All-in-One Mobile Washroom, Waste Handling and Recycling Facility from On-Site: Modern Solution to Age-old Problem
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BASED IN RIMBEY, ALBERTA, ON-SITE PERSONNEL ARE CAPABLY SUPERVISED BY OPERATIONS MANAGER MOE PILGRIM, WHO HAS MORE THAN TWO DECADES OF OILFIELD EXPERIENCE. |
Les Johnson, 56, has spent his entire working life in the oilpatch, mostly internationally. For 34 years the petroleum technologist has seen the world, mostly with Schlumberger, Shell Nigeria and BP Azerbaijan, and also worked throughout Canada. When it comes to outdoor workplace bathroom facilities, Johnson has seen more than his fair share. And more often than not, they’re disgustingly unhygienic. Outrageously smelly. Beyond primitive and ill-equipped.
These porta-potties, kybos and decrepit shacks are a disgrace. And that’s not just in Alberta but all of Western Canada. A pillar of a civilized country, especially a First World nation like the Great White North, is sanitation. But many service and drilling rig locations here are devoid of sanitary bathroom facilities, even though there are comprehensive regula-
tions in place by provincial and federal health and safety agencies.
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ALL ON-SITE TRAILERS, 16 FEET LONG AND AVAILABLE FOR RENT, CAN BE PULLED BY A 3/4-TON TRUCK (NO NEED FOR AN EXPENSIVE BED TRUCK). |
Les Johnson has an environmentally friendly, low-maintenance solution:
An all-in-one mobile system for handling toilet, waste management and recycling needs, all in compliance with OH&S regulations Part 24, Articles 357 to 361 inclusive. This unique system, available from Johnson’s company, On-Site Facilities & Recycling Services Ltd.
(www.onsitefacilities.ca), can support a crew of 10 for three weeks. “It’s like taking your home to the field,” explains Johnson, who conceived of the idea and first introduced this system in 2006 after numerous bad experiences on various work sites years ago near Grande Prairie. He designed, constructed and implemented a portable trailer-mounted
washroom facility to meet the needs of the new generation of field workers who
are more compliant with the current Alberta OH&S requirements.
Now employees can sit in a clean, heated and secure environment away from bugs
and bears, wash their hands and face with hot water, brush their teeth just as they would at home. In the last two years these trailers have been out on location in minus 40°C weather conditions with no operational issues.
Housed in a 16-foot-long trailer that can be pulled by a 3/4-ton truck (no need for
an expensive bed truck), the front end of the trailer holds the On-Site system which
includes a zero-discharge composting toilet and waste grey water, complete with hot
and cold water for washing. After washing, the wastewater is actually steamed of –
meaning zero discharge on location so there is no need to contract a vacuum truck to
dispose of the grey water.
The 240-litre water storage tank will sustain operations for up to 21 days, but with water replenishment the trailer can remain on-site indefinitely.
The back end of the trailer contains bins for scrap metal, plastic bottles and containers,
and storage tanks for used oil and other fuids (spent lubricants and coolants, chemi-
cal sacks and pails, etc.) and even batteries.
Designated compartments exist for bagged garbage and hazardous waste. On-Site per-
sonnel dispose of all waste responsibly and ethically through various recycling agencies
(there is a comprehensive paper trail).
On-Site units are not just for service/drilling rig operations, standalone snubbing,
remote well testing, coiled tubing locations and small plant turnarounds, they are
essential wherever everyday feld activities take place, including construction and pipe-
line sites, municipal maintenance, forestry projects, bridge construction, guide and
outftter camps, etc.
“On-Site provides the most home-like facilities available to your work sites.
My guys say it’s warm in winter and keeps the ants from biting tender parts during the sum-
mer,” says Eric Spuehler, formerly of Canetic Resources Inc., now Penn West Energy.
Based in Rimbey, Alberta, On-Site person-nel are capably supervised by Operations
Manager Moe Pilgrim, who has more than two decades of oilfeld experience.
All trailers, some with their own 23-kilowatt gensets complete with light tower,
are available for rent. With parts coming from the U.S. and Canada, each trailer is
assembled in Red Deer. More units are coming soon.
But it doesn’t stop there.
On-Site trailers require no black wastewater handling, no sewage or septic connection, no
pumping out of waste and no harsh odorous chemicals.
Les Johnson is on a crusade. A clean and hy-gienic crusade.
One outdoor workplace at a time.