Thread: Safety

I spent the first 12 years of my working life as a Carpenter and Joiner - and ALWAYS used earmuffs whenever a machine was running.

10 Years in a desk job after the above time - and I suffer tinitus and the inability to understand people's voices in a crowded noisy room.

So anyone who doesn't wear ear protection isn't a wuss - they're just plain stoopid!

BTW:
• I never wear gloves unless digging holes or carrying lots of rough sawn timber - NEVER when using a machine... that would be courting danger.
• I always wear overalls even in 40 degrees heat - force of habit I guess
• I always wear safety boots - steel capped
• I never wear a top with loose sleeves at the cuffs.
• I also always use eyewear when using ANY machine and sometimes when using some hand tools.

You can never be too careful - God only gave you one set of body parts - and they don't grow back either!

I too suffer from tinitus and have reduced hearing despite always having worn good quality hearing protection when working in noisy environments. You're not being a wuss, just protecting non replaceable parts.
I always wear steel cap boots when using any kind of tools (including mowing and other garden activities). Same as Scoob-Doo, never wear gloves when operating tools or machinery, just for coarse manual handling. Safety glasses, face shields and breathing protection (twin cartridge type or Racal powered face shield) as required. You may feel self conscious wearing the stuff now (it'll soon wear off, I once drove home with my earplugs in and hard hat on) but you'll feel pretty damn stupid the rest of your life if you injure yourself badly. Keep doing the right thing Count.

Mick

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

I too suffer from tinitus and have reduced hearing despite always having worn good quality hearing protection when working in noisy environments. You're not being a wuss, just protecting non replaceable parts.
I always wear steel cap boots when using any kind of tools (including mowing and other garden activities). Same as Scoob-Doo, never wear gloves when operating tools or machinery, just for coarse manual handling. Safety glasses, face shields and breathing protection (twin cartridge type or Racal powered face shield) as required. You may feel self conscious wearing the stuff now (it'll soon wear off, I once drove home with my earplugs in and hard hat on) but you'll feel pretty damn stupid the rest of your life if you injure yourself badly. Keep doing the right thing Count.

Mick

Same for me right down to the tinitus.

Except........

I wear safety boots mostly......if I'm only mucking around in the shed I'll wear joggers. If I wear thongs I usually end up drilling some steel on the spur of the moment, and getting a bit of hot stuff between my toes. :eek:

My earplugs cost $80.00. I had them made by an audiologist who took a cast of my ears, and adjusted them to drop out something like 45dB. They let sound in over all frequency ranges, so I can hear the radio and people talking...in fact they are designed for musicians playing in rock bands, so I often take 'em to live music venues....my ears are so stuffed that it's hard to hear anything when the music volume goes up and they work a trick!

Cheers,

P

Because I wear reading glasses and that this is only fairly recent, I may have been guilty of not wearing proper protective spec when I should. It's a real pain in the **** to have goggles over the top of existing glasses. But the other day I was using the router without the fence - just using the mitre attachment and I started to consider what would happen if the bit decided to itself. Walked straight over and put on a safety helmet that has a high impact face shield fitted. Looks a little silly in the workshop, but until my new 3M dustmaster comesalong in a few days, this will have to do.
As for hearing protection, I have always hated loud noises so I have a couple of hundred packs of disposable plugs attenuated to 32Db. Hate the feel but love the way they work especially when SWMBO is in one of her screaming moods. Note this is much louder than the router and saw ever get. who said that???

G'day All.

I virtually live in my Redback Steel caps.
They would have to be the most comfortable boot ever made.
I always have earplugs in my pocket (Due to work conditions, Sawmill).
Ear plugs are great when one is on the ride-on and the missus is going ballistic about something. Also the mirror blue safety glasses are good too, 'cause she can't see me looking at her and pretending not to see or hear.

Life's good ...LG

Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor
grafton

I too wear ear protection whenever I fire up a machine. Safety glasses as well. I spent too many hours on tractors with no ear protection as a kid and have the hearing to go with it. I hate crowds and noise, the last time I was in a crowded night club was at a dutch drinking event "Kleintje Roden Markt" ears did not stop ringing for days afterwards.

For work we sometimes have to take even greater saftey measures, not usually for the noise aspects but the impact/contact aspects of dealing with toxic substances. Safety is no joke, a fireman friend was at a hire shop when a chainsaw was brought back with the words "it took my mates arm off".

Safety Glasses:

I use clear glasses with built-in "bi-focal" magnifying glasses.

They are not outrageously expensive, but you have to be able to see a "bit" if you use them!!

I have two different magnifications, one which works well at arms length for sawing routing and stuff on table tops, and the other a bit closer for drilling and using hand held tools where my mug gets a bit closer to the action!

cheers,

P