safety first

[Inked Monkey]

I like to learn things the hard way, I guess?
Oh and another "Note To Self" is when you're reassembling drum brakes, don't use a screw driver for the springs and pull toward your face. That was another retarded moment. It slipped, and now I have a scar right in between my eyes. Hey, at least I still have both eyes!

 

[Bonehead]

Don't feel too bad, I was working on a tranny in a truck one time, and used a welding rod to drive out a roll pin. The perfect tool, worked like a champ, untill I tried to pull it back out. Right between the eyes. 1/8 round scar.

 

[Inked Monkey]

I was always told that chicks dig scars!
So I started a collection, Too bad they all have stupid stories to go along with them.

 

[joehalford01]

i used to think safety goggles were dumb, until, some carb cleaner splashed off the throttle body was i cleaning and went right in both eyes. that is the most painful chemical i have ever had in my eyes, i thought i was going to go blind. goggles are staple in the house now. i've only got two eyes and no spares.....

 

[donsrods]

Just today I had a little "incident." I was drilling some 5/8 inch holes in some 1/2 inch washers (I cleaned out the local hardware store on 5/8 ones) and was holding one in the drill press with a pair of vicegrips. The bit grabbed the washer and before I could do anything, my left arm was wrapped around the drill bit and chuck. Luckily, my glove tore off, and I thought my wrist or fingers were broken. But the only damage was a puncture wound in the back of my hand , swelling and lots of black and blue. I can live with that. a cast on my hand would be a different story.

Things can happen in a heartbeat.

Don

 

[Gastrick]

Just today I had a little "incident." I was drilling some 5/8 inch holes in some 1/2 inch washers (I cleaned out the local hardware store on 5/8 ones) and was holding one in the drill press with a pair of vicegrips. The bit grabbed the washer and before I could do anything, my left arm was wrapped around the drill bit and chuck. Luckily, my glove tore off, and I thought my wrist or fingers were broken. But the only damage was a puncture wound in the back of my hand , swelling and lots of black and blue. I can live with that. a cast on my hand would be a different story.

Things can happen in a heartbeat.

Don

Man I used to hate drilling washers for that same reason. I finally got a really used cheap old lathe and now I use that for washer modifications.

 

[WIZEGUY]

Didn't we go through a thread on KB about "the proper way to use a drill press"?

LOL


Tracy

 

[Gastrick]

Didn't we go through a thread on KB about "the proper way to use a drill press"?

LOL


Tracy

Yea, that reminds me. What size and color were the metal chips just proir to disaster rearing it's ugly fateful head .

 

[donsrods]

I don't know, but they were red afterward. At least I know my blood thinners are working.

Don

 

[WIZEGUY]

I don't know, but they were red afterward. At least I know my blood thinners are working.

Don

Well there is a possible tech tip for a new kind of cutting fluid.

 

[Star Guitar]

Being an apprentice boilermaker myself.. this is what i'm aware of so far in relation to gloves.

NEVER use gloves with any sort of machinary.. as the glove itself can get caught and your hand can be dragged in with it..

NEVER use gloves when using an angle grinder or electric drills.. or i suppose other electric hand tools.. don't know why in relation to a grinder but thats what i've been told at both Tafe and at various workplaces.. Drills is fairly obvious if the drill bit catches the glove it'll take your whole arm with it.

I've copped my fair share of "sun tans" from welding with my sleeves up on a hot day.. numerous burns from spatter.. both welding and oxy cutting.. absolutely hate getting sparks shot at me from a grinder.. worst feeling..

 

[Mr.Gussett]

What???

Well I guess I'm the guy who breaks all the rules!
I refuse to wear safety glasses while grinding unless I'm up inside a wheel well or something where I can't direct the sparks away from me.I have had several trips to the doc. to dig metal out of my eyes while using glasses,SOO I no longer wear them.I weld every day for a living and when it is warm out I wear a T-shirt.I found a way to stop the "SUNBURN"! I just keep a bottle of SPF 30 sun tan lotion in my tool box and rub it on my arms.It really works good! You might need a differant SPF according to your skin type!I also tack weld alot without my helmet and my face gets a nice tan!
Just my $.02
P.S. I have been known to say the phrase "Hey Yall Whatch This"

 

[powerplant]

Ah ... Safety... (old post I know but I thought I would add to it)

Working in the utilities a millwright for almost 10 years and now a "Safety Manager" for the last 2 years... I may be able to offer some tips.

First... I preach this to everyone... Safety is NOT the absence of injury. Some people think that because no one is getting hurt that things must be really safe. This is not true as people may be merely lucky. ALL.... yes ALL outcomes of accidents are just that "pure luck". For the guy who refuses to wear safety glasses while grinding.... you my friend are lucky.... I see Bonehead has been to the ER as well have I for having metal removed from a eyeball... not fun. By pure luck we are still able to see after these injuries.... I have a cousin that is not so lucky. I do wear safety glasses.. when you weld and grind as much as I did as a millwright you are exposing yourself to flying metal and it did find it's way in there... twice... hmmmm....maybe I should wear goggles when grinding....

Take off your rings, jewelry, watches etc... they get caught on stuff and are great conductors of electricity when welding. I actually witnessed my old boss catch his ring on something while climbing and he hung from his finger for a short time and ripped through to his bone. He was only 6 inches off the ground but it didn't matter.

Ear plugs... I know some old timers that were never warned of the dangers of hearing loss back in the day and it shows. I wear them now when running my mowers, weed wackers, grinders, beating on stuff, shooting ..you get the idea.

Respirators... Did you know that stainless and high chrome content metals give off Hexavalent Chromium when heated up...welded on... ground on...etc? Remember the movie Erin Brockovich? Can you say....cancer. OSHA just changed there exposure limit... basicly dropped it way down... this woke me up.. I wish someone would have told me about this sooner. A N95 respirator or better will cover you. A P100 is best... for welding I found that the paper style fit under hoods best and you can get them with the proper rating, just don't start them on fire.

I could go on and on about different safety devices.... just do some thinking before you do stuff and wonder... "is this really good for me?"

I had a guy ask me to write down a list of why people do things that aren't safe.. there are about 30-40 reasons. Macho, ignorance, don't care, pear pressure, authority figure told them too do it, working when tired (loss of judgment), adrenalin rush (when you are lucky you didn't get hurt) etc etc.

People ask me... what the hell does a "Safety Manager" do... I could go on and on... I could start with the pile of regulations that could reach the moon if you stacked them up.

 

[donsrods]

One thing I never thought much about was dust and other vapors like paint fumes. I wear a respirator when spraying but I am wondering if it is of good enough quality because I have developed some persistent allergies in the last 6 months. Every morning I start sneezing pretty much as soon as I wake up and sometimes will sneeze like 20 times in a row.

During the last 6 months we have been using some nasty stuff like catalyzed paint, a lot of grinding and sanding, and also sandblasting using play sand (that has a warning on the bag not to use it for sandblasting ) I think I have inhaled some irritants that are now tearing up my sinuses. Dan has been complaining of the same problem.

I never knew what Bonehead posted about a plasma cutter dust, and today I plan to cut out some pieces with ours and am going to put on a respirator (and some long pants and heavy shirt............tired of getting hot sparks down my tennis shoes )

I was offered a big old lathe from my job when I was working, they were redoing the shop and wanted it gone. It was a monster and had been on a battle ship during WWII. I was going to take it until someone posted that they knew people who had been killed or injured when the spinning lathe grabbed onto some part of their clothing.............that was enough for me. I don't really need any help in hurting myself, I do pretty well on my own.

Don

 

[powerplant]

One thing to know about respirator cartridges.... If they are for organic vapors they have about a 24 hr. life when exposed to atmosphere. That is why you will see people store them in a coffee can or a zip lock bag. I have inquired to MSA about this to see if they had some type of canister with a tattle tale on it as to when it is no longer effective and they told me if you can taste the fume then it is bad. I thought.... thats a hor**** way of telling.

Anyway... check your material and get on either 3M's or MSA's websight and if you cant tell what respirator you should be using give them a call on there toll free line. I tend to use only paper masks as they have so many varieties that cover most everything and fit under welding hoods better.

 

[chopper tom]

i can dig what you guys are saying i have been really lucky over the years.
I worked in a saw mill as a sawfiler for 7 years and it has to be the most danger ous job i ever had but in time i mastered the work and done well while there ,i learned what not to do really fast while working around razer sharp blades all day.know that i think about it ,its a wander i didnt get hurt real bad while working there .I'm one of these people who work like i'm fighting fire any ways ,especially when i'm doing something that i like to do .Ive seen a lote of near misses[I mean a lote ] and wander how i manedged to not get hurt ,but if your gonna work then stuff is gonna happen .
The guy i used to work with was parlized last mounth from doing the same job i used to do [they say he may never walk again].Man i'm glade that i left that place.
It seems that stuff happens to me when i get in to much of a hurry and forget to do some thing or wear something .And its gottin worse sence i work at home for my self in my hot rod shop!I get real excited about some project and catch myself doing dumb stuff .
Only good news is that older age is slowing me down and think a little better before i act now.
But i still catch myself doing some thing and i know better and do it any ways , and i wander why do we do these things , i mean some times i can go to do some thing and i say'' this is gonna hurt'' but still do it any ways !
Why do people do this [ i know i'm not the only one ]????????

 

[powerplant]

People that want to do a good job for there boss may take short cuts when it comes to safety thinking they are doing them some great favor. When you look at it from a $$$ standpoint... one lost time work related injury averages $36,000, one work related death averages $1.5 million dollars. You could take short cuts your entire work life but one or two injuries can wipe out any $$$ you ever saved them by taking short cuts.

I understand that some employers don't understand this and you won't have a job for long unless you are racing around and throw safety out the window. These employers won't be around long as injuries or deaths will eventually cost them big $$$.

Employers are starting to understand that safety can actually save them money instead of creating a burden. The national safety council has proven that for every $1 spent on safety that it saves a company $3. (It has also been proven that people who follow safety practices actually work faster/better).

I have to preach like this in order to get my point across... the thing that sucks is how do you measure positives in safety? Safety is the only department in any company that is only measured in failures. Like I said, you will find the moron executives that feel if no one is getting hurt that there company is being safe... this is the worst way to look at it as they may be the luckiest company in the world and bad things may be just around the corner.

I was told a story... A consultant was asked to visit a car factory in Mexico... the local management was not so receptive of this consultant.... They told him "we don't need you here". He asked.... what happens when someone on your car line gets hurt. There reply... "there are 100 people waiting outside our gate for a job, we will just get someone else" He then asked, what happens if someone gets killed on your car line? Reply... we clean up the blood, drag out the body and get someone else".... He then asks, how long was your line shut down in order to clean up the blood and how much money did you loose while the line was down? Their reply: What do we need to do to improve safety?

I could go on and on.....

 

[waltmcq]

I almost poked my eye out today trying to put on my safety glasses with one hand...

 

[Bonehead]

That's why they call 'em saftey glasses, "almost" only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades!

 

[eugene vik]

lifes mistakes

dont sprAy that catalized paint without proper protection, it will get you like Bopall India CYNIDE proabbly got me too, that plastic gets in your lungs and sticks to the thingys that help you breath

well one of my worst incidents was when I was about 19 yr old and working under front of 54 chev and grabbed ty rods to pull myself out on the creeper, the bell crank was unbolted from the frame and i pulled the steering right into my mouth, BAD TASTE even if Chev!!!!