A system that enables remote removal of concrete from truck mixers can significantly reduce the health and safety risks of drum cleaning. That is according to Hopkins, the firm that has recently negotiated the sole distributor rights to market the Ready Jet G3 in the UK.
The concrete and aggregate supplier from Somerset says the drum-cleaning system not only avoids the injuries involved in climbing inside the drum but can eliminate exposure to the carcinogen, silica dust.
Nathan Hopkins, Director of Hopkins, says: “We wanted to offer our employees a safer environment in which to work and Ready Jet provided us with the perfect solution. All of the health and safety risks to individuals are removed and I’m really pleased to be able to champion safety within our industry.”
Manual cleaning is the most common and traditional method of clearing out residual concrete build-up from the drum and this involves operators physically climbing inside the drum via the small entry hatch, armed with a jackhammer in order to chip away and loosen the set concrete, says the company.
Vibrations from the jackhammer often loosen concrete from the roof of the drum, making falling debris one of the biggest contributors to operator injuries during the cleaning process, they add.
Hopkins says that in terms of eliminating exposure to silica dust, recent tests of the system found no detectable amounts of the known carcinogen. Working in a confined space is another health and safety issue to take into account with drum cleaning, highlights the firm, which explains that the G3 works by removing hardened concrete from inside the truck mixer drum via robotic water blasting technology. The use of the G3 can also improve efficiency, says Hopkins, with cleaning time reducing to around two hours per mixer drum.
