Killing yourself in the shop

Carol Reed

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Chilling title to Toni's post, but I didn't want an opportunity to get past us here, so I am starting a new thread.

What do you do, or have in place, that helps you get help if something unthinkable would happen? I am single. I work alone. There is no one to check on me periodically. I will make it a firm habit to WEAR my cell phone in the shop. Thanks, Toni, for the heads up.

Being extra careful goes without saying, but let's be honest, folks. We get tired. We get in a hurry. We take a short cut. You know the drill.

So let's be proactive. I for one would hate to discuss this after the fact, ya know?

Now the point of this post is to share ideas of how you plan to have available the help you just might suddenly need. Sharing of these ideas may just save a family member's life. I think it is worthy of some discussion.

Wonder if there is some sort of life alert button one can wear that would alert a spouse in the house or neighbor? Put your brain caps on and let's see what we can come up with.
 
great idea carol. and they do makelife alert buttons maybe that would be the best answer, and have it go to a spouse or close freind but we need to think of two people being on the list to make sure one was there if the other wasnt
 
Carol, having a phone close to your body is a good idea. I will try to adopt this rule.

I need to get a first aid kit for the shop as well. Is this any different than a regular first-aid kit?
 
Being prepared. Extinguisher by the door (mine is ABC), a first aid kit close by, and knowing your phone and how to either use the emergency button. I think if you can afford the life alert or have an alarm on you shop area with "help" buttons, they are money well spent no matter. My wife has gotten where she checks up pretty regularly. I've added the phone in the shop recently to add another way of getting help if needed too.
 
Carol, having a phone close to your body is a good idea. I will try to adopt this rule.

I need to get a first aid kit for the shop as well. Is this any different than a regular first-aid kit?

I'm not trained in any emergency training besides AED, but a standard kit should suffice. If you're needing a tourniquet or something, I'd think you'd better have 911 called, but it's easy enough to add one to the kit or an eye wash kit and such too....just depends on what you're working with in the shop. I have a mirror on the wall of my office for cleaning out dust from my eyes if needed.
 
Good idea here Carol. I have a corded and cordless phone in the shop. With our small independent phone company we have an intercom feature where we can signal all phone extensions from any phone. I have a corded and cordless land line in the shop. Cordless to carry with me or keep close to a work station and corded in case of power failure. We keep the land line phone for the enhanced 911 system--it seems more accurate than a cell phone. I have a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit. I kind of consider a small refrigerator a safety device. When I get a little tired, catch myself yawning or get frustrated, I grab a can of pop or a bottle of water and find a stool and think about what I'm doing and whether I should continue or stop and do something entirely different or just head to the house.
 
Good points, and for most of us it's not just shop incidents we have to worry about. I have a family history of strokes, have had two heart attacks and am a type 1 diabetic. I make it a rule to stop when I am tired, develop low blood sugar,or the light gets low about sunset. However, having a phone outside with me is a really good idea, I've only done when I'm expecting a call. I think Ill make it a habit now.
 
Roger Tulk said:
Good points, and for most of us it's not just shop incidents we have to worry about. I have a family history of strokes, have had two heart attacks and am a type 1 diabetic. I make it a rule to stop when I am tired, develop low blood sugar,or the light gets low about sunset. However, having a phone outside with me is a really good idea, I've only done when I'm expecting a call. I think Ill make it a habit now.

Now THERE lies the biggest cause for concern. If you suffer a stroke or become altered due to decreasing blood sugar or other impairment how does having a phone near-by help? Problem is there really is no real solution for that other than a loved one knowing when you are supposed to be where.

Being a fireman, if course I have a fire extinguisher handy in the shop.

Bring a medic I have a full med bag in my truck. From Band-aids and a suture kit to IV supplies. Won't do me much good one handed, but it's there.

A little over a year ago I put a 3/8" mortice chisel into my index finger nicking both flexor tendons proximal to the DIP joint. I dermabonded it, had two ER docs look at it and confirm my thoughts... With full extension and flexion intact there was no concern.

Two weeks later, during a training dive (another role of my job - rescue/recovery diver) I grabbed a rope under water and POP, they both snapped. After reconstructive surgery and 4 months of no work and rehab, just to bend my finger again, followed by 2 months of restrictions I've changed my outlook on shop safety. If a HAND TOOL can do THAT, what could the TS or RAS do in a blink. I've run power tool injury calls before but always chalked it up to negligence, now it's become real for me.

The human body is amazingly frail.

Now I'm much more deliberate with all the work I do.

Once again though, if you have a medical condition which could render you unable to seek help, in my opinion, having family / friends who know when and where you should be is one of your best precautions.
 
This thread has got me going forward with a thought that's been playing in my head for some time. I have an alarm system on my shop/garage, it's one of those cheap magnetic interrupter types. It doesn't tie into the PD or a monitoring company, but the few times I've forgotten to disable it before entering, the siren sure brought the neighbors out. My plan is to rig up a foot pedal type activator in one of the open/spare terminals. I've had a heart attack and did manage enough mobility to get across the room while waiting on the Medical rig to arrive. But, when I fed my fingers into the TS, my reactions were to immediately grab the damage with my good hand which would of made it impossible to dial or even open the door for that matter{luckily the wife heard me call for her...and quite possibly the neighbors down at the end of the road heard as well :eek::D}....How's that boy-scout motto go again? > Be prepared!
 
One of the things I fear most about working alone in the shop as many woodturners do is the chance that a wood to which a turner is deathly allergic will be turned for the first time. There are many pieces of exotic woods turned for the first time by turners and fortunately most of the time it is uneventful. But if you happen to turn something and have a severe allergic reaction which affects your breathing it could be life threatening very quickly.

Case in point, a friend of mine was turning some yellowheart for the first time. Yellowheart, pequia amarello, is a fairly innocuous wood, or so I thought. Not for my friend. Immediately upon exposure he developed a rash around his eyes, nostrils and mouth and started having breathing difficulties. His mucous membranes in those areas were starting to swell and he began to gasp for air. Fortunately we had some benadryl which he gulped down and off to the hospital we went for a shot of epenephrine. He would not even go back into his shop until I cleaned up all the residues of this one piece of yellowheart.

I turn species of wood from all over the world and have turned hundreds of different species. Most give me no problems at all but I no longer turn padauk from Madagascar because it leaves my nose and throat tingling and that is a bad sign.

The point of all this is to emphasize that not only are the tools dangerous. Sometimes the materials we work with are dangerous.

Carol knows that I keep band aids in the shop.....Lots of band aids..... Some of my students need them.:rofl:

Here is a photo showing all the ouchies from one day of class......
 

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Great topic :thumb:

My shop is in my basement but my wife works and I don't have any neighbors close enough to hear or help me in an emergency.
I have a standard first aid kit, fire extinguisher, and corded phone by my workbench. After several small accidents I realize that I need to somehow be better prepared in case of something serious happening.
Some good ideas here.
 
This issue is very real if for no other reason other than peace of mind. I spent the whole day in my shop yesterday and got checked on twice by my son bringing me a sarmy and coke and later by my wife wanting some sandpaper. In between i could have been a gonner esepcially since i was working on a machine with electricity.

I also have found i dont like them suddenly bursting in. I dont have glass in my door so cannot even get an idea of the movement outside. So far no accidents from the fright when my son swings the door open.

But i was thinking after reading replies to this thread, perhaps Bill Arnold has the makings of a solution for family to monitor without causing a scare when entering and that is video camera in the shop. I am thinking i might look at hooking up a wireless webcam such that its able to be monitored in several places in our home. Dunno because the one aspect that is missing is feedback.

The other thing is i just wonder what the stats are related to shop deaths for hobbiests. Perhaps this is more of a kind of mental concern on our part than a reality. Perhaps we fear lying on the floor of our shop incapacitated and needing urgent help more than the reality of it actually happening. I still believe i got someone watching over me. :) If not i should have been a gonner so many times before it just aint funny.

By that i certainly dont mean we should not be "Boy Scouts" and be prepared. But most of this comes down to discipline. Some of that is an internal battle between our recognising when to not do something and when to.

Yesterday i should have quit at least 2 hours before i did. I actually started seeing the signs but the proverbial "just this last ......" came into play. I had worked the whole day and the gratifying bit was now within reach. A broken blade eventually made me say thats it lights out and close up. Dont even want to think of the mess that awaits me today to clean up.

Thats speaks to Tonis point of not leaving things out which leads to Glenns point about shop organization and having things stored where they are used so they can be put back rather than put down. For me this all comes back to discipline and settling down to the "journey" rather than the result.

I had thought that when i retire i would then have greater patience and settle down more for a longer slog, but watching some of you that are i am realising that i am fooling myself with that thought. So its time for some fundamental change in approach for me.

BTW Mohammad first aid kit got used twice yesterday. But i also have questions of the merit of band aids. They come off too easy when you working especially with things involving lubricants or solvents.

Also had a scare at the DP yesterday. once again being in a hurry and not securing my dp vice had it swirl around after said drill dug itself into a piece of metal. It then reach out in its circular motion and whacked nearby 1 inch sander right clean off the bench. Certainly got an adrenalin rush out of it,but aint proud that it happened. Would feel better if i did not know any better. But it was going to be one of those "just put a quick hole in here" moments.

There is no "just.......whatever" if there is to be safe deliberate actions followed in the shop.


In the end i really like threads like this because it keeps the issue at the forefront of ones conciousness and that always helps me in my shop.

I do think the hobbiest is more at risk than the guys who have been trained in a trade. Many guys in the trade of any sort have seen enough accidents to have the safety teachings sink in.

A hobbiest that lives in an office for most of their life and hits the shop has no clue until reading a post here or having it happen to them.
 
Another lone worker here. My preparations have been covered in other shop safety threads. The prep for a "bad one" are a tourniquet and a 911 speed dial wall phone. The phone is mounted low so (I know this sounds funny but, it really wouldn't be) if I have to crawl or drag myself to it, I can operate it from the floor. That idea came from some shop safety article that included the first aid kit being kept low and in an UNLATCHED box. The last thing you want to do while trying to staunch a flow of blood is have to open a drawer, cabinet, reach overhead or fight with a clasp one-handed ;-)

The recommendation was pretty much if you can't go from wherever you happen to be, straight to the first-aid kit and gain access to the contents one-handed, fix that. Then move on to more complex matters. The cell phone on your bod makes sense but, work supplies one of those "game-boys" (read SmartPhone) that also sort of has a phone function. By the time I got to the phone 'application' and got the number dialed, I could pass out. Silly as it sounds I am more comfortable with; 1. Drag self to phone, 2. Knock receiver off hook, 3. Push big speed dial button.

May we all be well prepared and never be called to action.
:thumb:
 
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Just a note since I too am a solo wood worker and always have my cell phone at hand sometimes simple solutions can save you. y Mother in law was living alone after my FIL passed away and she went out to her car to get something one evening. She slipped on a step fell and broke her hip so here is a 60 some year old widow laying in a car port with no one around. Now my MIL was one smart lady, after she tried yelling with no success she pushed the panic button on her car alarm which brought the neighbors who in turn called 911 and also called us. Sometimes solutions can be simple.
 
My workshop is in my basement and my wife is normally upstairs so I thought I was pretty well covered. But in reality, it might be three or four days before she might notice she hadn't heard from me!!! Guess I better think of something.
 
OK, let's do a re-cap.

Seems like communication is the first issue to cover. Cell phones on bodies is a start, but I really liked Glenn's idea of a regular phone mounted low with a big panic button on it. Certainly a practice of family members checking in regularly will work for some. I did like the idea of a panic button siren alerting neighbors. Obviously communicating with said neighbors about what that noise means would also be a good idea.

Now equipment; first aid kits (and their containers) and fire extinguishers.

There have been a few threads on each of these, so to re-cap. Place ABC fire extinguishers near the exits. I have both ABC and water extinguishers near each door. First aid kits. Items to staunch blood flow, i.e., large sterile compresses. A sports wrap. Slap on the compress and wrap in the sport wrap. Frees your other hand. In an box that easily opened. I have a big ol' first aid in a metal box with two latches, but I hear you. I also have an old plastic floppy disk holder. It only needs to flip the top open. Think I will pack emergency large compresses and wraps in it. Also an Epi-pen and the knowledge to know how to use it. That will open breathing passages long enough to get to emergency medical help. If you have a beverage refrigerator, keep cold compresses in it. Items to use as a tourniquet and again, the knowledge of when and how to use one would be good.

Surprise distractions (aren't they all?:)). Place a motion detector attached to a flashing light to alert you to someone coming in. Instructing people to stand still and be quiet until they are acknowledged and/or you have turned off the tool should be SOP. Keeping items stored where they belong is a also a good idea. I just dropped off a dado blade set that lost of few teeth and scared the #$R@I&$ out me when a wrench danced its way into the kerf path. I saw it coming and literally dropped to the floor, reached up and turned of the saw, but not until the blade hit the wrench and turned it into a missile. Aside from clothing needing a change and a blade that needs new teeth no one was hurt.

What did I miss?

Now, this is for potentially life-threatening emergencies. So, the admonitions to stay focused, recognize when it is time to quit, no barley pops until after the shop tools are quiet and put away, and no unintentional distractions permitted are things that should being place at all times, not just reserved for emergencies.

Stuff happens quick. We may not all be as quick as was Toni to recognize the danger and do something about it. You are all special to me. Let's be careful, boys and girls. And if there are any more ideas, let's hear them. If I missed something in the re-cap, sing out.

BTW, for those of you who belong to a woodworking club, this subject ought to make for a good program.
 
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