The absence of an effective police force meant that watermen often died prematurely in a city prone to riots and mob violence. Apart from the obvious occupational risks of the trade, death by drowning, watermen were particularly susceptible to bronchial diseases caught from working and living close to waters of the Thames. The invention of the flush toilet in the 1840s quickly turned the Thames into a giant sewer causing typhoid and cholera outbreaks and the Great Stink of 1858. It forced a redesign of the city's sewage system in The Embankment area, a popular area for watermen to ply their trade. Totally redesigned or embanked, it routed sewage away from the river but also removed the stairs and sloping incline to the river, replacing the access points with piers. It prevented flooding; but it cut many waterfront houses and buildings off from boat access via their watergates.