Safety stuff

After reading a few threads here, I got to thinkin lots of people here work alone, and I've read some use shortcuts etc, and have seen some reminders and suggestions. I work alone all the time, and usually no one is home. If I fall off a ladder I could be there layin in the sun all day, or longer until they come home, its warm in winter, but gets cold at night. So I decided to make a post about safety, not sure if there has been one recently.

I get OSHA emails weekly, and notices about industrial accidents. I figure ya'll are familiar with sparks from cutting torches and grinders in dry brush, but keep in mind flamable liquids, like put the gas away after draining gas tanks, outa range of sparks. Keep ur electrical cords in good shape and use heavy enough cords. Make sure loads are secure, nothin worse than hitting a bump and havin a load all over the road. Check ur brake and signal lights, it could save ya an expensive ticket if ya stop off for a cold one on the way home. Safety glasses, face shields, when using grinders, and leather gloves that protect ur hands. I've cut myself quite a few times on jaged metal or grabbing something that falls and bounces and gets my hands. Using a grinder makes noise, keep ear plugs handy, and possibly a dust mask to keep from breathin crap. I wake up in the night with ringing in my ears so loud I can't get back to sleep. a face shield is cheap insurance for ur good lookin face, or eyes I somehow got paint chips embedded in my corneas. If ya get on a ladder or something, make sure its stable. Just a few I thought of right now, I hope others will post some more, lets all keep each other and ourselves healthy and able to do it.

I can add safety boots (steel toed) to that list. It makes for a real bad day when you drop something on a foot. It doesn't have to be that heavy; it just needs to hit the right spot! I work in an industrial setting and our company pushes safety as our #1 goal. I work with solvents and inks all day so eliminating sparks and static is very important. Before working there I never wore any safety equipment and now I do so religiously, even around the house. You never know when something will happen so it's best to be safe rather than sorry. I'm only 26 and a hearing test provided by the company revealed that I've lost hearing in my left ear from working in a tire shop without hearing protection. Those impact guns are louder than I thought! Just food for thought, and very nice plainsman for starting this thread!

I will concur with the OP. I wear safety glasses everytime I pick up the grinder, cut off wheel, or drill. I should get prescription safety glasses --- it's difficult to wear safety glasses over the reading glasses. Ear plugs when doing anything loud --- I don't wear these enough.

Never let an Acetylene tank lay on it's side, or upside down.
Never get oil near pure Oxygen. Never use your Oxygen tank to fill anything (I heard of a guy who filled his tire, and yet improbably, survived it.)
Use soapy water to check for leaks.
Fill old fuel tanks with water if you have to cut or weld on them.
Teflon tape goes only on pipe threads, not in flare fittings, compression fittings, or anything else that isn't a NPT pipe fitting.
I should have worn ear plugs, I love to listen to music, can't hear it as well anymore.
Brains trumps brawn.

Always keep a first aid kit handy. I'm always getting little cuts and scrapes. They're not bad enough to need a first aid kit, but I keep it handy just in case.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scrap man

Always keep a first aid kit handy. I'm always getting little cuts and scrapes. They're not bad enough to need a first aid kit, but I keep it handy just in case.

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Roll of duct tape is never to far away, that and a napkin from lunch.

BIG SECOND on the ear plugs!!!! trust me as a military vet who has to get my ears checked every month or so because of the incessant ring in my ears that never stops from working around loud equipment non stop TRUST me you do not want this problem i literally cannot be anywhere that is quiet because of the high pitched ringing constantly in my ears. it especially makes sleeping a challenge

I guess mainly I started this because I was thinkin about a job I worked and safety was number one everyday, but sometimes I get in a hurry, and folks get in a hurry and try to save some time, but then get put outa commission for a long time for trying to save a minute. Glad to hear the responses and suggestions.

Keeping your work area free of clutter in the immediate area is important. Found out the hard way the other day and still trying to get over a busted shin.

Leave the blade guard on the angle grinder. I carved a 1/4" groove in my right hand pointer finger with my friend's litte grinder that you hold by the tool body. No guard. While the abrasive disc was idling to a stop, I changed my grip and my finger contacted the disc. This incident really pissed me off because of my down time and, ya it hurt.
Never rush and maintain focus on the job at hand. I work alone too. I factor this in when I assess a job for the potential for injury and how far away help is .

I learned another thing the hard way and it's about eye protection. I think that I used to belive that I could blink before anything could hit my eyeball or something like that. Well I was proved wrong more than once. The last time the eye surgeon extracted a piece of shrapnel from my eye a small rust ring remained behind. It's just a hair away from the pupil, so I came close to loosing the use of that eye. Now I use a face shield. I want to be able to see my grandchildren as they grow up.

My advice is to keep your cell phone on your body. Having it in my pocket saved my life one time when I was alone in a house ( and going to be alone there for weeks) and I fell behind a rock climbing wall and got trapped. It was winter and the wall was in an unheated garage. I probably would have died of exposure or dehydration or at a minimum lost my leg (my right femoral artery was wedged up against a 2x4 cutting off circulation). The fire department had to cut me out of there and by the time they reached me, I couldn't stand but it ended well!

Just a couple of suggestions for the 1st aid kit that most folks probably don't know:

1) For cuts, scrapes, abrasions, burns, dog bites, etc. Mix 1tsp. of 68% Calcium Hypochlorite (1 specific type of pool shock) into 8oz. of distilled water in a spray bottle that can be tightly sealed. (If not kept tightly sealed, it'll out-gas after about 15 minutes; but, when kept tightly sealed and out of the light, I've had it last up to a couple of weeks.) A pound bag of the CH is only about $4; and, kept in a sealed glass jar, lasts a VERY long time. Wounds heal VERY quickly and without any infection when kept sprayed. Works MUCH better than any of the commercially available antibiotic ointments!
2) For bruises, sprains, strains, etc. Mix 1 part DMSO and 1 part distilled water in a plastic bottle that can be sealed (or a spray bottle that can be sealed.) Use the spray above 1st, letting it dry; then, spray with the DMSO mix. (Important: Spray a wider area with the CH; since, DMSO will pull anything that's on the skin in with it. The CH will kill any pathogens on the skin; but, is safe to use w/DMSO.)

These 2 items have made a major difference in my life! Both of my bottom lumbar disks are bone on bone; so, I fall a LOT. They also affect my balance, in general; so, even aside from out-right falling, I get hurt WAY more often than I did before. (It doesn't help that I push myself MUCH harder than I should...) I haven't had anything get infected in the year and a half I've been using this stuff; and, as I mentioned above, injuries heal up in record time. The DMSO not only speeds healing on the other stuff; but, takes a lot of the pain away really quickly. (Repeat both as needed until it's totally healed.)

I'll second KZBell on the duct tape... I once had a circular saw into my belly (yeah, I know, the guard shouldn't have been tied up; but, it was one of those "needing 3 hands" when I had no help situations...) Luckily, my T-shirt jammed the blade before it could do more than the 1" deep by 4" long gash I got. After I quit cussing and cut my T-shirt loose; I went in, sprayed it with antibacterial spray (this was prior to my knowing about the CH), sprayed a few paper towels, covered the gash, and wrapped several layers of duct tape around myself prior to driving myself @10 miles to the ER for stitches.

One other suggestion, while I'm at it: I keep a rope around that's about 1/2" thick and about 30' long. If I need to move something really heavy and/or bulky, I can put a wrap and a half around it and grab the ropes, to have better control over what I'm having to move. How it's used depends on what I'm moving; but, it definitely helps.

proper lifting techniques
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working alone to save a few coins on labor or spotting that cast iron radiator on the curb could put you outta action in a blink

Use your equipment and environment. I used to muscle everything now im 34 and have bad knees and back. If I have a big piece in the back of my truck I use rope and tie it to a tree and drive foward to get it off. Also keep pipe and tube to put under stuff to roll it and use pressure treated lumber for leverage bars.

I give a big thumbs up for wearing monogogles when grinding. I was wearing normal safety glasses doing some grinding in my shop last year when a piece of metal came up between my glasses and face and got stuck in my eye. Even with insurance i think it ended up costing about $120 out of pocket to have the piece of metal extracted and a prescription for a special steroid eye drops. I will say though that if you do get anything in your eye that wont wash out you need to go to an eye doctor immediately. If you wait you will end up with a rust ring that will disturb your vision.

Fire extinguishers ! I usually have at least 3 of em on the job site when torching and 5-15 gallons of water in jugs for a back up, and it's saved me more than once. Usually use a 2.5 gallon water fed extinguisher, just uses tap water and 100 psi to refill, and several dry type abc to boot.

i remember one time i was at the yard unloading the truck with this big old tweaker meatball lookin mexican and hes just on one, ripping **** out the back of the truck and yanks out a bigass piece of iron that lands on a pivoted 3in cast steel pipe, other end of pipe flys up and knocks him in the middle of the face and he stops for a second, says 'oh ****' and then goes back to pulling **** out the back of the truck.
*just a story that popped into my head*


ha, dude was the one who got me into scrapping and taught me everything NOT to do :P

add wearing long sleeve ****s and hats and sunblock sun can laed to melanoma which is not fun i have stage 4 now its in the liver and spleen and no longer worki know growing up we had no sunblock and such worked hayfeilds ,swim in the river and whatever outside and yes i got burnt so i would ask thatt you becareful with the sun it will get you later on if you dont believe me look it up i wpold hate for someone to go through what i am and at stage 4 5 year survial is 10 to 15%

yeah that gotsme worrying, while most kids was inside playing video games, i was one of the few kids still hanging outside baking shirtless in the sun all summer long... not to mention its sunny bout 300days out the year, born in 86