subtopic idea: safety out of the shop

[pkrankow]

Maybe we need a subtopic of safety for out of the shop projects? We are a hands on community and all have experiences and situations to share. There are safety concerns some here never are exposed to, and there are concerns that affect a large subset of this community BUT are not related to shop safety.

I do a lot of tree care on my own property, and once a limb spring poled into me because its end touched ground before I completed the cut. It was a 4 inch limb, and if it was a few inches to the left my manhood would have been in question; a few inches higher and I would have been in the hospital with abdominal trauma. As it was I was lucky to not have a broken leg, but was bruised quite seriously.

I learned that if the far end of the limb touches ground, STOP! Work from the far end and trim out material until the pressure is removed from the limb and then finish the cut. Support the limb if necessary as trimming before finishing the cut.

Safety on IFI seems geared only towards shop and process related situations. Safety is more than just in our workshops. We have all had experiences that might be better on a different forum than IFI, but we either are not members of pertinent forums, or don't know what forums to look for. OR we know some people in this community will benefit from the experience.

So what situations and experiances have you had that you feel you need to share with a hands on community such as IFI?

Phil

[jimmy seale]

on downing limbs/trees i always under cut them..then cut em off the way they will fall. but don't bite off more than you can safetly chew. be careful out there,jimmy

[Glenn]

First rule of cutting trees is never work alone.

Second rule is there are times you MUST walk away and let nature bring the tree down the slow way, with time. One tree I cut got hung up in another tree and it took 3 years till I was able to get my wedges back. It took that long for the thing to finally fall to the ground.

ALWAYS HAVE A CLEAN, CLEAR, PATH in case you need to move out of the area quickly.

People do not recognize the weight of the tree and the leverage it can develop. Cutting the tree safely many times requires ropes, cables, chains, come-a-longs, winches, wedges, etc to guide the tree along the fall line you choose. The tree can be compromised through rot, weak root system, windshook, hollow, etc, and many times you can not tell this by looking at the tree.

Once you have the tree safely on the ground, start cutting firewood length sections from the leaf end of the tree. Keep the work area clean and the limbs and the firewood pulled out of the way. I usually start where the limbs are 3 fingers thick. Even a length of fire wood 16 to 18 inches long can hurt you if you are not careful.

Take breaks early and often (at least every gas refill) and when you get tired, stop. DO NOT CUT AFTER DARK, no matter what the reason.

S0019 Cutting Trees



There is a lot more that can be said on the subject of cutting wood, but this thread is on the topic of outside the shop safety.

Anytime anything is in the air, put jack stands under vehicles, crib under it, or something to be absolutely sure it is safe. A neighbor was going to work on his car and had it supported on just the hydraulic jack. I insisted that he stop until I could get jack stands from the shop. He finally agreed and put them under the vehicle. I would not let him crawl under the car until he shook the vehicle. He thought I had lost it, but I insisted. He gave it a half hearted push and the car body slipped off the jack stand and fell. His eyes were the size of softballs. He had put the jack stands on *just anything*, not as a support to the axle or frame, and they slipped. He now tests the supports by trying to turn the car over pushing against it. When working on any vehicle, always block the wheels in such a way the vehicle can NOT roll over the block.

We had to go a quick repair to a car one time. I pulled the car into a drive way and then along a high curb. For all the world it looked like a car had run off the road, over me, and trapped me under it. Finally the wife stood guard to tell those that stopped it was ok, I was just doing some repairs on the car. It WAS safe as all 4 tires were on good solid ground.

How many times when you change a tire on a car do you just jack it up, take off the lug nuts, remove the old tire and put it on the ground then put on the new tire. Do you take the time to be sure to stay out of the way of a falling car if the jack fails? Or do you put your head inside the finder well to look things over before you put the spare tire on the hub?

Moving furniture and appliances is always easier with a dolly. But did you take the time to secure the load to the dolly?

When moving the furniture and appliances into or out of a house, always have a spotter at the bottom of the stairs, or at the front of the parade to tell the fellow that he has two more steps to go, or is on the last step. Spotters can move the chairs, stools, or the rug with the rolled up end before it becomes a problem.

Lawn mowers eat shoes and feet. They also throw rocks, limbs, balls, etc at incredible speeds. Pick up the yard before you mow the lawn.

LB0002 Safety

Safety glasses, ear plugs, gloves, leathers, steel toes are not something that is just used inside the shop. They can be used in other places.

IForgeIron is about information AND doing things safely.

Safely is not only in the smithy, but in real life as well.
They call it personal safety because YOU are responsible for YOUR personal safety.

[ptree]

I have my share of past wounds etc. I was a professional skydiver, jumpmaster, instructor and jump plane pilot for about 10 years. I learned there to plan ahead for EVERY possibility, and to eleminate every chance. If a chance was not eleminated, I learned to plan and practice the corrective action. IE, when you are at 3000', the chute fails, and you are approaching the earth at 125 foot per second, you don't need to have to ask yourself, what shouldI do? You should have an automatic, practiced, escape route, that will not have stop points as you consider. This means you decide the chute is failed, the chute is released from you and the emergency chute is activated, in a seamless, automatic, not having to think about it action.

How does this apply to what we do in the shop and around the house? if you chainsaw, do you wear hearing protection, safety glasses and a hard hat to eleminate the easy chances of injury? Do you walk around that tree and ask yourself if it falls this way what do I do, if it falls that way and hits that other tree what do I do? Where is my safety route. Then try scooting thru that safet route to see that there are no hidden potholes etc?

Sounds like a lot of time consuming BS, but that BS is the life or death difference in many cases.

Ptree who gave up skydiving since I could no longer do it regulary, and therefore would not be profecient enough to be safe. Think about that last statement, and apply that to doing dangerous things. Sometimes it is the only right answer to walk away and either let nature, or a paid, profecient professional do a job.

[pkrankow]

I did not intend for this to just be about trees, even though I started there.

Ptree is right about planning ahead. Glenn, while humorous, are true too. I've also been the man under the car on the curb.

Sometimes insight is also from unforeseen results, good, bad, or otherwise. Knowing other people's results helps all of us remember what to look for and how to be safer.

Phil