Proper dust collection systems for mixing operations are important not only for the health and safety of your crew, but also the health of your business. If you fail to meet the OSHA standards, you could receive a serious and extremely costly violation.

OSHA’s Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard for Construction

Workers who are exposed to respirable crystalline silica dust are at increased risk of developing serious silica-related diseases. OSHA’s standard requires employers to take steps to protect workers from exposure to respirable crystalline silica.

Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard Fact Sheet

OSHA’s Respirable Crystalline Silica standard for construction requires employers to limit worker

1. Educate Your Employees

Most laborers do not understand why they’re grouting equipment; it just seems like another menial task. But by spending just a few minutes learning why grouting correctly is critical to the success of the entire job, your team is more likely to get it done right the first time.

2. Communicate a Clear Plan

Before beginning to grout the equipment, ensure that each crew member is assigned to a specific task. It is important to allot labor correctly to increase grouting efficiency and to ensure each step is completed correctly. Its surprising how many job sites have half of their laborers standing around for most of the day while grouting.

3. Cut Labor Costs

If your project requires a significant volume

The process of grouting isn’t necessarily difficult, and the materials aren’t hard to work with. But the fact is: It’s important to the owner. So, we have to put a real emphasis on doing it right the first time.

If grouting is executed incorrectly, it can result in damage to the heavy equipment. Or worse, it can even cause cracks in the surrounding foundation, which can be very costly to repair.

1. Lack of Emphasis by Leadership

It’s best to assume that not all laborers know the ins and outs of the processes they’re helping to build. So, it’s up to the project leader to emphasize which tasks are critical. If the leader acts like it’s important, it will be. In contrast, if a leader says something like, “just get it done!” the task may be skimped

Since grouting is often completed by crew members who aren’t educated in best practices, there seems to be a lot of common misinformation about grout pumping. To many, it seems like common sense that pumping grout is better than pouring. However, just because pumping can initially save lots of time and money, it’s not always best.

Today we’re talking about some commonly held myths you should consider before ordering a pump. We are here to help, because simply knowing the truth can save a lot of time and unnecessary headaches.

Myth #1: “If you pump the grout, you’re guaranteed a successful grout job.”

Truth: Pumping gets the grout closer to where it will end up. However, without the right technique, you’re still not guaranteed the best

Calibration is a vital step in ensuring tools are working as they should be, giving correct readings, providing a safe working environment for end-users, and ensuring that companies are upholding their legal obligations. However, calibration is often confused with accuracy and precision. Here we explore what exactly is meant by calibration and why it’s so important.

What is calibration?

Your tool is working fine, but how do you know it is measuring accurately? That’s where calibration comes in.

Calibration is determining and documenting the difference in readings given by a tool compared with reading a given by a measuring standard (fixed device that is known to be accurate). It is generally followed by the adjustment of the tool. 

The process checks whether the values are within

Mining and earth moving operations can be the ultimate test to your ability to ensure bolted joints stay tight. Constant vibration associated with moving equipment over rough terrain can cause even the nuts to loosen and cause damage or possible injury. 

Air-powered and battery-operated torquing tools make it easy to spot check these connections to insure they are still tight. They can also allow for the regular maintenance check on bolts that have a history of loosening. These hand-held tools are convenient and cost effective. 

Torquing is a critical step in your installation of flanges and equipment, but, it is just so time consuming. You could have flanges with 16 or 60 bolts or turbines with nearly 100. Take the sheer number of bolts times the time it takes to turn them with a hydraulic wrench times the number of passes you have to make to get each flange done. Wow, that’s a lot of minutes. There are a few options to help you speed up this operation and reduce your time to something reasonable. 

Make sure your hydraulic pumps have multiple outlets. Pumps that operate up to 4 tools at once are readily available for rent or purchase. This is good for smaller tools and the time you’re saving is the moving of tools for each bolt. 

Air powered nut runners are a calibrated option to get bolts tightened quickly to

Many of the vibration issues that appear as the equipment settles in over time could be averted with better installation techniques. Many of the tasks associated with equipment setting are often considered less important than say alignment or leveling. These other tasks are assumed to be foolproof, easy or even unimportant. These are the less glamorous tasks, but they are critical to the reliability of the equipment. These are tasks like anchoring and grouting. 

Anchoring is critical to holding the equipment down to keep the equipment in the right position in relation to the other components of the system. They also keep the equipment from moving during rotation which could create issue with the moving parts of the system. 

Precision grouts are the key to evenly transferring unused forces from the equipment

Single-point lubricators are ideal for equipment requiring regular lubrication located in difficult to get to or high hazard areas. Self-contained units can dispense grease or oil with worry free consistency and can be mounted un to 15 feet aware from the bearing. Dispensing time can vary from 1 to 12 months and can be turned on and off for scheduled down time. 

Air Sentry® set the standard for contamination control breather technology in 1997, creating new state-of-the-art features that reduced particulate and moisture contamination. This innovative breather line was the first to integrate check valve technology and the first to offer replacement desiccant/filter cartridges, significantly reducing maintenance costs.

The clear view 360 degree design makes it east to inspect the saturation of the color-changing silica gel from a distance. The inert silica gel turns from gold to dark green to visually indicate the absorption of moisture and confirm the breather is getting the job done. 

Air Sentry products cover a wide range of application requirements. The line consists of Good, Better, and Best options designed to meet your specific application and duration specifications.