Hydraulic fluid injection injury PSA

[alfadan]

This was posted on the Garage Journal forum and I thought it'd be good to get the word spread. I did not write this. Hydraulics always give me heebi-jeebis.


I work in hydraulic hose direct with the worlds largest hose manufacturer as a field engineer. I do a lot of training, including safety training. We commonly train about safety around charged hydraulic systems, to help people avoid the potentials for dangerous fluid injection into the flesh.

If a failed hose or connection creates a small jet of fluid it only takes 100 psi to pierce the skin. 300 psi of fluid pressure can create a fluid jet to go through the hand flesh. Common hydraulic system pressure can cause fluid to travel DEEP up in the flesh. An employee got fluid injected at his wrist and the pressurized fluid traveled up to his elbow. 1st part of the cure was to cut a 1/2" of flesh off his arm, wrist to elbow, in order to drain the oil from the flesh. If not treated as a DEEP FLESH WOUND within 24 hours the flesh goes gangrenous and dies. Nerves and capillaries die quickly causing permanent damage. If an injection happens, get to a deep flesh wound specialist within 24 hours. DO NOT let an emergency room nurse, or doctor, apply topical cleaning and antiseptics as a cure. If not treated within 24 hours, flesh amputation is the process applied 50% of the time to stop further damage.

Used to be that only persons in industries were susceptible to these issues. But nowadays, hydrostatic drive systems at 3,000, to 6,000 psi are not uncommon on a home lawn tractor or ZTR. Many people may have a compact tractor with hydraulic features or attachments. These days it is common to have pressurized hydraulic systems in your garage. Pressurized oil, grease or paint can all cause a deep flesh wound injury.

One thing about any grease gun, do NOT use the cheapest grease gun hose you find at most stores. When I worked in engineering for Dayco, one of our highest liability claims was for failed grease gun hoses that resulted in grease injection into the skin of the operator. Think about it, you hold the grease hose nozzle onto the zerk, and apply pressure by the handle, or power switch. Grease guns have no relief, the "relief" is when the grease projects from the item being greased. I was involved in testing development for a grease whip hose for Lincoln. The hose Lincoln was using would easily burst at FAR less than a 4:1 safety factor. A hand held grease gun, or electric grease gun, can easily exceed WELL over 3,000 psi. The hose we developed at Dayco wouldn't burst until 18,000 psi and you could not kink it. The hose Lincoln was using could easily kink and fail.

Again, IF you ever get grease, oil or paint injected into your skin, get to a DEEP FLESH WOUND specialist immediately. Don't go after your project is done, don't go after your shift is done, don't go after you get all cleaned up, go immediately. If grease, oil, or paint gets injected into the flesh, the flesh dies and get gangrenous within 24 hours. Amputation is the most common treatment at that point. Tell the flesh wound specialist the following: tell the pressure of the system, tell the type of fluid injected (bring MSDS data), tell them the amount of fluid injected, tell the amount of time from when the fluid was injected. It all matters if you loose only some flesh, or feeling, or if you loose half of your hand and capabilities. I've heard stories and seen pictures of a person's hand ballooned up like a rubber glove blown up, saying the pain is SO intense to just cut it off to relieve the pain. I have a video of a hand after being flayed open to drain the fluid, and still moving , because the wound must heal from deep in the flesh out to the surface. Just be careful with ANY pressurized hose assembly.

[rking22]

Thanks for posting that, but it made my skin crawl! I have worked 4 decades around hi pressure systems and never knew the medical details posted here. Back around 1983 I was running a taper rolling mill. I saw a small spray of fluid at a coupling and dropped to the floor just before a 26mm hose passed thru where I had just been, driven by 3000 psi of HOT fluid. I was drenched and slightly burned, just showered and changed before helping with the repair. It did shut down but the accumulator emptied. Own a hydrostatic tractor, zero turn, and still work with some hyd servo systems as an engineer. I will print your post and talk with work to see if they can do a safety talk for everyone.

[legend 550]

Had a coworker once put his finger over the nozzle of an airless paint sprayer he was cleaning. Pulled the trigger and injected Mineral spirits into his left index finger. Immediate extreme pain, rescue squad was called. Spent 2 weeks in the Hospital in intensive care with his arm laid open with 4 large deep incisions Running from his elbow clean to his finger tips and thumb trying to get the mineral spirits out. Doctors said it starts killing flesh on contact and didn't think they would save his arm. In the End Dean lost 2 fingers and a considerable amount of the mussel in his arm and hand.
Please be careful around this or any pressurized oil or air for that matter.

[facetious]

When I was working, the last set of web presses I worked on used hydraulic drives for some things . In our training class thy went over this in our safety classes. High pressure fluids in thin streams can do more than people think .The other thing was lasers. Thy use them as safety switches and other things and what can happen if you should look at one. No shortage of thing to hurt you.

[john.k]

I knew a guy saw a very fine feathery spray coming from a truck crane hose fitting ,and gripped round the fitting with his hand ......his whole hand ended up as a swelled up football shape ,completely useless,and still is......Airless sprays normally got a guard over the nozzle .I worked with airless up to 6000psi ,for years servicing them ,but never used one to paint with .....been meaning to though ,as I have enough stuff to do my house with some day......The only form of spraypaint thats legal here now.

[mattw]

Serious stuff, my wife accidentally hit me with a 4500 psi water jet once. I had bubbles all the way up my arm in minute's, luckily it was only water as it absorbed and cleared out. Growing up farming, we maintained our hose meticulously due to the crush hazzard a failed hose presented. Dads day job has him around pumps that could generate 10s of thousands of psi with oil. He was always concerned.

[tomme boy]

Had 300 gals of fluid spray me and another millwright. We were checking a 2" welded steel line on top of a 1.5K ton press. It had a leak at a flange. The guy I was with somehow slipped in the scissor lift and ran it into the piping we were looking at. Lucky it was the low psi feed to the pump. It was the tank suction side that broke off the bottom of the tank. Another lucky thing was the press was not running for 2 weeks prior to this or the oil would have been about 165*. Thats why we were looking it over to put it back into production. Well it ended up with a few more repairs after that.

[rancher1913]

just wait till you learn about high pressure dry steam, when we went in the steam tunnels to find a leak it was common practice to carry an old corn broom and wave it ahead of you, if the broom got cut in two you had found the leak.

[gwrench]

Thanks for the advice. I'm familiar with the cautions about hydraulics but I hadn't thought about the grease gun hose!

[Moleman-]

Buddy just about lost his foot using a pressure washer with soap while wearing sandles cleaning off his boat. Said he just brushed the water across his ankle and it puffed it up like a balloon. They cut drains into his foot and lower leg. Grew up on a farm and am aware of the danger of hydraulic fluid injection. So I was surprised when he got to keep his foot.

[Idaho45guy]

Used to work on the hydraulic systems of Naval aircraft and was well aware of the dangers of pressurized lines and pinhole leaks. Was told to use a rag in your hand to check for leaks rather than your bare hands. Doesn't seem like a good idea since I imagine a rag doesn't offer a whole lot of protection, either.

[oldred]

Grease hose installation warning, the end of the hose with the spring does NOT connect to the gun! It seems most folks assume the spring is to support the hose at the connection, or for whatever reason, but that spring should be on the fitting end where it will keep your fingers away from the surface of the hose if there is a leak while holding a connector (not a safe practice anyway but folks do it). Grease does not "spurt" out like hydraulic fluid since the volume of grease being pumped is minute compared to a hydraulic system, that spring will prevent a person from gripping (griping?) the surface of the hose and give the grease someplace else to go besides under the skin if the is a leak.

[.429&H110]

I had a good new Yellow Jacket 3000# rated R-410a hose blow off a recovery machine at 520 psi. It got hot? D'ya think? Kinda whipped around a bit. Made a safety glasses believer out of my student worker.
Now ya see it, now ya don't!

[shaune509]

Same goes for air hose and fittings. Have seen many people think they can hold an air leak for some unknown dumb reason. Running your hand over a tire or tube to find a nail hole is one thing, an air hose with 100-200psi and smaller to be able to grip is very much different.
Shaune509

[john.k]

Strangest accident I saw with hydraulic fluid was an excavator developed a pinhole leak somewhere and as it slewed around back and forth spread a thick fog of oil ,which suddenly caught fire in a huge fireball.The excavator was a biggie ,80 tonner ,and had its own fire system of CO2 ,which also went off ,adding to the sight.Ball of fire and black smoke must have gone up 500 feet ....The heat seared my face and burnt off my eyebrows and bubbled the paint on my truck a hundred feet away.

[Land Owner]

Sobering information.

[remy3424]

Wicked stuff....makes me want to sit on my couch a little longer today.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Would be worse if the oil was one particular one that's quite toxic (Can't remember the name but my dad mentioned using it in his industry)

[facetious]

I have seen videos where they are cutting stuff with high pressure water. Years ago I rented a pressure washer to clean the house before painting, the guy gave me the rundown on how to use it and said witch nozzle to use so as not to cut a hole in the house. Well I had to try it so put on the finest nozzle and was able to cut a board with it. That thing could wash the meat off of someone.

Think about that the next time you see someone let their kid play with the pressure washer and try not to get the willys.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Flow Industries (based in Kent, WA) makes water cutters. They can cut wedding cake etc. without making the cake soggy, high pressure low volume water jets. FAR better to let a push stick etc. get hacked up, than our precious pelts!

[CastingFool]

In the army, I used to work on CH47 helicopters, which have 3 hydraulics systems, running at 6000 psi. Never thought about the danger of working with 6000 psi

[Greg S]

I do alot of industrial coatings, heated plural component mainly with typical line pressures in the 3-5k neighborhood. This is the second time I've seen this posted and it is realy sobering after you see pics of someones arm filleted open to relieve pressure and let the non-organic material drain out. Good weekly safety meeting material wiyh pics to drive the point home.

[samari46]

600 pound steam boilers on my ship at 900-950 degrees superheat. You could hear the whistle of a leak, and the corn broom was and is a good idea. Tank farm where I worked was only
100 psi saturated steam so you could see as well as hear it. Had a steam line let go when starting up a 100 year old double acting oil pump one day. Since it was attached to a hydrostatic oil lubricator
at the time steam and cylinder oil flying all over the pump room. Always check out the hydraulic hoses on my Kubota tractor on a regular basis. Frank

[Spooksar]

Worked as a Millwright for 30 years around lots of hydraulic they are nothing to play with. An injection like theOP is talking about can do lots of harm.

[GregLaROCHE]

I remember being taught about the danger when bench testing fuel injectors, but never thought about hydraulics. Makes a lot of sense though.

[megasupermagnum]

I remember being taught about the danger when bench testing fuel injectors, but never thought about hydraulics. Makes a lot of sense though.

Was this diesel injectors? I can't imagine a gasoline fuel injector being much of an issue at under 100 psi. Hydraulics are the big one. Even low end hydraulic systems can produce over 2000 psi.

[tommag]

Was this diesel injectors? I can't imagine a gasoline fuel injector being much of an issue at under 100 psi. Hydraulics are the big one. Even low end hydraulic systems can produce over 2000 psi.
I don't recall if the number was 5,000 or 50,000 psi, but the newer common rail diesel injection systems are very high pressure.

[bakerjw]

just wait till you learn about high pressure dry steam, when we went in the steam tunnels to find a leak it was common practice to carry an old corn broom and wave it ahead of you, if the broom got cut in two you had found the leak.

I've heard of this with cardboard too.

[MaryB]

Was this diesel injectors? I can't imagine a gasoline fuel injector being much of an issue at under 100 psi. Hydraulics are the big one. Even low end hydraulic systems can produce over 2000 psi.

My Ford 2.0L EcoBoost has direct cylinder injection... gasoline at 2200PSI...

[lightman]

Thanks for posting this!

As a retired Lineman we discussed hydraulic leaks in safety meetings. I've been in the bucket a few times when a hose broke and got drenched in hot oil. Being hosed down in oil makes for a miserable day! The oil in our systems had a high flash point. Thankfully most machines used for overhead work have holding valves on the cylinders that prevent them from falling in the event that a hose breaks.

[Burnt Fingers]

My Ford 2.0L EcoBoost has direct cylinder injection... gasoline at 2200PSI...

WOW! I knew they were in that range on the newer diesel engines but I had no idea they were doing that with gas too.

[Mk42gunner]

My first two ships were "1200 pound" steam plants; actually a bit more, not sure just how much more, I was a Gunner's Mate, not a snipe. I do remember they ran somewhere around 1476 degrees. We where always told "If you are down in the pit and hear whistling, grab a broom stick to wave around while getting out."

Never really though about tractor hydraulics, my WD has high pressure low volume at something like 4500 psi. Can't just go to the corner hardware store to get compatible cylinders.

Robert

[RKJ]

I cut the pointer finger on my left hand to the bone with a commercial power washer, I'd dropped the wand in the mud and after picking it up I thought just a little slow wash will c!Dan this off. If sure did, the bad thing is the guy at the rental place warned me about the spray but I didn't take him seriously enough. There was no blood, it was cauterized and as clean as a whistle. It made a believer of me though.

[Hipshot Percussion]

My first two ships were "1200 pound" steam plants; actually a bit more, not sure just how much more, I was a Gunner's Mate, not a snipe. I do remember they ran somewhere around 1476 degrees. We where always told "If you are down in the pit and hear whistling, grab a broom stick to wave around while getting out."

Never really though about tractor hydraulics, my WD has high pressure low volume at something like 4500 psi. Can't just go to the corner hardware store to get compatible cylinders.

Robert

Robert

As an electrician in the canoe club. I spent a little time on a 1200 psi ship.

If you could hear a steam leak you wouldn’t have been able to breathe. It would fill the compartment with 950 degree “dry” steam.

We did go searching for steam leaks with broom though. You passed the broom over stem pipes. If the bristles suddenly came flying down, you found a steam leak. Marked it for later work.

For further useless bits of trivia call any time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gator 45/70]

Worked in the Gulf on a few hummers, One had a Flowing tubing pressure of 20,700 psi out in Ship Shoal 77/76 area
Mostly nat gas with CO/2, Lots of condensate coming up and quite hot !
Had velocity elbows for 90's coming off the tree and flowlines, A regular 4'' 90 would cut out in short order from the velocity ramming up against it.
Those cut outs were very easy to locate.

[myg30]

OP, thank you for the good info that most may not be aware of fluid danger.


AIR pressure can be just as bad. Most of us have an air compressor at home for many uses.
We tend to blow off saw dust and dirt from our clothes before we go inside to the house.
A non safety air nossle can force a air bubble thru the skin and into the blood stream, this too can be very dangerous.
A safety nossle has holes thru the tip before the end and it reduces the force coming out the tip.
Most of us old guys have the old school type for Full pressure and can forget about the dangers.

As children most of us were told not to fool with electric, but mom or dad never told us the dangers of hydraulics or air pressures.


Everyone be safe, Mike