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Safety Precautions When Working With Water Cutting

25 March 2016

Amaury Picard

Water cutting is a technique used by many businesses in different industries that is also available for ordinary people. It's an environmentally friendly way of cutting many different materials that prevents dangerous material and harmful particles from being released into the air while you're cutting. However, even though water cutting in many ways is safer than ordinary cutting using a blade, it can still be quite dangerous. If you at some point need to handle a water cutter for your own purposes, you should be aware of the safety procedures necessary for you to be able to handle the tool without getting injured.

Protecting your hands

The first thing you need to make sure of is that you run no risk of cutting your hands while you work with cutting the material. You should always wear protective, reinforced gloves when working with water cutting, but in many cases this is not enough. If the water beam hits your hand straight on, it will cut through your gloves as well as your hands. Make sure to keep your hands away from the beam both on top and underneath the material being cut. Even if the beam has passed through material, it's still very protruding. Therefore, you should not attempt to hold the material up from underneath while you're cutting. Always use tools to keep the material in place so that you can avoid getting cut.

Hearing protection

Another safety precaution you should take is to wear hearing protection as you're working with water cutting. This is not always necessary in ordinary operations where the material is submerged in the water, as this doesn't produce a lot of noise. However, if you're working above water, for example with a material that is too large to submerge, you'll need to protect your hearing. Ordinary ear plugs are sufficient, but it you're working on the project for a long time, you should also make sure to take breaks every now and again so that your ears can rest.

Safety goggles

The most dangerous part of the water itself is the abrasive material used to give the water more cutting power. In most cases, this is garnet sand that is harmless for your skin. However, you still need to protect your eyes. Getting any type of sand in your eyes can be dangerous, but getting sand from a water cutter in your eyes is even more worrying, as the sand is highly pressurised and will come shooting towards your eyes with great speed. Always use goggles to protect yourself from this when using a water cutter. For more information, contact a business such as Intracut.

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