Department of Health spokeswoman. PEOSH is the state agency that investigates when there is an accident, mishap or death on a public job.

However, a few weeks after Molnar's May 31 death, Dylan Wilkinson, who represents the plant's unionized workers from CWA Local 1075, said multiple workers came to him to report more safety concerns at the plant.

"A couple weeks after (he died), two men were shocked by an electric breaker," he said.

That prompted Wilkinson to compile a list of things he says are unsafe at the plant, and he sent that list to PEOSH.

State of NJ finds 'serious' safety concerns at the Middletown facility

In response to Wilkinson's request, a PEOSH representative came out to inspect the Belford plant on June 22 and again on June 28. In late July and late August, the agency issued a number of violations to TOMSA. Many of those violations were deemed by the state as "serious" in nature.

Here are some of the violations PEOSH found:

• Respiratory hazards at the McClees pump station involving the potential for gas leaks
• Chemical hazards at the Fairview pump station, including "pipes leaking potassium permanganate, with chemicals collecting on the floor and dripping into an overhead hanging bucket," wrote the PEOSH inspector.
• A lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) given to workers while they perform electrical tasks and work with live electric currents. "At the time of inspection, it was determined that a TOMSA employee was injured while accessing the fail filter press sludge pump VFDs located in an electrical panel with live current," wrote PEOSH in their July report. "It was also determined through these interviews that, in the Press Room, employees are also accessing an electrical closet with live current in order to check bypasses."
• Another violation found that "employees were performing electrical work without training in safe electrical work practices."
• The Sewerage Authority building itself "has a basement that allows for the potential of a collapse of the Bilco doors," wrote PEOSH.
• And finally, a "facility-wide lack of personal protective equipment."

These are only some of the violations PEOSH issued to the Middletown facility.

"The place is a mess," said Wilkinson. "They didn't do anything until we started calling PEOSH and started reporting all these violations. It doesn't seem like they put any money into the place."

At the TOMSA Board meeting this past Monday night, about 35 union and non-unionized plant employees showed up, where they presented a petition calling for TOMSA Chairwoman Chantal Bouw, vice chair Emil Wrede and the TOMSA executive director Brian Rischman to resign immediately.

A "horrific" death of a Middletown public employee

Molnar, 47, died at about 2:20 p.m. on May 31. He was found at the bottom of a manhole that was about 20 feet deep, said his co-workers. The state is still investigating whether Molnar fell to his death, became overcome by gases when he entered the manhole or drowned in water at the bottom of the hole.

But union representatives say Molnar was not wearing a harness when he entered the hole.

"He was not wearing a harness, nothing," said Kevin Tauro, CWA Local 1075 president. (Neither Wilkinson nor Tauro work at the plant, but they represent the workers who do.) "There is all sorts of protective equipment you are supposed to use when you enter manholes like that; you are supposed to be trained. (They) were never given any of that gear or training."

Rischman did not return an email from Patch to confirm if Molnar was wearing a harness or not, nor did he return an email asking about the safety violations the state found at the plant. Bouw and Wrede did not return a phone call for comment. They also did not return phone calls and emails for a Star Ledger article about this same issue.

Tauro said Molnar also "had a meter on him to check for gases, but nobody here was ever properly trained on how to use those meters."

Tauro did not personally witness Molnar's death, but he did say: "The other worker who was with him in the hole that day — she's a mess. She still has not come back to work."

Molnar lived in Hazlet and left behind his fiance — who he was set to marry this summer — and his three children. Friends are still trying to raise money for the family.

About 26 unionized workers signed the petition presented Monday night. The employees also took a public vote of no confidence in TOMSA management.

"We are all scared for our lives after John's accident," said one TOMSA worker who did not want to give her name. "John Molnar was not properly trained to go down that manhole. None of our men and woman are properly trained."

"(They) don't feel like we've been provided with a safe environment," said Wilkinson.

He also did not personally witness the May 31 fatality, but "It was pretty horrific," he said. "The worker he was with, a woman, could not pull him up. She has not recovered and probably never will. They are supposed to give us trainings before we enter holes and confined spaces like that; put a tripod in first, stuff like that. You don't just go into a hole. They let this guy go in with practically nothing."

Tauro put it bluntly: "It's too late. Somebody is dead. We want them to step down."

CWA Local 1075 represents public sector workers in Monmouth, Ocean and Atlantic counties. They have an office on Rt. 35 in Middletown.

Initial Patch report: Middletown Sewerage Authority Employee Dies After Workplace Fall (June 2, 2022)