Reminder about working Safely

[Jsf721]

Especially when alone. This post I read here this morning brought back memories or nightmares for me.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=413824

It was 1989 and I had just started working in the family business. Started making deliveries for our Janitorial business. We ran 26' internationals. Part of my job was to get the trucks running in the AM before the drivers arrived and coil up the extension cords. We had to plug them in back then to make sure they started when it was cold.

So I have a symphony of 4 cold diesel trucks running and I am coiling up the last cord before hanging them up on the back wall of the yard. As I turned around I see one the trucks is almost on me. No moving fast but it a 25K lb truck. as I scrambled to get out of the way It pinned my arm to the wall. Panic is an understatement. I am screaming at the top of my lungs, is 5:45Am in an industrial park and there were no cell phones in 1989. Or at least they were for the ultra rich.

I was so luckily that a police officer drove but and saw me/heard me and pulled the truck up. My arm was numb, I'd been trapped 3-5 minutes and he took me to the ER. Surprisingly there is no break, or blood! Only a dent in my Bicep Muscle that I can still see. A few days later I had a massive black and blue mark but that was the worst. Parking brake cable froze and the vibration of the motor warning up set it free.

Be careful always but especially be careful when alone. I work a lot differently since that day!

Good Luck and be safe out there !

 

[MikeinNorthWales]

I'm a firefighter/EMT. About 25 years ago my company was dispatched for an industrial rescue at a greenhouse around 7AM. When we arrived, we found a man pinned between a forklift and the loading dock. He had come to work early (around 5AM) to load delivery trucks for the day. The forklift was old, with no cage. The box truck he was loading was backed up to the dock, but wasn't chocked. As he drove into the truck, it rolled away from the dock, but he didn't notice. As he backed out, the back end of the forklift dropped to the ground and stood on end. Unfortunately, he was still close enough to the dock that he was pinned to the dock beneath the mast. Fortunately it was a short mast, so it didn't crush his head or chest, but his pelvis was crushed and he had internal injuries. He laid there almost 2 hours until someone else came to work.

Yeah, be careful.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[randydupree]

I had an air powered grease gun malfunction and pumped the long finger on my right hand full of chassis grease.
The doc removed an egg size blob of grease and so far i have had 7 surgery on that finger to remove grease and tissue.
Most hospitals remove the finger or hand,i had a good doc and he said we can save your hand.
Be careful,even with a simple grease gun.

 

[GMCGarage]

I put a Amazon alexa in my shop. I can yell at it to call 'Home' (It will ring the other Alexa in the house)or 911. Hopefully it works if I need it.

 

[rlitman]

I had an air powered grease gun malfunction and pumped the long finger on my right hand full of chassis grease.
The doc removed an egg size blob of grease and so far i have had 7 surgery on that finger to remove grease and tissue.
Most hospitals remove the finger or hand,i had a good doc and he said we can save your hand.
Be careful,even with a simple grease gun.

That's a too common injury with pressure washers and paint sprayers too.

 

[OneOfEm]

I've mentioned this before, but will repeat here:

Last February 25 was a cloudy day. The Intellicast hourly report showed 0% chance of rain all day. I decided that Sunday was going to be when I put the ridge cap on the metal roof of my workshop build - other than trim, the final step on the roof.

My wife asked me as I was going up if I was going to wear the safety harness. I told her that working on the ridge, there's no easy way to attach it.

As I started working on the 3rd piece of ridge cap, a light, misting rain started falling. I told my wife, who was under the roof, that I was going to finish the one piece, then I'd come down. Gravity + rain + metal roof had other ideas.

As soon as I started sliding, I knew it was going to end badly.

As I fell from the upper roof section to the lower on the stepped roof, I tried to grab the edge. This caused my right shoulder to hyper-extend and broke a bone in my shoulder. I accelerated down the lower section on my hands and knees, and the screw heads, while not slowing me, severely opened the skin on my shin, and at one area just below the knee, shredded a 2" area exposing the bone.

As I fell from the eaves feet-first, I slightly flexed my knees, thinking this would prevent broken legs, but when my **** hit the ground, the impact caused compression fractures in four vertebrae (L1-L4).

While lying on the bed in the ER, I thought of five different ways I could have attached the safety harness.

I had surgery on my shoulder to pin the fracture on March 20. Thankfully, I didn't need surgery on my back. The stitched-up shredded skin eventually became necrotic and took over 4 months to heal completely.

I've been easing into shoulder-high work with hurricane straps and a palm nailer over the past few months. Last Sunday my wife and I hung a some 8' 2x4's overhead on an eave to prep for soffit. This was the first true overhead work I've done in a year. I'm slowly working on rebuilding strength and endurance.

I'm not ready to even consider getting back on the roof. When I do, I'll be wearing a harness.

 

[TractorJeff]

Growing up, Working alone was a standard practice.
A lot of those Old Guys are lucky they had no major issues.
It is the few that did that are no longer among us!
I worked alone back then with minimal contact or updates as to where I was at.
Logging changed that! You checked in and reported exactly where you would be.
I still work alone in my rural life but the wife knows where I will be and I have a cell phone now!
ROOF?
I wear a harness even when I believe its not necessary.

 

[bczygan]

I'm scared of heights but have a 2nd story roof to do. Was up there one day and started sliding on the tarp that covered the back side. Got stopped but couldn't move without sliding more. Was lying flat on my belly.

Spent 20 totally exhausting minutes hanging onto a protruding nail and trying to inch my way back to the ridge.

Fun!

Been thinking about fall protection.

What should I get?

Bill

 

[Northislander]

Just ordered six new solar panels for install on my off grid cabin roof yesterday. Wife overheard me on the phone placing order, when i got off the phone she said you are not installing those yourself. I have fall restraint, ladders and scaffolding but started thinking it's not going to be easy by my self now reading this timely thread maybe i will get some help.

 

[matt_i]

Just some ideas about working @ heights.

I'd always recommend the full body harness, I got mine on ebay for $30 or so, its used to the point of having a torn open bag but that's it.

One can use the tactic of tying a rope to a vehicle like a pickup truck or tractor, throw it over the ridge and then use that as an anchor point when working on a certain side of the slope. Good to also have the fall-arresting lanyard that rips open the stitching to slow down the fall.

On the actual ridge it could involve two vehicles, a knot that I dont know the official name of but one takes a loop in the center and ties a knot with the two tails coming out, hook those long tails to the each side, back to the ground, there can be more knots for tie off points during the ascent.

This was a device I shop-built when working on the roof. It just hangs over the edge of the sheathing and can be relocated. It also has the mystery-named knot.



I built this scaffolding out of concrete forming timbers (2x10s) to lay the ladder over against the roof so I didn't slip. The tractor holds down the scaffold so it has no chance of tipping back. I used this scaffold to change all of the ridge & hip caps on the house (I think it was 6 bundles....) successfully.

 

[bczygan]

Is the knot a bowline?

Bill

 

[JRC3]

This guy dodged so many bullets. He could've been trapped under, against or between multiple times.

The vid shows it better.

 

[burninghXcsoul]

Biggest mistake people make is thinking they can stop something big from moving. Nope, just get out of the way...

 

[Lynden]

On the actual ridge it could involve two vehicles, a knot that I don't know the official name of but one takes a loop in the center and ties a knot with the two tails coming out, hook those long tails to the each side, back to the ground, there can be more knots for tie off points during the ascent.

The name of the knot is the Alpine Butterfly Knot. It is one of the best knots to use when you need to make a loop in the center of a rope. The method I like to use to tie this knot is shown at about 3 minutes in this video.

Another advantage of the Alpine Butterfly Knot is that it is easy to untie.

 

[mv213]

The name of the knot is the Alpine Butterfly Knot. It is one of the best knots to use when you need to make a loop in the center of a rope. The method I like to use to tie this knot is shown at about 3 minutes in this video.

Another advantage of the Alpine Butterfly Knot is that it is easy to untie.

Thanks for that link, it’s brilliant. I’ve always done it with a single 180* loop and have a heck of a time getting it untied when I’m done with it.

 

[Lynden]

Thanks for that link, it’s brilliant.

You're welcome. It's a strong knot plus it's fun to tie.

The Bowline Knot mentioned earlier is a good knot to use at the end of a rope. If you want to tie a Bowline Knot in the center of a rope you have to use a Bowline On A Bight.

 

[Zeus36]

I use a paper wheel system for touching up knives. The wheels are mounted on a bench grinder and act as a power strop system. I turn the motor 180 so the wheels spin away from me and use a foot pedal dead man switch. The edge is sharpened on the top of the wheel and will get thrown to the rear if the knife catches or gets loose. I marked the side of the cardboard wheel with an arrow indicating direction of rotation. I've had this system for over 20 years.

I had used the other arbor with a buffing wheel and operating in the standard rotation with the buffing wheel spinning downward. A week later I needed to sharpen a custom 14-inch Kukri, but I forgot to rotate the machine so the paper wheel was spinning backwards and didn't check the arrow. When I touched the blade to the top of the wheel, it threw it into my face and I saw stars. I am alive and writing this today because the quarter inch thick spine of the blade hit me just under my nose instead of the blade edge!
Fortunately, my gal heard me yell and ran into the garage as I was stumbling around holding my split flesh. I wanted to Superglue the cut but ended up in the ER for several stitches while covered in blood.

Lessons learned:

1. The sharpener is now dedicated to that function only. I have added two additional machines, one for grinding, one for buffing/wire wheel.
2. I check to be sure of the rotational direction before starting the sharpener.
3. I use a heavy face shield over my safety glasses before turning on any of those three machines.
4. I think about what happened "that one time five years ago"... before sharpening.
5. I make sure she is aware I'm going to run any power tools in the shop or in the garage.

(not my setup, but similar. I use two hands to hold the knife)

 

[Wolfman6]

I've worked alone most of my life. I was a stair builder and rail installer. People that do this work are usually the type of person that must do everything themselves so most of us work alone. I fell off a balcony head first, hit my head on my chopsaw, knocked my self out and broke my wrist. No one else was working in the house. Fortunately, some masons where still outside, just leaving because it was raining, heard me fall. They came in to find me unconscious on the floor.

 

[VocaTexas]

Guys, be very VERY careful about using a bowline knot. There is one step in tying a bowline that is easy to get wrong and if you do, as soon as weight hits the knot it comes apart. Many firefighters have been injured and killed this way. I much prefer using a form of figure eight when I can. It's a lot harder to screw up.

*I have two certificates of training from Texas A&M Fire School on confined space and high angle rescue. I do know what I'm talking about.

 

[Milton Shaw]

The suggestion of tying a rope to a vehicle is a good one if you remove a battery cable to keep someone else from driving off not knowing you're attached. Seen YouTube of some of them happening.

 

[JRC3]

Anyone watch TOH this week? When they were installing the solar panels they make some canned remark about the installers being tied off...Then in the next scenes they were near the peak but the "safety" ropes ran up the roof from the bottom. I know they are covering their rear ends from homeowner injuries, but LOL.

 

[GaryM909]

Back in 2000 I built a lean to patio roof about 12' x 12'. There is an existing walk up basement door under it along with a patio. I put a plywood roof on it with asphalt shingles.With the nails from the shingles showing underneath I decided to line the underside with tongue & groove pine. Back then I had no air tools or compressor so I was nailing the boards up with a hammer. Very slow process along with working lots and family stuff.
One Saturday morning I had about 10 minutes to kill so I jumped up on a plastic lawn chair to add another board. The chair collapsed and I started going headfirst into the walk up. I was able to grab the hand rail to stop my fall but ripped my left palm open. I ran in to the house and put my hand in a freezer bag and then under the cold water tap. My wife came into the kitchen, Called me an idiot, took me in for stitches (14 ) and it cost me a new job I was heading to the next day. I work on about 5-10 industrial sites every year and all require safety training along with strict rules. The next week all the plastic lawn chairs went to the dump. I still get reminded what an idiot I was that day.