18 months ago, a customer called and asked Hydroblast to go and deliver Water Jetting Safety Awareness training to his staff.
Then, this spring we were invited to go back to his country and deliver further training to more of their staff. However, when we arrived in their office, we were asked to follow them to a nearby factory to take a look at a potential new job.
Upon arrival, it was clear it was going to be a big job, with inductions, high-level ppe, face masks and emergency showers all taking place before being escorted around to be shown a vertical tank, which was blocked.
With the plant only in production and the hatchway sealed, the tank could only be looked at from the outside. It was then established that the contents of the tank had only previously been attempted to be broken out with a Brok, and only minimal amounts were destroyed.
After being warned that the contents of the tank were dangerous and bell metal, we made the decision man entry tank cleaning could not be completed.
Having left the site, the customer asked if there was any way we could help him resolve the situation. A few minutes of planning later we were asked to mobilise the truck and power pack and start the job on Monday.
Our operators were briefed and told to take every precaution possible to look after themselves, as the window of opportunity was small, work had to be completed for a straight 72 hours.
As the first day was completed, Gerald was shown pictures and told by the operator: “It’s breaking up and we are getting there”
The further into the tank they got the harder the product became, with it producing rock like qualities. Gerald then checked in with the client, to get an update on how things were going:
“Hydroblast are the stars of the show – no one has seen anything like that ever before – we are delighted”
The shutdown period came to an end, our driver and operators packed up and made the long journey home. With the last comments from the operators being that there were 12 more blocked tanks to clean – we’ll be back.