Miniature power tools

A cautionary tale but one worth hearing! As a workshop technician I spend a lot of time drumming safety into our students but I'm always amazed by the risks some people take at home. I had to stop watch watching some of the digital TV DIY shows because I couldn't bear to watch guys grinding and cutting without eye protection. It would be even worse if they were live shows. The crazy thing is that at work I'm snowed under with cautionary notices and risk assement forms, to use the circular saws entailed a 3 day training course. However I can take my cheque book down to Machine Mart and buy the biggest circular saw I can afford and then just start throwing timber at it in my garage with nobody saying a dickie bird about it. So please "Let's be careful out there" like the man said. For myself I'd to point out the dangers of paint and solvent fumes. The PlasticWeld can have you face down on the bench quicker than you think. Nothing worse than waking up with a hang-over and a 7 plank POW stuck to your face, trust me! That was back in the days when I was young and stupid. But I made it to being middle age and stupid, just don't get me started on Stanley knives.

" Les Pickstock" wrote

Your employer goes to all that trouble to avoid the risk of being sued if anyone gets hurt or worse, no doubt at the express insistence of their insurers.

What an adult does in his own workshop is unlikely to be of interest to any court, unless of course you can prove that the tools or machinery which were sold to you were unsafe even if used correctly.

John.

The message from " Les Pickstock" contains these words:

And if you're a smoker, don't use it unless you've got _plenty_ of ventilation - outside should do... Plays havoc with your lungs.

There was me thinking you were a "Technical Instructor" Les... "I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal Lobotomy" Sound like a tech to me!

Niel, Technical Superintendent and Tech lister....

A rose by any other name! The title "Technical Instructor" was a bit of flim-flam on the part of HOD. But I'll admit it does sound better than an ordinary technician. Look good on forms when you have to give your occupation. But the sig takes us back I haven't used that in years. It came as a shock this year when I realised that I just passed 20 years in this job, makes you think doesn't it. all the best, Les

That's right. Coventry City Council just erected a warning sign on the Frank Whittle monument saying "Do not climb this monument" because if there were no sign and someone fell off they could sue the council for negligence.

(kim)

This is true! However its also true that no one who is in the position I'm in wants accidents "on his watch". So you learn to watch 3 things at once and how to tell if someone is safe to be using a piece of kit, because you feel "in loco parentis" and you don't want to have to clean anyone off a machine. It's not just liability, its responsibility!

I use a full face mask - like a welding mask only clear - polycarbonate

" Les Pickstock" wrote

Absolutely, not disagreeing with any of that, just trying to explain why there is so much concern at your place of employment and yet very little restriction on what an individual buy for his/her own use.

John.

True but councils will also fail to act upon known risks. Near to where I live the DOE authourised building a waste processing site on an old demolition yard. An ancient crane in the yard was dragged by the builders onto the pubic verge and dumped. The jib was left in the upright position. Could I get the local council, county council, Highways Authority to take any interest, could I hell. It was screaming out to be climbed on by all the local kids but hey, put up a hanging basket and you are asking for trouble.

Kevin

So right, had a tree shed a rotten branch into the road next to our Scout hut this week, not our tree, guess where the councils contractor dumped it? 'S right, on our frontage, took threats of leagl action/local councillor to get it shifted, someone dumps a few bags of rubbish there we get threats of £25 a bag removal and court action involving the council and E.A. if its not removed by us in under 24 hours....

"kim" wrote

As for the allegedly-not-an-urban-myth of the jar of peanut butter that says "WARNING: contains nuts"...

No such thing as peanut allergies when I were a lad. Something going on in those peanut plantations now that even the X-files can't uncover, methinks.

Thanks for the minitool warning. Stuff in eyes makes my toes curl just to think about it. The outpatient procedure for getting things unstuck from eyeballs: the doctor gets a hypodermic needle ready and urges you to support your head and stay very very still... (Hereford hospital 1989, never forgotten - only a dead insect too, starting to cause concern after three days of not unsticking).

Tony Clarke

N o t

f o r

t h e

s q u e a m i s h .

R e a l l y .

Pah. When I were lad, I 'ad injection into me eye. Well, the jelly-like bit inboard of the tear duct. I swear, you could've put a piece of coal into my hand and I would've produced a diamond, it was so psychologically terrifying.

The second time was less painful, except that the silly moo managed to inject however-many-cc of saline carrier under the surface of my eyeball, which resulted in my eyeball assuming a less than spherical shape. Let's just say it was constrained by the skull everywhere but at the front. Closing my eyelids was not an option.

R.

I have a Rubbermaid bathtub mat that has imprinted on the side with the suckers: "This side down".

And I have a prescription nasal spray that has two different sets of instructions, depending on whether the user is Canadian or American.

On 15/09/2005 17:28, Tony Clarke wrote,

...or the packets of sage that have "Ingredients: sage. May contain traces of nut", or the coffee and walnut cake I bought a while ago, that also had "May contain traces of nuts". I want a darn sight more than traces!

On 14/09/2005 01:17, Les Pickstock wrote,

...and less messy.

On 13/09/2005 18:12, Just zis Guy, you know? wrote,

Couldn't agree more. I now have a pair of kite-marked safety glasses on my bench, within easy reach, after cutting off a bit of wire that ricocheted off my eyeball. Fortunately there was nothing more serious than a bloodshot and bruised eye for a while, but it gave me a wake-up call. Now when I think of all the times I used carborundum discs without glasses it scares me!

I have here in my hand a wrapper from Tesco Finest Pork Fillet Dijonnaise which has on the back: Caution: This product contains *raw meat*.

I should hope it does...

Tim

My children have a 6 ft long snake cuddly toy with a label which says "DO NOT IRON". As if.

Duncan