Don’t Become Complacent When You Take a Wand in Hand

Installers who use high-pressure water to maintain drainfield lines or clean equipment must diligently follow safety procedures

“High pressures can cause injuries similar to gunshot wounds, but have the added health hazard of involving contaminated water.”

That quote is from an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) article describing the dangers of high-pressure jetting.

Installers face plentiful safety threats. Trenches, excavation, and confined spaces are often touted as the main concerns in risk management, but technicians can also face another underestimated risk — cleaning with water under pressure.

“Injection injuries can happen much lower than the pressures in use in drain and sewer applications. And that carries the risk of infection and tissue damage as well. … Water injection injuries can appear minor but can cause serious health complications, even at pressures in the range of a consumer pressure washer or drain cleaner,” says Peter Wright, association manager with the WaterJet Technology Association and Industrial & Municipal Cleaning Association, or WJTA – IMCA.

DRAINFIELD JETTING

Despite being generally overlooked in terms of safety across the wastewater industry, due in part to a relatively low rate of injury when compared to working in trenches and the like, jetting is a concern simply because of how common it is. Installers may encounter jetting dangers while performing many tasks, from site maintenance such as scouring drainfield lines of roots or other accumulations to using a power washer to clean earthmoving equipment back at the shop.

“Trying to get people to understand that you can get injured by a water jet strike is probably the most difficult bit to get across,” says Nick Woodhead, president of US Jetting. “We’ve got to start promoting safety.

“I think people assume that hoses are not going to burst, and therefore, they are sort of immune. Or they’ve never seen a hose burst, or they’ve never seen a jet injury, so it doesn’t really register. People get complacent.”

And it’s not just equipment malfunction that operators need to worry about.

A case in point is Chad Unverzagt, an Indiana worker who was killed in 2012 while responding to a routine sewer blockage. Unverzagt wasn’t killed by an exploding pipe or other malfunction — his hose got loose while the system was pressurized as he was attempting to retrieve it from the pipe. It was a momentary lapse in a job he’d done a thousand times before over 30 years in the industry.

With no protective gear, he didn’t stand a chance against the high-pressure water, which lacerated his neck, killing him before help could arrive.

“That’s more of an isolated incident, but it’s worth reminding people,” Woodhead says. “That’s why you’ve got to know what you’re working in.”

BE PROACTIVE

For those who work regularly in high-pressure water situations, protective clothing could be considered to improve safety.

“The safety gear is essential when you’re running a machine. So many people don’t wear anything,” Woodhead says. “We’ve got to try and get it across to people, it is worth investing in the kit to protect yourself. Even if you’re the operator and maybe the boss doesn’t want to spend the money; it’s worth investing in it, just as a precaution.”

US Jetting has made it their practice to supply a pair of protective gloves to customers with purchase of a jetting system, and it has encouraged other manufacturers to do the same.

Other products like semiautomated jetting systems give even more options for mitigating risk to operators.

“OSHA says if there’s safety gear available, the owners of the company are bound to supply it,” Woodhead says. “Rather than have government regulation, we’d rather be self-regulated and have people understand (the dangers).”

Beyond planning for the worst, simple common sense and following standard operating procedure goes a long way to ensuring safety. That includes checking the equipment before each job, performing the necessary maintenance, and assessing each job site before beginning any work.

“It doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes to do the cursory checks,” Woodhead says. “Once you’ve gotten to your location, you’ve got to do your due diligence.”

WJTA-IMCA offers several manuals covering many aspects of pressure cleaning, including best practice for waterjetting and industrial vacuum. US Jetting has its own video and PowerPoint presentation covering the basics of jetter operation and safety, and the National Association of Sewer Service Companies, NASSCO for short, has videos on jetting as well as a Jetter Code of Practice, which are available for a fee.

PIPE-CLEANING TIPS

To get you started, Wright offers a few quick tips to keep in mind: “Mark the end of the hose a distance from the nozzle to help indicate the location of the jets within the pipe. Ensure the system is depressurized before conducting maintenance or repairs. Ensure the nozzle is well inside the pipe before bringing the system up to pressure,” Wright says.

It’s easy to oversimplify pipe cleaning, but when the pressure is on, there’s a lot operators can do to prevent accidents — it’s just a matter of knowing how and promoting safety whenever possible.

“It’s definitely important to have respect for the power and the force of the high-pressure water streams,” Wright says.



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