There is only one place on a concrete pumping job where there is always somebody standing next to a pipe when it’s pressurized. That place is the hopper. The people standing there are ready mix truck drivers. If they aren’t on the job, you’re typically not pumping. When they arrive, pumping begins.

Delivery system components wear out with each stroke of the pump. All operators know this, and most pumping companies track the concrete placed through the system and replace it before it becomes so thin that it’s a hazard. Yet because of the constant proximity of the ready mix truck drivers to the hopper, there have been multiple cases of injuries when one of the two transition pipes at the back of the hopper blows out under pressure.

The resultant injuries have not been fatal, so far. A torn-up knee, a broken leg, concrete removed with tweezers at an emergency room—no big deal UNLESS you’re the person suffering through it. Some of the injured are back to work within a few days or a week, but some require months of rehab, and some of the injuries, while not totally debilitating, are permanent.

The lawsuits generated by these types of accidents require hundreds of man-hours to defend. The defense attorneys and their assistants charge by the hour. When your lawyer is going on vacation, he tells one of the other lawyers what’s going on with your case. That one conversation lasts 16 minutes, but both lawyers bill you for half an hour. If you settle the case for small money, or if you are found not guilty, the lawsuit will cost at least $75,000. If you’re found guilty, it can be millions.

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See Figure 1. There is a solution in the marketplace. A company called Seattle Tarp manufactures a device that captures the concrete that is expelled under high pressure when one of the transition pipes burst. The device has been tested on jobsite situations for years, including several burst transition pipes, without an injury. The device is called a Pipe Diaper, and it does just what the name suggests. In the event of an unintentional expulsion of material from a failed pipe, the concrete hits the diaper, which catches it.

You wash off the material (and change the transition piece) and you’re ready to go again. At least one manufacturer (Alliance Concrete Pumps) issues the Pipe Diapers as standard equipment on new machines, but the devices are available for all makes and models of concrete pumps.

How much do they cost? Outfitting every machine in your fleet with Pipe Diapers for as long as you own your business will cost a small fraction of the cost of defending one lawsuit. I highly recommend these devices for the safety aspects. Seattle Tarp’s version has been tested for years and works well, but if someone else manufactures a competitive product, I’d recommend that, too. Anything to put a layer of safety between the ever-thinning wall of the transition pipes, and the eternal presence of the ready mix truck drivers…

Here is the pdf link if you would like to print this out.

http://www.concretepumping.com/largesponsors/images/PipeDiapers2.pdf

I wanted to thank Rob Edwards and NBIS for sending this in to us.

Hey todd,

isnt there a video somewhere of this in use?  If you know where to find it post it up.These "diapers" are a very good precaution to the problems associated with elbow blow outs.

Tnanks boom inspector, i get by with a little help from my friends. sometimes its a bit more than a little.

here is the video. http://video.concretepumping.com/videos/964/transition-shield-video-for-concrete-pumps

regular thickness of the pipes by measuring and replace you do not need diaper.
hoses may be used or new may just break even, what are we going to invent

pump drivers who think to need a diaper,
pumps too long with too thin lines.
that will not be the intention

Change the pipe when it's thin.But wear the diaper if your boss is cheep.And in that case he will tell you to lean a piece of plywood on it