With the growing awareness of the importance of safety in the environment, RAMCO Safety Shields are a natural fit in processes involving hazardous or toxic chemicals. Not only do they provide safety features, but they also permit cost reduction. Shields contribute to worker health and safety by minimizing absenteeism due to accidents caused by contact with leaking chemicals and contain costs because there is no need to train replacement workers. Also, because they prevent sprayouts from harming personnel, shields contribute indirectly to maintaining stable health insurance rates and containing workmen’s compensation claims.
Safety shields prevent sprayouts by interposing an impregnable barrier between the chemical flowing through the piping system and the external environment.
To provide this protection, safety shields must be produced from special materials that are unaffected by chemicals and can tolerate exposure to various temperatures and pressures. In the event of a leak, the escaping fluid is controlled within the shield, and the pressure is dissipated, allowing the leaking chemical to drip harmlessly to the ground.
RAMCO manufactures an assortment of safety shields to accommodate the hundreds of liquid chemicals that are used in processing industries at varying temperatures and pressures. By selecting the appropriate shield for a specific application, virtually all situations can be safeguarded.
The RAMCO® Safety Shields are suitable exclusively for liquid chemicals, both hazardous and corrosive, as well as water and steam. Since these shields have not been designed for use with gases or solids and do not resist radiation, they should not be considered for these applications.
To select the proper safety shield, it is necessary to be familiar with the physical properties of the special materials from which RAMCO® Safety Shields are fabricated and to correlate this information with the chemical, temperature and pressure ratings within the piping system.
It must be emphasized that a safety shield is not designed to stop leaks. Its purpose is to indicate, contain and deflect temporarily the escaping fluid and, thereby, prevent a sprayout. When shields have been installed, workers can approach a leaking pipe joint safely, shut off the system and make the necessary repairs.
RAMCO Metal Safety Shields are suitable for flanges and every type of valve in all size systems carrying steam, solvents, chemicals and corrosive agents. The shields slip over existing pipe installations and are put in place easily and quickly with the use of a screwdriver. In the event of a leak, the fluid collects at the bottom of the shield where the overlapping slotted edge prevents a lateral blowout and allows the leaking condition to be highly visible without causing injury to plant personnel and equipment.
RAMCO Spra-Gard® shields are the spray shields of choice due to their wide range of physical properties. Spra-Gard flange protectors and spray shields are manufactured from two proprietary thermoplastic textiles: Teflon (tetrafluoroethylene or TFE coated fiberglass) and Polypropylene (PPL). These two woven fabrics were developed specifically for RAMCO with a patented design and a very carefully engineered porosity concept. Instead of using impermeable fabrics, Spra-Gard® protectors are made of slightly porous textiles. Light enough not to allow a spray but sufficient enough to allow fluid to seep into the gauge patch in the event of a leak.
Each Spra-Gard protector has a sensitive pH patch or indicator, which changes color when the slightest leakage of liquid comes into contact with the patch, indicating a problem with the line. The yellow/orange indicator turns bright red for acid leakage and bright green for alkaline leakage. While the affected patch can no longer be used, it can be removed and replaced with another patch once the preservative has been neutralized.
Spra-Gard protectors have an overlapping design. The flange guards completely wrap around the pipe connections to prevent a lateral spray. They are held in place during installation by means of a velcro fastener. No tools are required and a single installer can fix a guard over a flange or valve in less than a minute. All Spra-Gard® guards have been ultraviolet (UV) tested and have performed for approximately 500 hours without degradation.
A tetrafluoroethylene coated fiberglass protector developed with a carefully designed porosity concept.
A polypropylene shield developed by RAMCO to protect against hydrofluoric acid.
RAMCO Vue-Gard® protectors are innovative transparent protectors that allow easy identification and inspection of all pipe joints, including flanges, valves, threaded connections and expansion joints.
Tetrafluoroethylene coated fiberglass protectors with a carefully designed porosity concept.
Polypropylene preservatives developed to protect against hydrofluoric acid.
Econo-Gard® protectors are an economical yet reliable protective shield for flanges and threaded fittings. Great care has been taken in its design to ensure that its economic properties are not achieved at the expense of safety. Production uses labor-intensive heat sealing methods and is available in both PE and PVC.
Economical yet reliable flange protectors made of polyethylene.
Economical yet reliable flange protectors made of polyvinyl chloride.
The same high quality flange protectors, with the added advantage of being transparent.
