Industrial cleaning and water jetting safety manual template
A complete written health and safety program for industrial cleaning contractors whose crews work at refineries, upgraders, oil sands, gas and chemical plants, mills, power stations, mines and municipal plants in every province and territory. It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements and written for the work: high-pressure and ultra-high-pressure water jetting by hand lance, shotgun, flex lance and automated tools, heat exchanger cleaning, vacuum and combination trucks, static electricity and bonding, chemical cleaning, tank and vessel entry, toxic and flammable residues, and waste. Section 15 sets out the law of every province and territory, and federal workplaces, side by side, with each jurisdiction’s rules for confined spaces, water jetting, static electricity and pressure equipment. It arrives as an editable Word file you make your own.
A look inside
Sample pages from the manual, marked and cut short. Your copy has no watermark.
What’s in the manual
1. Safety and health policy
A signed, dated policy, the written program, and responsibilities for management, supervisors, jetting and pump operators, vac truck operators and chemical technicians, and how we work under the owner’s permits, isolations and site rules.
2. Hazard assessment, analysis and control
Formal hazard assessments by type of cleaning work, the 5 × 5 risk matrix, a critical task inventory, and the job site hazard assessment done on every job.
3. Safe work practices
Eighteen practices for cleaning crews: the owner’s permits, isolation, gas testing, jetting set-up and controls, hand lancing, automated tools, exchanger cleaning, vacuum trucks, static and bonding, chemical cleaning, confined spaces, toxic residues and NORM, heights, waste, weather, driving, fatigue and hoses.
4. Safe job procedures
Step-by-step procedures for setting up and testing a jetting unit, hand lancing, cleaning an exchanger bundle, vacuum loading a flammable or toxic liquid, tank entry, a chemical clean, offloading waste and responding to a water jet injury.
5. Company safety rules
Life-saving rules for jetting and vac crews (never tie down a trigger, never jet without the minimum crew), working under the stricter of our rules and the owner’s, and a progressive discipline process applied the same way every time.
6. Personal protective equipment
Water jetting suits and foot and hand protection by pressure, face and hearing protection, chemical protective clothing, and respirators and supplied air.
7. Preventative maintenance program
Jetting units and hoses, lances and nozzles, automated tools, vacuum and combination trucks, bonding cables, dangerous goods tanks and gas monitors.
8. Training and communication
A water jetting operator program from team member to sign-off by tool and pressure, H2S and gas testing, confined space, static and bonding, TDG, and tailboards every shift.
9. Inspections
Jetting units and hoses before use, a hose register, vac trucks and tanks, bonding cables, the shop, wash bay and yard.
10. Investigations and reporting
Every jet contact treated as an injury, hose failures kept as evidence, spills reported under TDG and environmental law, and incidents reported to the regulator where they happened.
11. Emergency preparedness
Water jet injection injuries, hose failure and loss of control, confined space rescue, chemical exposure and reactions, and vac truck fire, vapour, spill and over-pressure.
12. Statistics, records and document control
Pre-use and pressure tests, the hose register, isolation and entry permits, vac truck and waste records, kept for the longest period any jurisdiction requires.
13. Legislation
OHS law where the work is done, TDG and environmental law for the loads, the standards and guidance the manual follows, and the right to refuse.
14. Procurement and contractor management
Jetting and vacuum subcontractors, receiving facilities, rented units and trucks, and buying hoses, tools and suits rated for the pressure.
15. Working across Canada
Whose law applies, then every province and territory and federal workplaces side by side: the act and regulation, the regulator, each jurisdiction’s rules for confined spaces, water jetting, static electricity and pressure equipment, serious incidents to report and how fast, and the other rules that change at the border.
Appendix A. COR cross-reference
Every one of the 74 documentation questions in the 14 national COR elements, what it looks for in plain words, the section that answers it, and whether the auditor will also want your records.
Appendix B. Forms
38 print-ready forms that match the manual, each with a form code: among them the waterjetting pre-use inspection and pressure test, isolation verification record, confined space entry permit, vacuum truck bonding and load record, a water jet injury medical alert card and a hose register.
Written for the work, not just the province
A cleaning crew’s risks are often hidden: a jet injection wound that looks small and isn’t, a hose that fails at a fitting, a static spark at a vac truck, residue in a vessel that was meant to be clean. This manual is written around them, practice by practice and procedure by procedure.
You work under the owner’s permits and isolations. The manual says how yours and the owner’s fit together, and the stricter rule always wins.
One program for every province you work in
Your crews follow the occupational health and safety law of the province or territory where the work is done, not where your office is. The manual sets your company’s rules once and gathers what changes at each border into section 15, so a supervisor starting work in a new province looks up what applies there.
It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements, so it suits a COR audit wherever you certify. Each certifying partner uses its own audit tool, so check it against yours; our provincial manuals follow each province’s audit exactly. No template can guarantee a certificate on its own, and we don’t claim to.
Who it is for
Industrial cleaning, hydroblasting and vacuum truck contractors, and the chemical cleaning, tank cleaning and sewer crews that work alongside them.
A template is a starting point, not legal or engineering advice: a qualified person must adapt it to your work and your owners’ rules before you issue it.
Lifetime updates
When the law changes, we publish a new edition and email everyone who bought the template. Every update is free, for as long as we publish it.
Version 1.0 October 16, 2026
- First edition, written for industrial cleaning and water jetting crews and laid out on the 14 national elements of the harmonized COR audit.
- Section 15 sets out the law and the jetting, confined space and static electricity rules of every province and territory and federal workplaces, checked against the legislation in force on 15 October 2026.
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Questions
Which province’s law is it written to?
All of them. Your crews follow the law of the province or territory where the work is done, so the manual sets your company’s rules once and section 15 sets out, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, what the law there adds. Federally regulated workplaces are in it too.
Will it get us COR?
It is laid out on the 14 national elements every harmonized COR audit shares, with all 74 documentation questions cross-referenced. Each province’s certifying partner uses its own audit tool, so check the manual against the one you are certifying with. The audit also interviews workers and observes work, so no template can promise a pass.
What format is the manual in?
An editable Microsoft Word (.docx) file on US Letter pages. It works best in desktop Word for Windows or Mac. It also opens in Google Docs and Word on the web, where you use Find and replace to put your company name in.
What happens when the legislation changes?
We update the template, and you get every update free for as long as we publish it: lifetime updates at no extra charge. We email you when a new edition is ready, with what changed and a link to download it.
Can I use it for more than one company?
Each purchase is licensed to one company. Consultants setting up programs for several clients should contact us.
Want it tailored to your work?
Our safety advisors can fit the manual to your crews, your owners’ rules and the provinces you work in.
OHS program development