Working with Air Hoses Safely
Almost any tool, no matter how simple, can cause harm and injury if used improperly. Hammers can smash fingers while saws can cut into skin. This is even truer with power tools including their accessories as their potency is greatly multiplied.
Air hoses are no exception. Indeed, even when they are not in use, air hoses can be a danger if they are not stored properly. If they are left lying in passageways, stairs, or ladders, they can cause tripping, slipping, and falling. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA says that the majority of accidents at work involve the three, causing 15% of all accidental deaths, a rate that follows that of automobile accident deaths.
Storage should be away from heat or direct sunlight as these can prematurely damage the hose. Compromised hoses can fail while in use resulting to injury.
Compressed air from air hoses should not be used to clean your skin and neither should it be pointed towards anybody as the strong air can force dust, dirt, or even loose materials on your clothes such as buttons into the eyes causing serious injury.
If you have to use pressurized air from the air hose to clean the materials you are working on, reduce pressure to about 30 PSI, also to keep debris and other small objects from flying all the over the place.
Valves should first be shut and any pressure remaining in the hose should be released before coupling or uncoupling an air hose with the air compressor regulator or with another hose. Be sure also that only the appropriate fittings are used in the air hoses’ ends to avoid damaging mismatched couplings. These could be torn from each other when pressurized air passes through them. When this happens, the hose ends can suddenly and forcefully whip upwards.
Whenever releasing compressed air from the tank into the air hose, secure its open end to avoid whipping that could lead to injury. Do this slowly so that if any debris found its way inside the hose, it will be expelled without too much pressure.