HPE Training
How Safe are Your Jetter and Pressure Washer Operators?
It is a basic requirement under Health & Safety Law that employers ensure that employees are adequately trained in the safe use of all equipment. However not all employers appreciate the possible hazards of power washers. This is in part due to the fact that they are readily available in most D.I.Y stores. Besides its only water, so what harm can it do?
What you need to know!
At 1000 p.s.i the water jet can reach a speed of 110 m.p.h and at 4000 p.s.i it travels at 440 m.p.h (half the speed of a bullet). Harnessed correctly and using the correct pressure rated tools and accessories the speed of this jet of water can be used to accomplish many cleaning and cutting tasks. Due to the fact that water is incompressible, water travelling out of the lance at these speeds can carry a risk of serious injury. The Water Jetting Association (WJA) tells us that we can puncture the skin with a water jet as low as 100 p.s.i.
The Health and Safety at Work Act lays responsibility upon employers to ensure that their undertakings are, so far as reasonable and practicably, safe and without risk to health. Further more the Act also demands that employers only provide equipment that is safe and well maintained.
We can only guess at how many pressure washers are out there that see little or no maintenance. Even if you do have well maintained equipment, do your operators know how to use it correctly and what their safety responsibilities are? Are they issued with and use the correct Personal Protective Equipment (P.P.E) for the task? If not you and your operators may be in breach of the legislation. And not be paid out for any claim for injuries incurred.
We recognise the need for appropriate training and have been producing and delivering training courses aimed at all aspects of High Pressure Water Jetting for over thirty years. We are able to deliver the right kind of training for your operators on site or at our training centers.
Now that you know the hazards it is vital to ensure that your operators receive the appropriate information and training required. No task is too small or too large to warrant not getting correct training, be it 1000 p.s.i or 40,000 p.s.i. We can provide your operators with the information and skills required to reduce the risk of accidents in your work place.
