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Do as I say - not as I do -- (safety)
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Posted by toomuchglass (My Page) on Sat, Jun 6, 09 at 23:40
I had to laugh today - I was teaching a bunch of newbies how to cut & break stained glass. I had to go "the long & correct" route ... safety first ... blah blah blah ...
(if they ever saw me cut & break glass - they'd faint .)
The only thing I wear is my glasses - and even then - glass chips have flown behind my glasses and landed in my eyelashes . I'm terrible at safety.
Now that I'm working with metal ... thanks to Alphonse & Blindstar --- I'm being REALLY safe. I'm sure in years to come when I'm comfortable with metal - I might ease up a bit . ( like taking the guard off of my angle grinder -- LOL )
Even my son did a few things while he was teaching me welding - he told me don't do that yet ... LOL ... He knows shortcuts.
So - how safe are you ? Are you comfortable with little shortcuts ?
PS .... Alphonse & Blindstar -- you seem to be the only ones here ! You both sound so professional ..
Dare I ask your experience with metal ? You guys sure helped me ....... |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Do as I say - not as I do -- (safety)
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| Ask all you want. As for the premise of your post, it has been my observation that accidents happen to rank amateurs and seasoned professionals but seldom journeymen. To amateurs because they don't know or don't think.
To pros when they think they know but a wrinkle develops. |
RE: Do as I say - not as I do -- (safety)
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| I believe in situational safety. It is a risk benefit problem that becomes much more difficult if an accident effects more than just the perpetrator. I manufacture fireworks and shoot commercial displays (not how I make my living, but an interesting second career). When we train new people, you can tell them DON’T DO THIS, but if they see you do it they will probably try it. This results in me being much safer (and slower) when I know that I am being observed. Is this hypocritical? Probably. When I am working by myself or with experienced people I usually think in terms of what is the worst thing that could happen and how likely is it to occur. I then try to mitigate the risk as much as possible while still getting the job done in a reasonable amount of time. alphonse's comment on angle grinders is a good example. Assume that the disk could shatter and keep your head positioned to limit your exposure. No, you can’t always do that, but when you can you should. We stress to new pyros to NEVER place any body part over a loaded mortar. However, I have stuck my arm down a loaded 12" mortar to extract a shell that did not fire. I would never ask anyone else to do that, but in that particular situation I thought it was worth the, very small, risk of killing myself. Now that you have got me thinking about this I probably border on the unsafe side. |
RE: Do as I say - not as I do -- (safety)
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| Wear a face shield, better for stuff like cutting glass. It's not really a joke, like they say "it's all fun til somebody loses an eye" - it can certainly happen to you. If you're a seasoned glass cutter, and you get glass fragments in your eyelashes, your experience isn't really making you safer, is it? I guess you like to gamble with your sight. Personally, I like having mine too much. |
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