If It Looks Like A Duck, Swims Like A Duck, Quacks Like A Duck, It's Probably A Duck!

Three decades on and I am still trying to figure out why the likes of OSHA, MSHA, NIOSH, ASSE, safety "professionals," et al remain neutral on the issue of the uncontrolled release of stored hydraulic energy. Is it perhaps because people in these supposedly respectable organizations are so naive about the stored energy that they cannot see the forest for the trees?

To make my case I searched through my "red book of death" and found an accident report about a field service technician that was killed by a "liquid missile" that was launched from a non-conventional source."

On February 1, 2008, a 34-year old field service technician was fatally injured while working on a diesel engine. To observe the movement of what the technician thought was a damaged lifter, and to place it in a better position for removal, the victim asked a colleague the "jog" the engine. Jogging the engine involves momentarily engaging the starter motor to produce limited movement of the engine's internal components without starting the engine.

When the co-worker jogged the engine the upward motion of the piston within the cylinder bore ejected diesel fuel, which had accumulated in the cylinder bore. The diesel fuel being forced through the open injector sleeve orifice at high velocity and high pressure struck the worker in the left eye. The worker died of causes related to blunt force trauma.

According to a report of the investigation conducted by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) the accident occurred for three reasons:

1. The victim had not been provided with hazard training in safe working procedures and the safety hazards related to the failure to remove residual fluid from cylinder bores.
2. Power was supplied to the engine starter causing motion of internal engine components while repairs/maintenance was being performed.
3. The victim was not wearing eye protection.

Here's the irony of the report. According to MSHA one of the reasons why the accident occurred is because the victim had not been provided with hazard training in safe working procedures and the safety hazards related to the failure to remove residual fluid from cylinder bores.

Ironically, MSHA recognizes that a fuel-filled cylinder in a diesel engine is hazardous but fails to realize that an oil-filled hydraulic cylinder is one and the same. MSHA opines that one of the reasons why the accident occurred is because "the victim had not been provided with hazard training in safe working procedures and the safety hazards related to the failure to remove residual fluid from cylinder bores."

MSHA inspectors are on the ground at mines throughout the country every day. They walk amongst technicians that perform invasive work on hydraulic systems. Over 99% have never received hydraulic safety training and yet the inspectors allegedly do nothing to prevent them from suffering debilitating jet-injection injuries, or like the victim in the subject report, death. Moreover, internal combustion engines are apparently exempt from the lockout standard. Without the ability to isolate the power source it's always possible for the "engine starter cause motion of internal engine components while repairs/maintenance are being performed."

Is it perhaps because state and federal safety inspectors; like so-called safety "professionals," cannot tell the difference between a lethal dose of diesel-fuel being delivered by a moving piston in an engine versus hydraulic oil being delivered by a moving piston in a cylinder?

Ironically, the "standard" test for cross-port leakage in a hydraulic cylinder is to; for all intents and purposes, replicate the accident that killed the subject field-service mechanic. This is the procedure (generic) for testing cylinders you will find in most machinery and equipment manufacturers service manuals:

"Remove the oil transmission line from the cylinder port and apply 3000-PSI (207-bar) to 5000-PSI (345-bar) to the cylinder. If oil discharges from the open port replace the cylinder."

Here's my interpretation of the so-called cylinder "test:"

"Remove the oil transmission line from the cylinder port. This will create an orifice that will ensure that if the seal is leaking the oil will discharge at a velocity that is certain to severely injure or kill you. If it finds an ignition source i.e., engine exhaust, turbocharger, shop heater, etc, it will cause an inferno. If the ignition source is in a confined space it will cause an explosion."

Regrettably, machinery and equipment manufacturers aren't the only ones that couldn't care less about your safety. This procedure can be found in technical training manuals provided by Womack Educational Publications, Amatrol, the International Fluid Power Society's fluid power technician certification program (mobile), etc. Moreover, thanks to uninformed advisory committee members and poorly trained college instructors America's technical colleges literally teach students "how to injure and kill themselves."

If you ever get sprayed with hydraulic oil while performing any test you find in a service manual e.g., hydraulic pump or motor case drain test into a bucket, or a cylinder cross-port leakage test, contact an attorney. Show your attorney the respective manufacturer warning about the consequences of discharging stored energy to the atmosphere, and then show him/her the test. Sadly, if you do get severely injured or killed the respective post-accident investigation report will be the same as the subject report: "the victim had not been provided with hazard training in safe working procedures or the ability to recognize that most hydraulic component tests provided by machinery and equipment manufacturers are inherently unsafe."

If you get sideways with stored hydraulic energy, stored hydraulic energy will win!

I wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Safe and Prosperous New Year.