SAFE HYDRAULICS PART ONE: KEEPING COMPLIANT.
Loughborough-based Flotec, a leading supplier of hydraulic and pneumatic solutions to industry, discusses the need for Health & Safety professionals to be compliant with ISO 3457 legislation.
It is prudent for health and safety officials to be savvy to ISO 3457 regulations which specify the requirement of guards and other means to protect personnel from mechanical, fluid, or thermal hazards associated with the operation and routine maintenance of high-pressure machinery.
Such machinery can include construction, plant, excavation, and track maintenance to name a few.
Working with any high-pressure system carries incredible risks to limbs, life, and equipment.
High pressure hydraulic hoses are no exception. Whether a hydraulic pinhole leak or full-blown hydraulic burst, the results can be catastrophic.
ISO 3457 stipulates that any hydraulic machinery where operators are required to work within a one metre line-of-sight of hydraulic hosing must be protected from potential hose failure.
Important for safety officers to understand is that operators and organisations can be held legally accountable if a hose failure occurs.
Costs incurred by a company can include:
• Direct medical expenses
• Injured worker wages during recuperation
• Replacement worker wages
• Overtime wages
• Loss of production
• Management/supervision time
• Management/supervision time
• Training costs
• Legal expenses
• Court costs and fines
• Insurance premium increase
• Equipment repair and downtime
• Environmental clean-up and fines
A simple way to help mitigate the risk and potential cost of a hydraulic hose incident is to apply the appropriate hose sleeves. Flotec recommends the LifeGuard hydraulic hose sleeve which has been proven successful in containing and safely controlling either a hydraulic hose burst or pinhole leak.
Whilst there are other burst sleeves available on the market, they may not be quite as effective in dealing with extremely high-pressure hydraulic hose failures.
The LifeGuard line-of-sight sleeve is also an economic alternative to more costly metal shielding or hydraulic hose re-routing.
The LifeGuard hydraulic hose sleeve is effective in containing pin burst leaks of up to 35,0 MPa and hydraulic hose bursts up to 70 MPa and is capable of fluid containment up to 10,000 psi.
Importantly for H&S personnel, the LifeGuard sleeve is fully compliant with ISO 3457 specifications and meets MSHA flame resistance standards.
Health and Safety officials need peace of mind that equipment and processes are as safe as can be and that any risk has been mitigated as far as possible.
When it comes to reducing the dangers associated with hydraulic hose failures, Flotec can provide support to do just that.
Flotec has installed LifeGuard sleeves to many of its customer assets who understand the need to reduce the risk of hydraulic hose failure where Flotec’s solution is now standard best-practice.
To find out more about the LifeGuard sleeve and Flotec’s entire industrial product range, call the team on +44 (0) 1509 230 100 or email sales@floteconline.com
Alternatively, head to www.flotecindustrial.co.uk and submit an online enquiry.