Chris_Hamilton
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2012
- Messages
- 1,023
Hi all. I'm new here (although I've been lurking for a while) and thought I'd share with you my recent experience in hopes that all of you will make sure to always follow common sense safety precautions. 
I'm an Autobody Tech and Painter in a small town in Virginia. I work in a small but busy shop. A few weeks ago I was modifying some metal bar stool chairs a customer brought in (we work on anything
). He wanted them cut down an inch and refinished. After cutting the chairs and welding them back together I was grinding on a weld. I was wearing good 3M safety glasses but I felt something go up under them and into my eye. I blinked a few times and didn't feel it anymore so I kept on working. Sorta thing that's happened to many of us hundreds of times. That was on a Friday. Early Saturday morning I wake up in agony. My eye was hurting and I couldn't figure out why. Didn't feel like anything was in there so I thought that maybe I had a flash burn from "catching the flash" when I was welding. Anyways it eased up and I tried to go back to sleep. Well all weekend it was hurting so finally Sunday night I flushed my eye again and got my trusty LED penlight and shined it into my eye. To my surprise there was a black speck in my Iris very near my pupil. So Monday morning call the Eye Doctor and go to see them late that afternoon (after working almost a full day...I'm a man baby...
)
Turns out I had a very large chunk of metal embedded deep into my eye. What I could see was only the tip. To make a long story slightly less long (sorry) I ended up having 2 surgeries that week to remove the sliver and embedded rust ring that formed from it being there 3 days. And have had 5 follow up visits to the Eye Doctor since then. Very costly and very painful for me the last 3 weeks. Luckily I have no permanent damage. The MORAL of the story is that Safety Glasses are not enough when grinding, please everyone ALWAYS wear a Full Face Shield, in addition to your safety glasses. I know I will from now on.
I'm an Autobody Tech and Painter in a small town in Virginia. I work in a small but busy shop. A few weeks ago I was modifying some metal bar stool chairs a customer brought in (we work on anything
). He wanted them cut down an inch and refinished. After cutting the chairs and welding them back together I was grinding on a weld. I was wearing good 3M safety glasses but I felt something go up under them and into my eye. I blinked a few times and didn't feel it anymore so I kept on working. Sorta thing that's happened to many of us hundreds of times. That was on a Friday. Early Saturday morning I wake up in agony. My eye was hurting and I couldn't figure out why. Didn't feel like anything was in there so I thought that maybe I had a flash burn from "catching the flash" when I was welding. Anyways it eased up and I tried to go back to sleep. Well all weekend it was hurting so finally Sunday night I flushed my eye again and got my trusty LED penlight and shined it into my eye. To my surprise there was a black speck in my Iris very near my pupil. So Monday morning call the Eye Doctor and go to see them late that afternoon (after working almost a full day...I'm a man baby...)Turns out I had a very large chunk of metal embedded deep into my eye. What I could see was only the tip. To make a long story slightly less long (sorry) I ended up having 2 surgeries that week to remove the sliver and embedded rust ring that formed from it being there 3 days. And have had 5 follow up visits to the Eye Doctor since then. Very costly and very painful for me the last 3 weeks. Luckily I have no permanent damage. The MORAL of the story is that Safety Glasses are not enough when grinding, please everyone ALWAYS wear a Full Face Shield, in addition to your safety glasses. I know I will from now on.
