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Waterjet Safety - A Summary
The plant operator who hires waterblast services cannot afford the interruption presented by an accident
or injury. Incidents require supervision to stop work until the injured workers are tended to, hazards are
investigated, and appropriate preventive measures taken. Even if no one is seriously hurt, time is wasted
- time that costs up to $ 15,000 an hour in lost production alone in many large single line process plants.
The dependable waterblast contractor gets the job done, but does so without accident or injury, and doesn’t
need close safety supervision. Key skills include recognition of hazards, and knowledge of appropriate
precautions to take in complex and changing situations. Trained and experienced waterblast operators
are essential. Finally, safety responsibility should be demanded of the on-site supervisor, as well as each
operator doing the work. Effective safety management promotes teamwork, avoiding a situation where
safety is someone else’s concern.
HAZARDS
Confined spaces, heights, obstructions, tripping hazards, sharp objects, falling objects, moving vehicles
and equipment, rigging, powered equipment, noise, fumes, dust, acids, corrosives, poisons, pathogens,
flying debris, noise to cause permanent hearing loss, burst equipment, missiles, unpredictable waterjet
direction, unpredictable reaction forces, waterjet injury, slipping, falling, muscle strain.
Excellent safety information is available from the organizations listed below, which can be used to build a
comprehensive waterblast safety and training program. The tips we suggest below are important, but not
comprehensive.
1. Minimum personal protective equipment includes hearing
protection, hard hat, safety goggles, rain suit, safety toe
boots with non-skid soles, shin guards, and waterproof
gloves.
2. Control the worksite with safety ribbon and barricades as
needed to keep bystanders out, and prevent people from being
injured by flying debris.
3. Get the “Medical Alert” card from the Waterjet Technology
Association for each worker involved in waterblast operations.
The information for medical emergency room physicians
can be life-saving in the event of an injury.
4. Jet hand-held guns for no more jet reaction force than
1/3 the weight of the operator.
5. Short hand-held guns are dangerous. Don’t use one that
is short enough for the operator to jet himself.
6. Lots of workers in a confined space with hand-held
waterblast guns is a dangerous practice. Instead, invest in a
mechanized system to do the job. It will pay big dividends
in downtime reduction, thorough results, and safety.
7. Don’t look into something being jetted, with pressure
on.
8. Pressure dump or shutoff devices should be controlled
by the operator most likely to get hurt.
9. Do not defeat overpressure protection devices.
10. Use line mole backout preventers to avoid injury
from failed equipment or hose coming out of the pipe
towards the operator.
11. Use rigid pipe or centralizer on inlet line to mole
nozzles that prevent the nozzle from reversing direction.
12. Use rigid pipe or colored leader hose inlet the jetting
nozzle as an indicator that the nozzle is close to
being pulled out of the pipe or vessel being cleaned.
13. Anticipate unbalanced jet reaction forces, by design
or due to jet plugging. Take effective precautions
to keep unbalanced nozzles under control.
Useful Safety Information, Training Aids
Water Jet Technology Association Water Jetting Association
St. Louis, MO, USA
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK
Phone 314-241-1445 Phone 44-1487-834034
FAX 314-241-1449 FAX 44-1487-832232
www.wjta.org
www.waterjetting.org.uk
Durango, Colorado Phone 970-259-2869
www.stoneagetools.com FAX 970-259-2868
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