For more than 50 years, there have been rigid standards for hydraulic hose assemblies.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) first established these hydraulic hose and fitting standards (SAE J517) in 1952. In 1968, testing standards (SAE J343) were established. This was done to ensure that hydraulic hose assemblies working under pressure in a hydraulic system would be safe and reliable and not a danger to workers or the environment.

On the other hand, industrial hose used to convey acids, chemicals, gasoline, abrasive materials, LP gas, solvents, welding gases, slurries or agricultural sprays can be catastrophic to workers and the environment if there is an assembly failure.

Until Parker’s Circle of Safety program was developed, hoses used to handle these hazardous materials had no established standards. There are more than 200 manufactures worldwide that only make industrial hose and do not manufacture any end-connections. There are dozens of end-connection (fittings) manufacturers that machine these components so they fit onto the hose, but have little or no knowledge of the compressibility, elasticity or flow of rubber compounds that have wire or fabric reinforcement. And there are clamp (attachment) manufacturers who have little knowledge of how much compression is needed to enable the rubber and reinforcement to hold the fitting under pressure. Then when you consider the thousand of distributors/fabricators who make hose assemblies without any industry standards, it is not surprising that litigation for industrial hose is over 100 million dollars in the United States.

There are four critical components of an industrial hose assembly. Three of these components—the hose, fittings and clamps—must be designed to allow their differing tolerances to work together to ensure that a hose will fail before its fitting blows off. The fourth component is the distributor/fabricator of the hose assembly. Does your fabricator have a system to compensate for the plus and minus tolerances of all the components? What type of clamps (attachments) are used by the fabricator? Do they use worm gear, flat bands, 2-bolt, 4-bolt, swaged or crimped methods to hold the fittings in place? What testing has been used to validate the performance of the hose assembly? Is there a certified procedure and documentation for the assembler to fabricate a safe reliable hose assembly? Can your facility purchase an industrial hose assembly with the same high level of confidence that has long been the standard for hydraulic hose applications?

With the responsibility you have as a Risk Manager, Safety Engineer, Plant Manager or Maintenance Manager at your facility, what can you do to eliminate or substantially reduce your liability for industrial hose assemblies used in your plant? The Circle of Safety program from the Parker Hannifin Industrial Hose Division could be the answer to resolve these issues that your organization faces on a daily basis.

Q: How is Parker’s Circle of Safety program different from every other industrial hose manufacturer?

A: Parker’s Industrial Hose Division offers a system, called the Circle of Safety, that allows distributors to fabricate industrial hose assemblies that are safer and more reliable, and that substantially reduce your liability. The Circle of Safety program actually tells the fabricator what crimp fittings work with the hose and how to properly assemble the fitting to the hose.

Q: This does not seem any different than what is offered by other manufacturers of industrial hose.

A: If you check the published literature of other industrial hose, fitting and clamp manufacturers, you will see the responsibility and accountability is passed along to the distributor.

Q: Why is the Circle of Safety program important to end-users?

A: As an end-user, you are receiving a "value-added" assembly that is guaranteed to meet or exceed the rated working pressure of the hose. For the first time, one single, accountable source will guarantee that specific, exhaustively tested combinations of hose, fittings and attachment methods will perform to specified application requirements.

Q: Don’t the current fittings supplied by major fitting manufacturers for industrial hose meet or exceed the rated working pressure of the hose?

A: No. Many of the standard fittings used in today’s industrial hose market are rated below the rated working pressure of the hose.

Q: How will this Circle of Safety program help me as an end-user?

A: Parker’s Circle of Safety protects industrial users from accidents, unplanned downtime and increased liability associated with failed industrial hose assemblies. You are getting the safest product in the industry.

Q: What different types of testing have been conducted by Parker to validate assembly performance?

A: For more than 20 years, Parker/Dayco have conducted the following tests to validate industrial hose assembly integrity:

Q: How many different industrial hoses manufactured by Parker can the Circle of Safety program be used on?

A: We have validated more than 175 industrial hoses including chemical, acid, LPG, welding, petroleum, steam, water, air and multi-purpose and many others.

Q: As a customer, how can I be assured that the assemblies will meet or exceed the rated working pressure of the hose?

A: Hose assemblies, as precisely defined in the Parker Circle of Safety specification software package, are guaranteed to meet or exceed the rated working pressure of Parker’s industrial hoses.