Another Workshop Under The Belt........Another Resounding Success!

The success of all technical training courses must be measured by how much students learn about safety as it applies to the subject matter.

Oil-field service workers work in what is arguably the most hazardous industries in the world. Its called "pressure pumping" for a reason. Almost every element of fracking involves high-pressure. Fracking pressures can be as high as 15,000-PSI (1034 bar). Oil pressures in the hydraulic systems that provide aspects of the power for fracking machines are as high as 6000-PSI (414 bar).

Fracking unit operators and mechanics must receive safety training in pressurized systems. Only a handful of oil-field service companies provide vital hydraulic safety training. Most safety personnel and supervisors assume that if a mechanic has received training in fundamental hydraulics, he or she is qualified to work on and around pressurized systems. Nothing could be further from the truth.

One of the reasons why our workshops are consistently successful is that we provide students with the most advanced hydraulic training simulators in the world (Model MF102D-H-TSE), excellent textbooks and workbooks, and highly animated visuals. We know how to make hydraulics fun to teach and thoroughly enjoyable and easy to learn.

We also help students learn how to differentiate between pump cavitation and pseudo cavitation with our totally transparent, fully-functional pump cavitation simulator (Model MF200-CAV). The photo shows what happens when the hydraulic oil level in a hydraulic is low, or when design engineers put oil return lines above the oil level. You can see the turbulence directly below the white oil return line. The MV200-CAV is designed to demonstrate normal operations, cavitation, pseudo-cavitation, vortex and sub-standard design/poor maintenance practices. One of the most desirable features of the MF200 is that the oil level can be dropped in real time.

Here are the responses to last weeks post-workshop survey. Bear in mind, many of the respondents have worked in the oil-field for decades. 

Note: It's safe to say that based on the student's responses, up until a week ago, the only reason why they have not been injured or killed is by luck. 

 Question 1-

List three of the most critical takeaways or lessons learned:

(I will show each of the nine student's first choices)

Student Comment

1 "Safety"

2 "Safety"

3 "Hydraulics are extremely dangerous, and we need to take hydraulic

safety more seriously."

4 "Safety"

5 "How to be safe and identify hazards"

6 "Dangers of stored energy"

7 "How to safely discharge stored pressure"

8 "Always take safety first"

9 "Safety"

Question 2-

By how much did the workshop improve your knowledge of hydraulic safety?

The workshop improved 78% of students' knowledge of hydraulic safety by 100%, one by 95%, and another by 75%.

Additional comments by the nine students:

"Everyone in the field should attend this workshop just for the safety aspect of it."

"Everyone around the equipment and also maintenance management."

"More technicians should take the course. I highly recommend it."

"All workers who fix hydraulics, all maintenance supervisors and all leads should take the course."

"I think everyone should. We are all around high-pressure systems and have no idea of the danger."

"Every mechanic in the company no matter if we work in the shop or field. We work on hydraulics, so it is essential. This training even crosses over to hydraulic fracturing as a whole."

"Everyone should take this course."

"Supervisors, lead mechanics, mechanics - shop and field, and parts clerks."

Conclusion:

Three of the nine students that attended the workshop held associate's degrees in fluid power. Regrettably, their curriculums did not include hydraulic safety. 

Want results like mine? I am here to help. If you are interested in adding hydraulic safety to your curriculum, please contact me. Bear in mind that I offer complimentary train-the-trainer workshops for tax-payer funded schools and colleges. 

I don't write these articles to promote my workshops. I write them to help folks that teach technical workshops (primarily hydraulics) to improve their workshops. 

A teacher's most vital responsibility is to teach America' future technicians how to think about safety and work safely.