A quick note on safety

[JayRS4]

At the risk of sounding like a total idiot, just a quick reminder of safety first.

I`m sure we`ve all done a few silly things in our time, and regretted it. Today was one of those days for me.

First commandment of today: Thou shalt clamp work properly when drilling.

I was rather stupid, and decided that the lovely bit of plate i wanted to drill would be adequately held by standing on it. WRONG. Snagged, ripped out from under my feet and straight into my boot, result, big dent in boot, would have been lack of toes if they weren`t caps.


Second commandment: Wear eye protection when grinding.

As if i hadn`t learnt from the first mistake, my left eye is now full of dust, and my arm full of swarf. Both feel most uncomfortable and I look like i`m half crying.


But wait, theres more, the third commandment: Don`t do anything when tired.

You`ll only end up making stupid mistakes, if it taking a measurement wrong, it`s not the end of the world, but if you end up taking shortcuts, it could end up costing your (or someone elses) life.

I`m not feeling very stupid and unprofessional and am going to find an eye bath then order some new boots.

 

[Hitch]

If youve got something in your eye, get it seen to, dont be tempted to leave it to sort its self. Youve only got 2 chances.

 

[Wozzaaah]

I had a bit of dust in my eye today, went for a swim and my goggles leaked, couldn't see where I was going but the dust has now gone .

On a serious note, I agree with Hitch on that, don't take chances, metal grindings in the eye can cause serious problems, better to come back from casualty with a bit of yellow dye in your eye and a tube of eyedrops than have to go to a specialist to have a rust ring removed .

 

[Paul.]

go to a specialist to have a rust ring removed .

I had that done, its not much fun at all, even worse when the anesthetics worn off.

 

[Welderpaul]

I can vouch for that having visited the eye doctor a few months ago for (what seemed like) a length of 50 x 50 angle digging out of my eye.
Glasses all the time!

 

[snowcat]

another one for the doggy eye, cracking slag from an INOX rod, outch.... 3 months of trips back and fourth to the eye specialist, and an eye that will now flair up for the slightest of reasons......

 

[JW240]

good safety tips! Always good to empathize it, on time without proper gear can ruin a lot.

my tip: also wear proper gloves etc, i didn't for some time and it took 2 months before the skin on my fingers started to grow back, even with medicines to cure it.

 

[classic2cv]

I had to the local hospital to have a rust ring removed not pleasant


and always wear ear defenders

Years ago i owned an early VW camper that had a very noisy engine & gearbox (210,000 miles) people would hear me long before I arrived

i spent a day in my friends garage cutting & welding his car chassis (no ear defenders) on the way home the van seemed very quiet

 

[dazzis]

yup always wear ear defenders as i can tell you a 95% hearing loss and tinitus aint no fun

another one always fold the end of a welding rod over, i didnt and put the rod down for a second picked it back up and promptly dug the hot end in my arm nice little scar.

And safety glasses as a kid i was led under the sideboard playing with a radiator cap all the rust went into my eye, i can still feel the fingers on the back of my eye where they popped it out to clean it.

i even wear a welding apron now after to many near misses

 

[Welderpaul]

Using a grinder for any length of time gives me a ringing in my ears. Prolonged use usually means i struggle to get to sleep. (Same when I go to a club - although usually other influencing factors - beer/load music...)

Always use ear plugs, although the use of flap discs rather than grinding discs where possible lowers the noise level. A decent grinder helps as well.

 

[dazzis]

Using a grinder for any length of time gives me a ringing in my ears. Prolonged use usually means i struggle to get to sleep.

Only a short step away from tinitus, be very careful

 

[Hitch]

Vibration is also something else to bear in mind.... cheap grinder + cheap discs generally result in massive vibrations. Over time can cause vibration white finger.

 

[Paul.]

Full face protection is a good idea with grinders, a friend of mine had a 7" disk explode, his goggles saved his eyes, but he lost his front teeth and a piece of his nose,

 

[cobminor]

I can join in here, I smacked myself in the eye with a pair of mole grips some years ago, the sort of hit that you hear rather than feel. That resulted in an eye specialist checking me for a few days for sight loss in that eye.

Years ago I was taken to casualty to have 23 pieces of cast iron taken out of my left eye. This was back in the good old days of engineering when H&S was non existant.

 

[james.c]

I was once helping my dad renovate a house and we had to get rid of the old cast iron bath with a large hammer.. if ever you have to do that goggles and ear defenders are must, as i found out

 

[Welderpaul]

Vibration is also something else to bear in mind.... cheap grinder + cheap discs generally result in massive vibrations. Over time can cause vibration white finger.

I have a HAVS assessment for each power tool we use. Some of the old model grinders allow you to use them for a maximum of 20 mins per day! Comapre that to some of the new breakers we have, which can be used for up to 8 hours a day.