14.5 Safety First

By Al Vandervelde

There was a recent incident in my shop that could have been much worse. As you can see by the slash through my nearly destroyed brand new shop gloves (my photo in this issue) it could have been much, much worse. The slash in the glove from a grinder starts about the center of my finger and ends on the main part of my hand fortunately I only ground the skin just above the knuckle. Without gloves I surely would have had a visit to emergency room to sew about 4 inches of my hand back together.

Gloves are a recent addition to my shop safety gear and I do bitch at the cost, but as you can imagine they will be evident in my tech article photos from now on. Most of us are guilty of not taking enough safety precautions in our daily lives, whether it’s driving tired on long trips or winching without gloves; bad positioning of off-road jacks or not using our tools safely (my grinder has the shield removed so I can get into tight spots).

I had a friend chainsaw his leg open in the bush when he was by himself clearing trails; another crushed his arm against a tree (wheeling with his arm out the window). I have another friend with a glass eye – farmer jack got him in the face; a buddy with a missing finger – he’s a fine woodworker and he sees spinning blades every day but still a preventable accident, and I wear glasses due to using an improper welding shield before I knew what darkness setting 11 means – so I’m just as guilty – the point being that all of the above accidents were preventable.

We just get lazy sometimes or tired and forget. Its easy to do things wrong – it can take some extra time to do them right and keep ourselves safe – or those around us safe. Sometimes easing up on the safety rules doesn’t affect us right away - skip wearing a mask when grinding or earplugs when tools are noisy. They don’t get to you right away but they sure will in the long run when you can’t hear or see and are rolling around with an oxygen bottle for your emphysema.

So next time you are working on your rig, or winching, or jacking, or fetching firewood with your chainsaw, take a few extra moments to play it safe. You’re more likely to live a happy, long life, enjoying your sport with all your digits and limbs intact.

Happy trails