What are the potential risks in water jetting?
Water jetting systems are excellent for the development of several types of jobs, but it should be noted that their use have various associated risks for the workers. Its identification is essential to develop a plan to avoid them and work in a safe way.
The most common potential risks are described below:
- Perforation, cutting or severing of a body part. It is caused as the result of the direct exposure to the pressurised waterjet. These types of injuries are always very serious and can be fatal.
- Musculoskeletal injury. These injuries are related to the necessity of the worker having to operate in awkward positions or in confined spaces, of lifting heavy tools or materials, and of working with high push/pull (reaction) force.
- Operator falling. It is relatively frequent to have an operator falling as a result of a variation in the reaction force of the jet.
In addition, this may also occur if the operator is too fatigued, which can lead to loss of attention, resulting in a serious accident.
Operators working in slippery conditions where the surface they are standing on is contaminated with waste washed out of the object being cleaned.
Operators falling over hoses, Equipment or other essential equipment not laid out properly.
The problem with this type of accident is that, not only could the operator injure themselves by falling but that they will lose control of the water jet gun, which may cause a water jetting accident to the operator, the pump operator, damage to the cleaning equipment or equipment being cleaned and other workers on the cleaning site.
- Chemical exposure. This risk is very common in industrial cleaning, as very often the purpose of the activity is to clean or remove chemical substances from process equipment and storage tanks.
To avoid this risk, it is very important to know which chemical substances are involved in the job, in order to adequately protect the workers through procedures, position, or personal protective equipment (PPE) as stated in the working permit.
In this regard, it is also extremely important that workers are correctly trained in the use of the PPEs, as a lot of accidents related with chemical exposure occur due to incorrect handling.
- Burns. This accident can occur when the worker has contact with attachments (nozzle, connections) that have become heated during use or during the projection of hot water.
- Electrocution. This may occur because of a jet reaching live equipment, exposure to defective electrical equipment in a wet atmosphere or exposure to systems not suitably protected: Check out the IP Code.
- Explosion or fire. Water jetting jobs taking place in an ATEX zone (explosive atmosphere), there is a risk of explosion or fire.
Chemical residue within objects to be cleaned reacting with the higher oxygen atmosphere and starting to smoulder or burn.
The water jetting system may include hotspots (internal combustion engine) or electrical insulation defects, which may act as the source of ignition of a flammable gas cloud, coming from another part of the system, or released during the operation.
- Exposure to asbestos or ceramic fibres. Special arrangements must be made beforehand done in accordance with current regulations and carried out by certified companies.
- Exposure to microorganisms. The water supplying the high-pressure pump (for example, filtered river water containing living organism/sand/grit) can cause serious harm to the injured worker through infection of the injured body part which can then spread throughout the whole of the body.
Bacterial colonies may multiply in the equipment to be cleaned and these microorganisms could be inhaled in an aerosol during the water jetting operation.
- Other previously existing risks that may be encountered in the working site, which are not related with water jetting, such as fall from a height, falling objects, dangerous machines, toxic clouds, irradiation, vehicles, etc.
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