Jason Industrial Whip Check Safety Cable, Hose to Hose, 1/2 in to 3 in Hose ID

When a coupling lets go on a live air line, the hose does not fall to the floor. It whips, hard enough to break bones and take out anyone standing near it, and it keeps whipping until someone gets to a valve. A whip check is the cheap, passive piece of hardware that stops that happening: a spring-sheathed steel cable with a loop at each end, fitted across the coupling so the two hose ends stay tethered to each other even when the connection fails.

These are Jason Industrial's hose-to-hose whip checks. The spring-loaded end loops stretch open over the hose by hand, no tools, and grip the hose behind the coupling.

Sizes

• S1234: HHWC1, fits 1/2 in to 1-1/4 in hose ID, 1/8 in diameter cable, 20 in long
• S1237: HHWC2, fits 1-1/2 in to 3 in hose ID, 1/4 in diameter cable, 38 in long

Note that whip checks are specified by hose inside diameter, which is how hose itself is sized. If you only know the outside diameter, measure the ID or check the hose layline before ordering.

Hose to hose, not hose to tool

These are the hose-to-hose version, for coupling joints between two lengths of hose or between a hose and a fixed air source. The connection between a hose and a pneumatic tool is a different fitting with a cable and a single loop, and it is also the one with a specific OSHA requirement behind it: 29 CFR 1926.302(b)(1) requires pneumatic power tools to be secured to the hose or whip by some positive means to stop the tool becoming accidentally disconnected. If you are tethering a tool rather than a hose joint, ask us for the hose-to-tool version.

There is no general OSHA rule that mandates a hose-to-hose whip check in all circumstances, and we would rather tell you that than sell you one on a misquoted regulation. They are standard practice on construction sites and in most industrial safety programmes for good reasons of their own, they are required on pile driving hose connections under 29 CFR 1926.603(a)(10), and MSHA requires restraints on high pressure hose connections 3/4 in and larger under 30 CFR 56.13021 and 57.13021.

Fitting them

Install the cable across the joint with no slack. A whip check fitted loose lets the hose build up speed before the cable catches it, which is most of the energy you were trying to contain. Jason's own guidance is to fit a restraint on either side of a coupling connection. Pair them with safety clips on universal twist-claw couplings so the coupling cannot rotate apart in the first place, and inspect the cable for broken strands, stretched loops or corrosion at every use.

A whip check is a last line of defence, not a substitute for blowing the line down before you break a connection.

Related parts

We also stock universal twist-claw air hose couplings, air hose, blast hose and sandblast couplings.

Jason Industrial HHWC1 and HHWC2 hose to hose whip check safety cables for compressed air hose, covering 1/2 in through 3 in hose ID, with spring-loaded end loops that fit by hand.