Some people just wont listen...

Messages
2,369
I was at work today, a machine shop but also one where we build a lot of plastic tanks (for gray water, black water, fresh water, etc) when the guy working next to me asked for help. I was shocked at what he wanted me to do...

He had put a 3 hp hand held router upside down in a big vise and was going to route a round over on a small plastic disc. It was only about 4 inches in diameter and a half inch thick.

What he wanted help with was for me to hold the router steady because the straight vise jaws on the round router could not bite very good and he was afraid if he cranked the vise down to hard it would crack the housing on the router. This would have put my face quite low to it as I stopped over to hold the router steady as he ran the small plastic part across the bottom of the router base...a small area to say the least. I could just see it flying into my jaw and breaking some teeth.

I told him I would not do that if I was him and instead head down to the carpentry shop and use their router table. He was put off by this, and so I returned to my bench and a second later I heard the part he was trying to route go zinging across the shop. His second attempt resulted in the same thing.

As I said, some people just don't listen. Is it any wonder that out of 9 people in this shop, 7 have had workplace injuries in the past 16 months??
 
Last edited:
Maybe he should hold the piece in his teeth, and just get the injury over more quickly so he can start the healing process sooner. :rolleyes: What a nimrod.

At least you tried to steer him in the right direction.
 
I keep saying, especially at work, that common sense is not so common. Our safety record at our paper mill is one of the worst in the industry.

We have one guy that stuck his finger in an ash unloader for our coal ash in the boiler room because he wanted to see if it was spinning! This is a rotor in a housing with tight clearances - he lost the end of his finger:eek:. He could have looked through the mesh guard to see if the coupling was spinning. The same guy earlier this year cut his leg He placed a piece of rubber on his leg and cut through the rubber:huh:. I guess he thought he was super man.

Many people think the chances of getting hurt are small - it won't happen to them. It is like they have no respect for themselves. I don't understand them, but I guess they don't understand safety.
 
I'd get a digital camera and surreptitiously get a picture of him next time he attempts this. The owner would love to use it during the worker's comp trial. Make sure he doesn’t see you take the photo. You don’t want to make any enemies at work.
 
I never understand when someone offers someone sound advice, common sense advice or experience talking, or both, why they choose to ignore it.


I listen to my wife of 30 years all the time when she explains to me the benefits of marriage.(then I thank my lucky stars I have loud machinery in the garage)
 
The scary part is many fold:

1. We let people like this reproduce...
2. We let people like this get a driver's licence.
3. We let people like this own guns.....

Some people have to learn everything in life the hard way....some people never learn. The sad part is that often they will injure or kill innocent bystanders.:(
 
Holding a small piece of wood in your hands and placing it near a spinning router bit.......Router bits are notorious for pulling the wood into the bit. If you happen to not be holding it in the "magic" position your fingers could come in contact with the bit. That's why it's highly recommended that a "safety pin" or "guide pin" is used for doing the same thing on a router table. It's to give you something to pivot off of and prevent the bit from sucking the wood and your fingers into the spinning bit.
 
Nature and power tools do weed out the gene pool in the long run. Two guys I worked with were "Whiz Bang" and "Stumpy". Whiz Bang ran a blanchard grinder? (I'm a welder, not machinest) and tended to forget to turn on the table magnets. When you heard the whiz BANG you knew he had started the job and the first part had bounced off the shield. Stumpy was building something at home and cut off two fingers on a radial arm saw. After the healing was done, he was going to finish the project and cut off the other two. Some people don't ever learn.
 
Funny, must have been too big a bit. I've done this for years with little roundovers, maybe up to a 1/4 inch.

So explain to me why this is any safer in a router table. Darwin and I are trying to follow the logic.

As Ken already said, you want to keep your hands away from the bit.

If I had a small round piece, as Travis described (like something 5" in diameter) I'd sooner put the piece on a gripper mat and use the router freehand. Yes, I still would stand a good chance of wrecking the piece, but at least then my hands would be nowhere near the bit.

It's safer in a router table for one thing since the router is securely fastened, as opposed to this guy having it loosely, and inaccurately, gripped in a vice,

And finally, you could also use something like this small parts holding jig from LVT to hold small pieces to again keep your hands far away from the bit. (Many times you can mock something like this up yourself and not need a trip out to LVT)
 
My dad used to bring home stories about "newbies" in the machine shops where he worked over the years. They used to do a lot of prototype work for McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed Martin - working exotic materials to tight tolerances. It seemed that every few years some green guy would start working a piece of magnesium without cooling it properly. Once it ignites, it puts on quite a show.
There were a string of gruesome stories about his younger days in older shops that still had some lineshaft drive equipement - people losing limbs and such over a momentary bad decision when they invariably knew better.
Then there's the occassional "long sleeves meets large spinning object" bedtime story.
Travis, the guy might just listen to you next time.
Paul Hubbman
 
Good on you Travis for showing the good sense and responsibility to say No. Personally after the first time I would have gone over and had a further talk with the idiot. The second time I would have gone over and kicked the idiot for not listening then gone to the super for endangering fellow workers and not listening to the warnings. After all Travis it is up to us (fellow workers) to teach idiots like that before accidents happen.
 
wow.

compassionate vitriol works so well in training, its a wonder there are any accidents at all.

a big pat on the back to you guys who've never done anything dumb, ever, at least while anyone was watching.

love to hang around, but 'fraid my horse just isn't tall enough.

It's one thing to do something dumb yourself, it's another to involve another person in the activity.
 
wow.

compassionate vitriol works so well in training, its a wonder there are any accidents at all.

a big pat on the back to you guys who've never done anything dumb, ever, at least while anyone was watching.

love to hang around, but 'fraid my horse just isn't tall enough.
Well, I, for one, have done a number of dumb things in my life. I survived but only by luck. Those who didn't survive aren't here to tell the story.

But one thing I learned is that many other people know more than I do and I should at least consider the advice they're giving me.

Mike
 
my father had a small business back in the 60s and 70s. Printing firm.
I was there on weekends, he sort of was breaking me in I guess.
An older guy, wore a tie one day, didnt take it off, and I was sitting in the office watching television, I hear my father screaming and screaming.
He was yelling at me to get a scissor.
the guy was turning a nice shade of sky blue, my father had one foot on the floor, one against the press, tugging as hard as he could on the guys tie to give the guy a shot. He kept screaming until I understood to cut the tie off.
He told me a year or so later, the same guy did the same stupid thing.
(tie got sucked into the ink rollers)
 
wow.

compassionate vitriol works so well in training, its a wonder there are any accidents at all.

a big pat on the back to you guys who've never done anything dumb, ever, at least while anyone was watching.

love to hang around, but 'fraid my horse just isn't tall enough.

Well, I, for one, have done a number of dumb things in my life. I survived but only by luck. Those who didn't survive aren't here to tell the story.

But one thing I learned is that many other people know more than I do and I should at least consider the advice they're giving me.

Mike

John,

As Mike stated. We have all done dumb things. What we are remarking about is the inablility of people not learning from our own mistakes and the advice of others.
 
wow.

compassionate vitriol works so well in training, its a wonder there are any accidents at all.

a big pat on the back to you guys who've never done anything dumb, ever, at least while anyone was watching.

love to hang around, but 'fraid my horse just isn't tall enough.

I don't think any of us are claiming we have never done anything wrong. BUT 2 words would save many an accident.

WHAT IF!!!!
 
Top