K, I'll be that guy, cause yesterday it kept me from going blind.

Be safe and wear your **** safety glasses no matter what you are doing when you are working. It's the stupid stuff that is going to get you.


I'm bandaged up right now but it sure beats the hospital, I wasn't kidding when I said I would now be blind without my safety glasses, my left forearm has a 3rd degree burn larger than my right hand (and I'm a big guy) and is surrounded by 2nd degree burns, as well as my stomach and unfortunately my face. You can see on my arm exactly where my gauntlet cut off, and on my face you can see exactly where my safety glasses where, from the bridge on my nose, to the edges of the lens.

I was doing something i have done a hundred times before, a simple easy thing (heat treating a knife, I'm a blacksmith), but this time my quench tank contracted from the heat and came loose from it's holder (for knives it's a tube), when it hit the ground it exploded, covering me in oil over 500 degrees at that point. I can remember seeing the oil shoot right for my face long before it dawned on me what had just happened, my eyes where completely open. No time to think, no time to react, it went from everything is perfectly fine and I was just about to remove to the knife to me tearing off everything to get it off of me to try to stop the burning.


I bring it up here as a reminder. Yeah I know on truck building we don't quench like I was yesterday hardly ever or anything like that, but it's the "so out of the blue" danger that we need to be reminded of, heck most blacksmiths don't wear safety glasses when they heat treat and temper because to some it effects how well they can see the color of the steel. If I had been one of them, today I'd be in the hospital hoping I'd be able to see again. It's one of those unheard of things, a stupid thing, but something that happens because of such an odd assortments of little unforeseen things. I'm very careful in my shop, I take lots of precautions and everything else, i'm a Safety **** in there, I bet most of us are, but this is why I am.


I just thought I'd remind everyone why you always hear "put your **** safety glasses on!", I think sometimes we forget how easy it is to happen. No matter what we take into account or foresee, its the tiny X-factors we didn't stop think about that are the most dangerous. It's why you wear safety glasses UNDER a welding helmet as well, or under a face shield. I know we've all heard stories of why we should, and I know this is just another one, but I hope that since it's not a story of an unknown anonymous person that it might help to set in that reminder.

Be Safe, or be screwed.



( thats oil covering those)

 

I hope you WENT to the hospital with all those burns! I'll assume you just meant that it beat staying at the hospital.
Man... I'm glad you're alright (relatively) and I'm sorry for the pain that you must be in.

Wishes for speedy recovery!

 

Nah, I'm alright.Thanks though. Use to burning the crap out of myself and having to fix it, lol. It hasn't blistered up or anything yet, keeping an eye out for infection. After the initial burn I didn't even feel it so much on my arm, use to tuning it out, did need to ice my face for about 5 hours though. The hospital here is pretty useless, it seriously would have cost me $30,000 just to have them tell me to ice it. I mean I'm out posting on the internet, how bad can I be right now right? lol

 

Stephen.....Thanks for reminding us. Your exactly right, we hear it all the time but we have to start listening! ....Speedy recovery eh, man.

 

Glad to hear you're -- ah alive.
With me it's electricity - it gets me no matter what I do - AC, DC, Static

 

Glad its not worse than it is. Thanks for the reminder. I git in a hurry sometimes and get a little careless.(not saying you did) and I get my own little reminders. Take care of those burns and have a better day tomorrow. bob

 

Glad your ok and it's a good warning but don't play around with those burns they can get infected quickly.

 

Damn man! I hope you heal up quickly!

 

Sorry to hear it, could have been worse, but not much -- get that tank ANCHORED!! Aloe is great for burns.

 

I feel you. I'm trying to be more religious about wearing my safety glasses also. Sometimes things happen when you least expect it. A few weeks ago I was repairing the handle on a pallet jack at work. I was holding the jack pump piston down with a prybar while I reinstalled the handle. I knew the piston was spring-loaded, but I wasn't accounting for the fact that it was also under hydraulic pressure - and there was nothing keeping it from coming out of its bore while the jack handle was off. The prybar slipped and the piston came out of the bore like a rocket. It busted me right in the cheekbone below my right eye. I saw stars and hit the floor. I escaped with just a light cut on my cheek and a black eye the next morning. My cheek was sore for a couple weeks. If it had hit me an inch higher on my face, I'd probably be missing an eye. Of course, no safety glasses. It just wasn't one of those jobs where I would have thought they'd be necessary. Be careful out there and WEAR THOSE GLASSES!

 

WOW! Sorry to hear that, Glad you feel ok but like dennis56 mentioned..And I know YOU know, burns can get infected and go south real quick!! My wife spilled oil and water(mix) on her foot, about 2" in dia..and she was on I.V in the hospital for a week.
Take care of youself my friend!.. And Good Luck!

 

I know it sucks for you at the moment but I'm glad it wasn't worse.

Always good for all of us to see a reminder about safety. Most of my world-class injuries didn't occur when I was doing something risky. They occurred when I was doing something routine and not focused.

 

I'm glad you are going to be ok! Thank you for your safety reminder...... There is nothing "macho" about losing your eye sight!
Dale

 

sure glad to hear you're ok. i am constantly harping on my team at work to practice safety, but, i always hear-- i'll only be a minute, or, i;ve done this for years without a problem. YEAH, RIGHT!! it only takes a second to die!! THANK YOU for reminding everyone. hope they heed the warning!

 

ditto everything said here, can't say enough how important they are. take care of yourself and resist the urge to scratch!!
Lets also not forget steel toecaps and proper gloves where appropriate, I know my toes would have been crushed by now without them and as for my hands.....