CLEANING ROOFS & GUTTERS TO MEET SAFETY STANDARDS
A fertilizer company based in the Waikato recently approached Kerrick in relation to an OSH hazard in the workplace. Sulphur dust produced from the factory had settled on the warehouse roof trusses 6 meters above ground. The steep pitched roof was too steep to walk on and was too high to access by ladder.
The settled dust had become a fire hazard and needed to be collected quickly and safely without creating a dust storm. Not only is Sulphur a fire hazard, if the dust is inhaled it can cause coughing, sneezing and labored breathing. In addition when sulphur is exposed to moisture it can react with oxidizing agents to create sulphur dioxide which is corrosive to metals.
Kerrick engineers modified an 'off the shelf' VH 440 XP vacuum cleaner to tackle the problem. The fertilizer manufacturer was supplied a telescopic stainless steel wand with a sharp kink in the plastic attachment to target the gutter. The powerful 3 motor wet dry commercial vacuum cleaner has a water lift capacity of 2100mm and airflow of 11500 litres per minute. This provides the grunt needed to contain the sulphur dust blocking the gutters. The modification has additional uses such as cleaning leaves from guttering.
Since this time Kerrick has launched a new range of commercial and industrial roof and gutter vacuum cleaners called SkyVac. These vacs are specially designed to avoid blockages when dealing with lightweight large items like leaves and to reduce operator fatigue through the use of lightweight carbon fibre poles.