Working as technician in the water treatment network or taking care of the maintenance on valve across Australia is not an easy task. Operators put their health at risk every day. That is why here at Modec, we focused on developing customized solutions for them. 

Here are three major harms that can be easily avoided thanks to the right moves and suitable equipment:

1. 1. Heat illnesses

2. Distance between valves

3. Blocked valves

1. Heat illness - Valve operators’ safety first

Heat stroke

According to the OSHA “heat Stroke is the most serious heat-related health. Heat stroke occurs when the body’s temperature regulating system fails and temperature rises to critical levels. Heat stroke is a medical emergency that may rapidly result in exhaustion should be taken to a clinic or death!”

When operating valve network outside in the bush, in the middle of nowhere under 50 degrees, one of the main risks is dehydration, which can be enhanced by high air temperatures, humidity, direct sun exposure and, of course, high efforts. We lose a lot of water while working outside in high temperature. If not properly hydrated, you will first feel headaches, cramps, chills… I shouldn't be taken lightly as it can be the premise to a real health issue. If you feel any of those it can be the sign of heat stress and sunstroke; it is a life threatening emergency! Call 000 and try to cool down.

Tips: Even if cold water appears to hydrate more, it is not the case. You should drink water at room temperature. For example, people walking all day in the desert drink hot tea in order to be hydrated.

In order to prevent from any of these heat illnesses, some simple habits have to be incorporate in daily work. Valve operators must also be trained to notice signs of dehydration for themselves but also for others.

Also, it is well recommended to take regular breaks in a cooled-down environment if possible when hard working outside. The myths that air conditioning prevents people from getting  their body adapted to a temperature is absolutely wrong. If you feel hot you should take a break until you feel that your body temperature cooled down.

2. Long network of valves – Reducing the number of valve operators on interventions

One would dream for valves to all be at the same place! Unfortunately in Australia when in the water industry, they usually are really far from one another. Our expert on site realized that valve networks can extend very far through the desert for hundreds of kilometres. When there is a valve station every 20km on a 220km pipeline and operator have to manipulate each and every valves it is important to optimize each intervention.

Therefore, when interventions are needed, as valves can be really hard to open safely, two or three operators might be required for the same mission. It actually costs a lot to the company and wastes the precious time of the workers.

Well at Modec we cannot relocate the valves, but we found a way to reduce the number of workers going in the intervention from three to only one. How? Thanks to a portable valve exerciser tool! (see picture)

Save Time, Save Money and Improve Safety

This tool eases so much the task that only one water treatment operator is needed. Also, it reduces all the risks linked to the heat as no force is needed to open the valve. It is also much safer.  Indeed, our torque management systems allow the operator to have a wide range of possibilities to avoid using strength. If you want you can use your environment to fix the strap. If you prefer you can use a foot held system, usually for your buried valves systems. Then you just have to plug the trigger and let the actuator do all the work!

As a video is worth a thousand words, here is how our portable wrench could help you in your day to day task while saving money:

3. Blocked valves

You don’t always deal  with brand new valves, on the contrary, you sometimes deal with very old network and valves full of rust and dust. Jammed valves are the enemy of any valve operator. It requires an extra strength and sometimes, it is impossible to open even if the strength of 3 people is put together with a T-key/Curb key.

Well, you could try to put some penetrating oil on it, or even use a wrench but you might get frustrated or worse, break the valve.

Here again we took care in designing our portable valve actuator carefully by adding features such as a torque limiter in order to keep the valves from breaking. With this you can adjust the level of strength you need to operate each different valve and be sure that the oldest jammed valve will move and in the meantime  avoid breaking the valve that has a lot of gearbox and reduction on it.

The Occupational Health Services Australia (OSHA) requires employers to provide safe working environments for their workers, and failure to do so can result in fines and other enforcement action.

If you want to significantly reduce risks of injuries and increase your productivity you should consider a portable valve assist.