Working safely around hydraulics and pneumatics...

It's hard to know how to be SAFE around equipment that most Engineers and Maintenance persons get little or no TRAINING on beyond a one or two week seminar put on by one of the Fluid Power manufacturers.

I believe there should be Trained Dedicated Fluid Power persons whose main function is to design and maintain Hydraulic and Pneumatic equipment. They would be in the same category as the Engineer or Maintenance person now handling all Electrical equipment design and maintenance.

They would be trained and know the dangers as well as the operations of Fluid Power equipment and would eliminate a lot of the frustration seen in using this equipment.

Someday, MAYBE????????

In the USA that problem has generally been corrected. OSHA has recommended that the blow of guns have no more than 30 psi going to them or have no more than 30 psi output at the nozzle. That the pressure at the nozzle can not be dead headed. There many companies that manufacture blow off guns that comply with this standard.

That is by far the most horrible picture I have seen for a long time. The guy must have been in agony.

This accident is however due to a material or parts failure which cannot be prevented by training or any blow off gun design. It is clearly down to manufacturing of the swathed end on the ferrule. It shows that the material or parts can still fail even if you do everything right and THAT is the thing to remember when you work with these things.

Also to remember is that there are many stories that are designed to scare you just for the sake of it. You will hear those stories everywhere no matter what safety procedure you have, it is just human nature to take a story and exaggerate just to entertain. Just remember that any pressure is dangerous and get as much info as you can. If you live in a country where the rules are somewhat slack, just inform yourself. You are already on the way to do that by reading articles on the internet and being here on CR4.

95324. The air bubble under the skin probably would not kill a person, but what kind of bacteria that is in the the bubble. Air compressors for general use, do not have a a very clean environment to work in, at the best of times. Condensation at the bottom of the tank is a good breeding ground for such bugs. Consider your climate, high humidity and warm temperatures, prime grounds. An open part of the body is a good start for any kind of infection. The wound should have been treated and covered, by first aid, no matter how small.

A fellow I know, in Canada, lost his arm to a small cut to his finger. He was in critical condition in the hospital for months. He is now grateful that he did not lose his life. He now works as a safety rep. for his company.

In Canada it is a "no-no" to direct the flow of compressed air at yourself or anyone.

I put my finger over a 150 psi nozzle once. It didn't kill me but it gave me a heck of an education.

I don't believe in that picture, it looks hoax-like or scam-like. Words about how the injury got cured sounds not trustworthy either.

The issue is not whether the picture is real or not. The truth is that high pressures can injure or kill. I don't need a picture to convince me.

We use a high pressure spray (200 bars) gun to clean our evaporator tubes. About a year or so ago, the guy who was assigned to do the cleaning almost severed his foot when he lost control of the gun.

The force of the spray pulled the nozzle out of the tube. The force probably surprised him because instead of releasing the trigger, he clamped down on it. The nozzle flipped around and the water jet hit his foot. The jet cut through his steel-toed safety shoe and sliced into his foot.

Believe me, if you had seen his foot like I did, you wouldn't doubt that picture.

I once had a young kid think it was amusing to stick a blow gun in the area of other peoples anus and pull the trigger. He didn't think it so amusing after I dressed him down.

A manufacturer of high pressure cleaning equipment onced advertised with a picture of their rig cutting a concrete block in half. At a place I once worked one of the guys almost cut three fingers off with a rental unit.

Hydraulic? I am deathly afraid of working on equipment with accumulators unless I know it has been deenergized. People have disconnected units that were live and ended up injured or seriously dead.

Some people do not put relief valves on units that use variable displacment pumps. Do it anyway. If the internal circuits in the pump fail something is going to break.

When setting the system pressure on any unit be sure it is deadheaded properly. I have seen units set when there was, in reality, flow back to the tank. When the system does deadhead, watch out.

Never shop in a store that is surrounded by a swat team.

Our college shop safety class warned against using compressed air to clean off mills, lathes, etc. They wanted to be sure chips didn't end up in an eye. Alumium chips are removed from the eye by flicking them out with a hypodermic needle.

No mention of death.

Hydraulics are another matter. A pinhole leak in a 3000 psi (20.7 MPa or 207 bar) hydraulic line can easily inject oil under the skin. This will lead to gangrene if not treated immediately. Always use a piece of cardboard to check a high pressure hydraulic circuit for leaks. Better to cut the cardboard in half than your hand.