Teaching Hydraulic Safety At Calfrac's Training Center In San Antonio, Texas

This is the seventh consecutive year I have taught hydraulic safety at Calfrac. While many oil-field service companies are disinvesting in non-essential training for field service technicians Calfrac's management continues to step outside the boundaries of mandatory safety guidelines set forth by state and federal agencies to protect the company's workers.

Almost every aspect of servicing oil-wells service involves fluids under pressure. In my opinion, maintaining oil wells is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. It's hard to believe OSHA looks the other way while oil-field service workers work within inches of systems that are pressurized to 15,000-PSI (1,034 bar).

Hydraulic systems on oil-field service equipment operate at pressures up to 6,000-PSI (414 bar). Hydraulic safety training empowers oil-field service workers to respect high-pressure fluids.

We shipped two of our flagship training systems to Calfrac's training system for hands-on training. The Model MF102's are the most advanced systems in the world for teaching both Practical Hydraulics and Troubleshooting. This is the seventh consecutive year I have taught hydraulic safety at Calfrac. While many oil-field service companies are disinvesting in non-essential training for field service technicians Calfrac's management continues to step outside the boundaries of mandatory safety guidelines set forth by state and federal agencies to protect the company's workers.

Almost every aspect of servicing oil-wells service involves fluids under pressure. In my opinion servicing oil wells is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. It's hard to believe OSHA looks the other way while oil-field service workers work within inches of systems that are pressurized to 15,000-PSI (1,034 bar).

Hydraulic systems on oil-field service equipment operate at pressures up to 6,000-PSI (414 bar). Hydraulic safety training empowers oil-field service workers to respect high pressure fluids.

We shipped two of our flagship training systems to Calfrac's training center for hands-on training. The Model MF102's are the most advanced systems in the world for teaching both Safe Hydraulics and Troubleshooting. Note the red caps. FPTI's training systems are the only hydraulic training systems in the world that are equipped with devices that make it possible to "detect and diffuse" stored hydraulic energy.

There is a strong need for oil-field service workers to know how to perform precision troubleshooting. Here is a photo of a handful of pumps that cost in the region of $40,00.00 to $60,000.00.

Students also learned how to perform MicroLeak testing techniques. A MicroLeak test is the only safe, efficient, and accurate way to test directional control valves, check valves, cylinders, etc. Students learned to test a directional control valve in approximately 10-minutes with the power source safely locked out.

Twelve students attended this round go hydraulic safety training. Does the training make a difference? Let's ask the students. Here are the students responses when asked how much the training improved their knowledge of hydraulic safety:

By what percentage did the workshop improve your knowledge of hydraulic safety?

100%; 85%; 100%; 100%; 100%; 100%; 95%; 100%; 100%; 100%.

Comments to one of the questions in the final test:

What is the single most significant impact this workshop will have on my life and or my career?

• "Safety"
• "Loved the fact that safety was paramount in instruction and simulator lessons."
• "I recommend that Calfrac bring a hydraulic safety class to every employee in the company."
• "Better understanding of safety related issues involving hydraulic pressure."
• "The seriousness and the danger of what is the hydraulic pressure to which we are exposed and we did not know."
• "Safety in all applications not just hydraulics. Safety and understanding for others who are not properly trained."
• " How not to get killed by hydraulics."
• Knowing the hazards of cracking lines and how to properly test systems and tools needed to test systems."

Bear in mind that every person that graduates from a safety workshop, regardless of the content, becomes a "safety ambassador ."

Thank you Calfrac for caring enough about worker safety that you reach beyond the boundaries set forth by regulatory agencies.

I look forward to returning to Calfrac's training center in June for another two weeks of training.

NOTE: THE COMMENTS IN MY ARTICLES ARE MINE. I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CORRECT COMMENTS AND OPINIONS IN MY ARTICLES SHOULD MORE INFORMATION BECOME AVAILABLE.