Narrative:

I need help with this potential serious safety risk that has been brought to my attention from both the aircraft mechanics and the garage mechanics. [Company] has changed the as (air start units) couplers from the old 16 ball to a new 8 ball coupler. There are several safety issues with the new coupler.1. The nuts on the hose clamps need to be cut and filed after the clamp is torqued down as they are cutting employees hands as they attach and detach the as hoses. What we are asking for is to have the excess bolts cut and filed.2. The aft hose clamp is too big and cannot be torqued down; as you run out of treads and it spins on the hose. Now you have 400 degree air at 90 to 400 ppm (pounds per minute) blowing through a silicone rubber hose that is even more slippery when at high temp being held in place by only 1 clamp. If that clamp fails now you have the potential for a serious injury or damage to an aircraft. The simple fix would be use a smaller clamp on the aft flange (the same size as the forward clamp would work). Then you could correctly torque it and securely attach the hose at a second point. 3. The clamps at the coupler have a nylon insert in the nut; but I think it would be better to use a steel nut on the clamp just like the clamp where the hose connects to the truck the fixes are easy; but there seems to be a big resistance from management/engineering to apply the suggested resolutions.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Maintenance Technician reported new hose clamps have been installed on air start units that are potentially a safety risk.

Narrative: I need help with this potential serious safety risk that has been brought to my attention from both the aircraft mechanics and the garage mechanics. [Company] has changed the AS (Air Start Units) couplers from the old 16 ball to a new 8 ball coupler. There are several safety issues with the new coupler.1. The nuts on the hose clamps need to be cut and filed after the clamp is torqued down as they are cutting employees hands as they attach and detach the AS hoses. What we are asking for is to have the excess bolts cut and filed.2. The aft hose clamp is too big and cannot be torqued down; as you run out of treads and it spins on the hose. Now you have 400 degree air at 90 to 400 PPM (Pounds per Minute) blowing through a silicone rubber hose that is even more slippery when at high temp being held in place by only 1 clamp. If that clamp fails now you have the potential for a serious injury or damage to an aircraft. The simple fix would be use a smaller clamp on the aft flange (the same size as the forward clamp would work). Then you could correctly torque it and securely attach the hose at a second point. 3. The clamps at the coupler have a nylon insert in the nut; but I think it would be better to use a steel nut on the clamp just like the clamp where the hose connects to the truck The fixes are easy; but there seems to be a big resistance from management/engineering to apply the suggested resolutions.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.