ACCORDING to Gates Australia, CMS Insurance records indicate that 62% of all hydraulic incidents in the Longwall Industry over the last eight years were caused by hose or fitting failures.
CMS Insurance data says these fitting and hose incidents have resulted in 159 injuries in total at an average of around 20 per year.
Gates Australia says a high force leak has the power to pierce the skin and can potentially result in death.
The Queensland Department of Mines and Energy says pin-hole sized leaks in a hose or pipe will cause a very fine jet of fluid that may be undetectable as a jet, as it is not always noisy and not always wet, such as air. The very fine jet at high pressure will act like a hypodermic needle that may penetrate the skin, depositing some of the fluid.
Equipment operators working within a one metre line-of-sight of a hydraulic system must not search for fine pinhole leaks by hand. They run the risk of personal injury, fluid burns and injection, fires and explosions and electrical shocks.
Gates Australia says its LifeGuard Line-of-Sight Sleeving System is the first true protection in line-of-sight hydraulic applications. It can contain 400 bar bursts and 200 bar pinhole leaks at temperatures at 100 degrees Celsius.
According to Gates Australia, after redirecting the explosive force down the length of the hose, the LifeGuard sleeve disperses the energy and fluids at the hose ends via carefully designed ‘channel’ clamps. The leaked fluid then allows for fast hose failure detection. The double-layer sleeve effectively shields you against these hazards.
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