Challenges Faced in 'Hanging Out' to Paint Industrial Chimneys

Industrial chimneys are silent workhorses and need regular maintenance and upkeep to perform at their optimum best. The average height of industrial chimneys is over 30 M. Hence, any work related to chimney painting, maintenance, and inspection can be performed only by qualified industrial chimney painting service providers and contractors.

Given the height of chimneys and the constraint in keeping them operational for long periods, it is more sensible and cost-effective to use rope access techniques to undertake work on chimneys rather than go for scaffoldings or booms. As the largest rope access brand in India, Grasshoppers is proud to share some knowledge on the challenges faced in painting industrial chimneys. It is a testament to our skill as the best industrial chimney painting company in Chennai.

The challenges faced are

1)   Weather

Chimney painting needs good weather for a smooth operation. Obviously, if it is raining, snowing, or indications of thunderstorms, such operations cannot be undertaken as the safety of personnel will be impacted, however, experienced the industrial chimney painting agency may be.

2)   Wind

Given the terrain category and height of the chimney, the wind pressure is extremely high. This makes it difficult to work at heights and work position the rope access professional (RAP) to paint an industrial or factory chimney. Generally, to mitigate this risk, the team has to work with the client engineers and understand the peak and low wind pressures in the terrain based on the data provided by the metrological department and then venture into the activity. Thus, working at an industrial factory chimney for painting works during wind becomes possible.

3)   Heat

Industrial chimneys need to cool sufficiently to be worked on. However, localized hotspots may still be present, and they have to be sensed correctly and handled carefully. Further, the shutdown window available and the outside day and nighttime temperatures also play key roles in determining how hot the working surface is.

4)   Transfer of material to heights

Given the height of chimneys and the corresponding space constraints and associated difficulty in access, the transfer of materials is a challenge in itself. Effective rigging programmes help to mitigate this challenge.

5)   Paints

The choice of paint will also depend on whether the industrial chimney is constructed using Reinforced cement concrete (RCC), bricks, or metal (usually a special variety of mild steel of sufficient thickness), along with specific customer needs and requirements. Each kind of paint comes with its own set of challenges depending upon the factory chimney surfaces. While epoxy paints once mixed, hardens in 15 minutes, water-based emulsions and enamel paints have much less durability when compared to epoxies.

6)   Risk of materials and tools falling from heights

There are the accidental slipping and falling of materials used during factory chimney cleaning or painting. The working area below needs to be secured and fall protected. Otherwise, there is a serious risk to life and property because of any inadvertent falling of tools or equipment from heights. The team needs to thoroughly assess the risk and methods to mitigate the same and submit a job safety analysis (JSA).

Rope access is a proven technology that has been used for decades in various industries, and Glass hoppers is the best rope access company in India with deep domain expertise. Hence, the risk of personnel falling from heights is eliminated.

So how are these challenges to be tacked?

In the previous blog, we had discussed how project management practices could be used to achieve success. Coupled with that, effective risk management is the key, and it is only a reliable factory chimney painting agency that can undertake such complex tasks. They have the right resources and years of insight to make local customizations and adjustments as necessary.

Glass hoppers, being a leading industrial chimney painting service provider on a Pan-India scale (with ongoing projects in industrial chimney painting in Chennai, highrise painting in Bangalore, and industrial roof painting in Hyderabad), has the skill and ability to complete projects of any size and scale within 15 days while delivering a top-quality output. Our skilled personnel uses all safety measures and PPE to ensure that all projects are completed successfully without any safety issues or accidents. This has been demonstrated on many occasions of projects involving factory chimney painting in Chennai.

Have some thoughts, comments, feedback, or a project? Contact us now!