Major injuries

There was a story that my physics teacher told me about that involved rings - it was using one of those things that are used to melt metals with large magnetic fields, using eddy currents I think. Anyway, these things only heat metals because the eddy currents can't flow in non conductive materials, so it's safe to put your hands in when they are on, but one employee put his hand in while wearing a ring, it proceeded to heat up and melt and burnt his finger through to the bone. Not nice!

Regards Chris

It's easy to become complacent especially around old engines which run so slowly. The fact is that they can be even more dangerous than their modern counterparts, no guards, larger rotating mass etc. Basic rules are. No loose clothing No long hair (less of a problem these days) No jewellery Wear eye protection Steel toecaps Finally, and controversially, No animals, children or women (unless they are well trained) The modern advice is always to carry out a risk assessment before working. Basically, that means consider the dangers of anything you do before you do it.

John

I learned at Spitalgate but I've no doubt the winch operators had much the same language for those who pulled the stick BACK before releasing the cable :-) ttfn

As part of my job I have to carry out and write risk assessments for myself and others, it makes a change to not spend half a day pondering over wether if I use my tools to take a machine apart are they going to be safe in a locked tool case which is locked in the boot of my car which is alarmed and locked on my drive which has security lights to blind intruders, sorry impede thier eye sight so that they walk into a sharp object and poke thier eye out and then take me to court for injury whilt being on my property without my permission and me not correctly doing a risk assessment. God what have we done to ourselves. I'm just going to write a risk assessment out because the wife wants to go to bed and a bulb might fail whilst she climbs the stairs and the water pipe might bur....................................................... :-))

Martin P

John Manders wrote:

On my pass out flight at Swanton Morley in Norfolk I had an instructor who's rib cage from under his arms to his waist was a plaster cast from an accident with a cadet, I dont know who was more nervous me or him. He did pass me fit to go solo and I have the green License to prove it. What a fantastic feeling on your own as you circuit the field and all you can here is the instructors calling " your coming in to fast pull up", it took a while for me to realise that they were talking to me. I must have been ok cos I got to go around three more times on my own. Happy days.

Martin P

Roland and Celia Craven wrote:

:-) :-)

Can you spell "PING!!!"?

How long does it take three cadets and a CI to sort out a wrap-on?

I *did* enjoy my youth :-)

Pete

In message , Roland and Celia Craven writes

..... which is why I gave up on engines - couldn't afford to have my own two running around with rotating flywheels, flapping flat belts and the like.

Brian L Dominic

NB Rumpus

Web Sites: NB Rumpus:

I had a sobering experience with the Crossley 1075. I had taken off the crank splash guard and was cleaning out the sump. I turned the crank a bit at a time as I worked on it and then cleaned out the sump with paper towels. The previous owner had painted it red inside the "crankcase" and it looks good when it's clean. I removed the last of the towels and stood up, steadying myself on the flywheel as I did so. I must have pushed it a little because it fired, spinning the crank almost a full turn.

"Chuff" it said, as it bounced off compression.

Me, I never said a thing, just stood and looked at it; I'd had my whole forearm underneath the crank throw a moment before, steadying myself on the flywheel rim as I leaned forward to reach up into the bore to wipe out the sh*ty carbon .................

I've been around engines for over forty years and have a healthy respect for big, whirly things with lots of exposed bits. Further, it is my custom to run engines out of fuel when I put them away, petroil lubricated two strokes excepted. The Crossley had zero fuel in the carb (I checked afterwards and it was actually dry), but there was still enough vapour in the cylinder to go bang, despite my best efforts. Just once, but that would have been quite sufficient.

Working on an engine? Take the plug leads off!

Regards,

Kim Siddorn.

John, I dont disagee with your thoughts but the point I was trying to make , and failed at , was the H & S has gone from the sublime to the rediculous all because of litigation issues, I have no intention of chopping your or my arm off but because nobody trusts you any more you have to waist time and money covering some body elses, not your own, back side and that to me is as bad as no safety at all.

Martin P

John Manders wrote:

It's called an induction heater, And yes they can induce a tremendous amount of heat into metallic objects. A ring is also a "shorted turn" if you get close to an active primary. I tend to take off the rings for high voltage, And the more major RF work. I've had a few tingles and burns, AND.. also a metal filling in a tooth do weird things!

All The Best.

-- Tim Bluck

Martin, Didn't mean to sound critical, after all, I have had my limbs for quite a while and have grown quite attached to them now. I agree that a lot of "H&S" is merely anti litigation and has less to do with real safety. It gets to me as well but unfortunately, we have to live with it. I suppose the knock on effect is to make us all more safety aware. When I started working in the steel industry, I extrapolated the site accident statistics. If I had stayed there until I retired and nothing changed, the chances were 1 in 3 that I would have been hospitalised as a result of an accident. When some of the law suites get aired though, I too wonder if the pendulum has swung too far. Assess everything, write it down, file it, take out at least one permit, write it down, file it, keep them for years. Then you can actually do something. After this, cancell the permit, write it down, file it, debrief the job, write it ...etc. Then start again. Oh boy. Do you remember the joke that said "Computers were going to do away with paperwork"? There are some amusing examples come out of all of this though. When I worked in a brewery, there was a great discussion whether we should have a COSHH Data sheet for the beer. One individual even went as far as to suggest that water should also have a COSHH Data sheet. Another safety officer seriously suggested that we should issue a site notice warning of the dangers of sunshine in the summer I'm sure there are many more.

John

"campingstoveman" wrote in message news:bfgs32$emgpp$ snipped-for-privacy@ID-134860.news.uni-berlin.de...

"John Manders" wrote

The dam thing sparked and set fire to a pool of petrol.

Yeah. It's been accurately said that if we were inventing the petrol engine now, there is no way at all that they would let us drive around with at least ten gallons of the stuff fixed to the back of our cars!

Thought for the week: What is your house insurers position on you storing petrol in the garage/workshop etc? A friend of mine had a fire in a garden shed and the insurance company refused to pay because he had a few garden candles in there. They said it was an accelerant ..............

Regards,

Kim Siddorn.

Petrol? What petrol.