I did not always employ safe practices when doing carpentry or electrical work. Consequently, I earned my share of injuries.
Once,
after an arc-flash incident (read electrical explosion here), I had to purchase
a new pair of glasses because my prescription glasses—rather than safety
glasses—were my only line of protection.
The incident left the lenses of my glasses pitted and flecked (as was my
face) with flecks of copper ejected from the arc explosion. My hearing is slightly impaired from years of
not using ear plugs. I have
countless stories of slivers, foreign objects in my eye, and minor injuries.
But
I learned my lessons.
Today
I work at protecting myself. Me. Myself.
I am all about “safety third.”
I
will allow a certain Mr. Mike Rowe to explain the concept of safety third in a
video at the end of this blog. I have posted
this video previously.
Posted
before the video is a photograph of the metal I am presently installing in my
cabin and a photograph of the personal protective equipment (PPE) I wear when cutting
metal trim pieces with a miter saw.
This
is my PPE:
Eye protection
Hearing protection
Gloves (unseen)
Not
pretty, but effective.
—Mitchell Hegman
I had a metal shop teacher in jr high that LIVED to tell us horror stories about shop mishaps. The two most memorable that still stick in my head were "What happened when someone dropped a ceramic crucible full of molten aluminum" and "The time the grinder wheel exploded." Honestly, the guy was a complete dick but I must have learned something because I've never yet dropped a crucible or had a grinder wheel explosion. This is also because I stay the hell out of metal shops.
ReplyDeleteI think all of us had a similar version of that shop teacher. Chainsaw accidents are what I most dread.
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