The paperwork that comes before jetting work on site

8 November 2026

On a working site, a jetting crew rarely just turns up. Before the van arrives, documents go back and forth: method statements, risk assessments, insurance certificates, permits to work, induction forms. Most of it moves by email, and most of the trouble comes from attachments that nobody can find on the morning of the job.

What the method statement should say

Water jetting covers very different work, from clearing a restricted drain to cleaning a fouled heat exchanger or removing concrete. High Pressure Jetting describes high pressure and ultra high pressure water jetting in plain terms: pressure is only one factor, and the material, the condition of the pipe or surface, access and isolation all set the limits. A method statement worth filing reflects that. It names the equipment, the area, the isolations needed, how washwater and released material will be collected, and what happens if a trial shows the surface responding badly.

Isolation and permits

Where jetting approaches pumps, process equipment or live drainage, the site will usually want a permit to work and a record of isolations. Keep the signed permit with the job record, not only in the site office binder. If the work is repeated, the previous permit provides a useful record of which valves and switches were involved. The current isolations still need checking and documenting for the new job.

Washwater is part of the record

Jetting produces dirty water carrying whatever was removed: silt, grease, paint, scale or process residue. Where that water goes matters. Where recovered material leaves the site as waste, keep the relevant waste documentation with the job record. If washwater is discharged to foul drainage under an existing permission or agreement, retain the discharge records and the relevant correspondence. Those details are easily lost when they sit in separate email threads. Firms that run their own vehicle wash bays will recognise the principle.

Keeping it findable

Keep one folder per job, named with the site, the asset and the date. It should hold the method statement and risk assessment as approved, the permit, the waste paperwork, photographs before and after, and the contractor's completion note. Version names matter here. A method statement that went through rounds of comments should be filed as the final approved copy, with drafts kept separately, because when an incident or an insurance question arises, the approved version is the one anyone will ask for.

A shared job folder also makes it easier for the office and site teams to work from the same information. Put the approved documents somewhere accessible without searching through an individual's inbox. Record who approved each revision and when it was issued. When the next maintenance visit comes around, the history is there without having to reconstruct it from old messages.