Without a doubt, water blasting is one of the more dangerous aspects of Bodine's business, which has the most potential for life-affecting injury. Bodine regularly utilizes water pressure from 10,000 to 40,000 PSI in its maintenance services. Water blasting equipment has sufficient pressure to cut through reinforced concrete and every available protection utilized.
The high-pressure water-cleaning industry is still a relatively new business. Outstanding advances have been made in the cleaning equipment used to perform the job; however, engineering controls to eliminate the hazards of the equipment have been slower to evolve. Without a commercially-available accident-free engineered solution to prevent high-pressure water injuries, Bodine has chosen to incorporate a relatively-new personal protective suit to its safety requirement to reduce the possibility of injury. Bodine is obligated to its employees and to OSHA to mandate the use of PPE when engineering controls cannot control or eliminate a known hazard.
Turtle Skins are the most effective PPE available for water blasting to date. No material that can be worn by a person will withstand a sustained stream of high-pressure water and enable movement required to complete the work activities. The Turtle Suit is a protective garment that protects the front of the body including the chest, forearms and legs. The suit is deigned to protect against a non-sustained "quick swipe" of water up to forty thousand PSI. The suits are expensive and do not have a long life expectancy due to the environment in which they are used. However, the reduction of one injury more than justifies the purchase, use and inconvenience of wearing the suit.
Bodine is the only industrial maintenance contractor in central Illinois to incorporate the use of Turtle Skins into the blasting process. The suits are believed to equal the blaster itself with regard to importance in the success of a job and safety. Projects will not be performed without either of their use.
Bodine does not believe that Turtle Skins are the final solution to protect our employees. The company will spare no expense investing in the safest products available in our industry to protect the employee, reduce our injuries and offer the best service possible. Bodine will continue to explore and utilize every technological advancement available and require their mandatory use to ensure the safest work environment for our employees. Our employees are our biggest asset and deserve every safe-guard available.
