Incident Investigation: Worker Dies While Using Industrial Pressure Washer | WorkSafeBC

this is barb - an investigating officer with WorkSafeBC I'm going to walk you through an accident investigation at this pulp mill in the accident a worker in the industrial cleaning industry was killed while cleaning a pipe with a water jet water jet systems are heavy-duty pressure washers with truck-mounted pumps and engines they are used in industries like oil and gas pulp and paper to clean pipes vessels and surfaces with pressures up to 40,000 psi they are much more powerful than applying pressure washer the spray from the water jet can cut like a power saw in pulp mills residue builds up inside process pipes the worker had been trying to clean out the line residue from the end of this pipe using a 20,000 psi flex lads flex lance is basically a high-pressure hose with a nozzle on the end used to clean the interior surfaces of pipes the nozzle on a flex lance glass water backwards and forwards self propelling the hose through a pipe when cleaning a pipe with a flex lance workers insert the Lance into the pipe blast out the residue and then withdraw the last in the accident the worker was cleaning out the end of a pipe above him the standing 8 to 12 feet back from the pipe using a new flex lance new flex lances tend to want to recoil a worker lost control of the Flex lattice came out of the pipe recoiled and bored into his upper body collapsed from his injury and later died how can we prevent accidents like this from happening again a jetting gun not a flex Lance should be used to clean the end of the pipe being the rest of a pipe a flex lance can be used along with the backhoe preventer backhoe preventer keeps the nozzle of the Flex lounge from inadvertently coming out of the open end of the pipe mark each flex hose with paint two feet from the outlet end to help indicate where the end of the hose is when hose is inside a pipe or from a scaffold or platform to ensure that the holes are lines can be positioned no high than your shoulders and no lower than your feet load of the laps is controlled by a worker stepping on or off a but dumb ensure that the worker handling the lats has direct control of the foot dump this accident a second worker was controlling the foot don't wear eye and hearing protection as well as protective boots and clothing consider kevlar lion garments water jet injuries are devastating as a result of this accident several BC pulp mills develop new water jet safety practices to help prevent a reoccurrence work safely your life depends on it

Channel: WorkSafeBC

Views: 475,707

Keywords: Pressure cleaning, pressure washer safety, industrial pressure washer safety, incident investigation pressure washer, industrial pressure washer, dangers of pressure washers, industrial pressure washer safety training, British Columbia health and safety, industrial cleaning safety, industrial cleaning health and safety

Id: qeZlI9fLjOo

Length: 2min 54sec (174 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 18 2007