Be Safe Out There

[EightFingers]

I just drilled a whole through my fourth finger three days ago. Impact driver jumped off the screw and drilled a nice hole in my finger. Thankfully, it wasn't broken, but I spewed lot of blood. I was able to get the flesh back in and it appears to be healing.

[EricU]

hopefully, I'll make it through the basement rehab without any more incidents.  Cut my thumb pretty deeply while cutting drywall to length, and before that I shot my index finger with a nail gun.  Fortunately, the nail had gone through a 2x10 first, and my hand wasn't firmly anchored, so it just made a nasty bump.

[Admiral]

A few years ago I was making a shop cart, and gluing and bradding it together, was holding the side of a board the brad was going into, and a 1.2" brad must have hit a knot in the pine and blew out through the side, right into my index finger, almost went clear through, but soft tissue only.  Lesson learned, now I use clamps, or hold it further down.  I shudder to think what  framing nailers have done, like this which happened a while ago:



https://www.protoolreviews.com/news/shoo...rain/3081/

[CLETUS]

A few years ago I was making a shop cart, and gluing and bradding it together, was holding the side of a board the brad was going into, and a 1.2" brad must have hit a knot in the pine and blew out through the side, right into my index finger, almost went clear through, but soft tissue only.  Lesson learned, now I use clamps, or hold it further down.  I shudder to think what  framing nailers have done, like this which happened a while ago:

I had the same thing happen with a brad. I know a guy that took a framing nail in the hand, they pulled it out with a pair of dykes and he kept on working.


A T25 torx bit tears up a bunch of soft tissue in a hurry when it slips of a screw. That hurt, it didn't heal well and it left a nice scar.

[Handplanesandmore]

Thanks for sharing this real job incident. The details helped.

There are still countless woodworkers who would insist nothing else is needed other than what is between the ears. If that's true, 99% of safety measures and advisory in the world would be unnecessary. Accidents and injuries can happen to the most careful woodworkers.

A friend (a retired furniture maker) with over 50 years of woodworking experience I know had never had his fingers cut by a tablesaw...until a few months ago, the typical kind of fella who should not be injured by a tablesaw -- experienced, using the same tablesaw for over 20 years, woodworking since youth, etc. His wife gave him two options after the trip to the ER and months of healing: A sawstop, or quit woodworking. After debates about how much longer he would still work in the shop, he went for a second hand Makita track saw package.

When people think or say other woodworkers who suffered a serious woodworking injury are dumb, they don't know anything about accidents and statistics. No one or measures can eliminate accidents, we can only minimize the chances of accidents and injuries -- with guards, riving knife, sawstop technology, and good safety habits.  That's why newer cars are now equipped with all kinds of safety measures and senors to reduce -- not eliminate -- accidents.

Simon

[daddo]

This all makes me wonder why I'm still alive.
I'm the outdoor type and active a lot.

 The short list;

Been shot twice (chest and leg). (accidents)
Attacked by bees to the tune of over 20 stings.
Rolled my jeep downhill into a muddy swollen creek.
Almost drowned on the rapids in a canoe.
Almost died in the hospital from a scorpion sting.
Hit 480v right through the arm/legs- that was a bad one.
Rattlesnake hit me on the shoe- right at the empty toe space- in the middle of no where Texas.
Fishing on the surf, a small Hammerhead about 6 foot long knocked me over before I ran on top of the water to shore.
Was 25 miles offshore in our Mako and hit a severe storm that near sank us.
Truck on jacks fell on my hand and I was pinned for an hour before I got help- hand ended up ok by a miracle.

 In the shop? Nothing to bad, just removal of skin from the jointer and a few cuts and one fingernail got ripped off. Oh- was using a long bit to drill through a shaft and my hair got caught in the bit and pulled out a chunk of hair.


But my biggest achievement is I have survived marriage and kids.


 I have a great guardian angel.

[Steve N]

Usually careless, in a hurry, not adjusting the rest. I always held what I'm grinding in vise grips when possible.

Good Choice, for larger stuff you can size up. I use the clamps for a lot of routing operations where if it went sideways, there would be my fangers  





They aren't Irwins, but HF has them for cheeeep.

[Admiral]

When people think or say other woodworkers who suffered a serious woodworking injury are dumb, they don't know anything about accidents and statistics. No one or measures can eliminate accidents, we can only minimize the chances of accidents and injuries -- with guards, riving knife, sawstop technology, and good safety habits.  That's why newer cars are now equipped with all kinds of safety measures and senors to reduce -- not eliminate -- accidents.

Simon

Yeah, false confidence sometimes ends up badly.  I've always said to people who ask "aren't you afraid of the power tools you use" that, no, I'm not afraid, but have a whole lot of respect, and if an operation "feels" dangerous, it likely is, and I find a workaround.  Still got all 10, fingers crossed.

[Steve N]

When I worked in the ER and would see these things right after they happened the thing I took away, is nobody "really" knew what they did wrong. Some had guesses, but weren't sure. I worked with 3 ER Docs that were serious woodworkers, and we would just have them run through what they were doing, sometimes interjecting a question. Did you have any guards? There were never any guards in place, just never. One of the Docs would routinely ask if they thought that was a good idea. Myself and the others would just nod sagely, and that was the end of the discussion. We assumed if there wasn't anything in place to keep your fingers from the sharp cutters, certain circumstances could have you playing freehand with those cutters. What I have seen there, and it's been repeated here time and again is if the person using the tool "knows" they don't need guards to be safe, telling them they are wrong, just doesn't work.

[ianab]

There are still countless woodworkers who would insist nothing else is needed other than what is between the ears. If that's true, 99% of safety measures and advisory in the world would be unnecessary.

That's part of the problem. No one can tell me they have never had a "brain fart", or some unexpected equipment or material failure. You shouldn't have to rely on the guards / interlocks / E-Stops etc. They are there as a backup when something unexpectedly goes wrong. 

It's like running a chainsaw, You don't plan on tripping the chain brake or cutting into your safety chaps. But things don't always work like you plan them to. I've never cut open my chainsaw chaps, but I've had a couple of times when I've come close enough to realise why I'm wearing them. 

Or you don't plan on testing your cars air bags, but when something goes wrong you may be very glad they are there.