Saftey concerns

[SHHR]

I'm not one who is typically anal about safety concerns. I do wear saftey glasses when using saws and grinders and gloves when the job calls for it, however I just had a mishap that many may have never thought about including me up to now. I've been recovering an antique chair for a local doctor's house and was finishing it up by stapling a dust cover on the bottom. I only had 5 or 6 staples left using my air stapler when I hit a steel webbing strap on the frame of it. The staple broke and ricocheted into my right eye. I saw it coming right at me and I believe it bounced right off with maybe a light scratch on my eye. It is relatively painless to the eye, but caused one heck of a headache with lot's of sinus pressure and my ears aching too.  It was surely an eye opener (maybe a closer too) on thinking about wearing eye protection more around the shop.
Kyle

[Mike]

I once scrachted my eye with a broom doing somthing stupid removing snow once   
I was told the eye is the fasted healing part of your body. And it wasnt long maybe a week at best and i could take off my eye patch.

[gene]

I wear glasses anyway and I have safety lenses. I don't think I would ever use any pneumatic tool without glasses.

I wonder if the side of the staple hit your eye and bounced off. If it had been the point of the staple it may have gone through and into the eye fluid. You'd be able to wear a refrigerator magnet over your eye.

That's why they are called 'accidents'.

I just read about a psychological disorder where a person becomes blind from a head trauma and for several hours up to several days they do not know that they are blind. The can't find anything. They bump into everything. And they think something else is wrong.

Anyway, glad you are OK and thanks for the warning about being safe in the work place.

gene

[sofadoc]

The fact that you saw the staple coming explains the problem.
Your vision is so good, you aren't already wearing glasses. ;) 

I never see anything coming until at least the 3rd ricochet.

[Mojo]

I was an avid jock in High School and played football, basketball and also boxed in the Golden Gloves. This explains the reason why I have two brain cells left and ones holding the other hostage. I have had alot of injuries during that time but none as bad as the eye injury I got in my Junior year.

During a high school basketball game one night a teammate and I went up for a rebound. His thumb hit my eye socket and eye with such force it broke his thumb. I shook it off and was running back down the court when they stopped the game. The ref came running over to me and I then realized I was pouring blood from my eye socket. I left a lonmg trail of blood behind me on the court.

To make a long story short they took us both to the ER. It scratched my cornea and besides numerous stitches to close the gapping wound in my eye socket I had to return to the hospital everyday for treatments. It was one very painful experience. The bad part was that I seen that scratch in everything I looked at for over a year. If I looked at something it had a black line going through it. Drove me nucking futs.

I have since taken my eye sight very seriously and always wear eye protection when doing anything that could injure my eyes.

Chris

[gene]

Years ago Lou Whittaker used to own the only climbing business on Mt. Ranier.  He was a climber all his life. I think it was in the early 90's when he was in his late 50's and he made an effort to climb Mt. Everest.

Up above camp 3 he lost his eyesight. He was led back down to camp 3. They called down to base camp where they told the doc what the symptoms were. The doc said to give him an aspirin and get him down to base camp asap.

What had happened is that the fluid in his eyes froze. The doc said the aspirin wouldn't do anything for the pain, but at least they were doing something. The doc said, and Whittaker later confirmed, that as the eye fluid would begin to thaw, the ice crystals would cause the worst pain imaginable.

At least he got his eye sight back. Ouch!

gene

[SHHR]

I feel pretty good right now, about a half hour later I developed a headache that I swear was a migrane, very sensitive to light and noise, and feeling nauseous, but in retrospect I was starting to get the headache before the accident and I think that accelerated it.. I finished the chair up and delivered it when my wife got home this evening from some graduate classes she's taking. I read some stories before where construction workers have had mishaps with their nail guns, getting hit and feeling nothing until later they discover a nail embedded in the brain or something. I have a small red spot on my eye now near my tear duct, so I'll keep and eye on it (no pun inteded) for a few days. Back when I worked as a tool maker in a factory we were required to have safety glasses on all of the time, so I actually felt uncomfortable dong any work without them, but slowly over the years I find myself only wearing them during the most obviously dangerous conditions. We had a late dinner with a glass of wine or two or three also, so that could be the reason I'm feeling comfortable as well.
Kyle

[Mojo]

I was remodeling one of our homes in Bristol, TN and was erecting a wall. I was using brand new 2x4's and nailing them with a frame nailer gun. For those who have never seen one of naailers, they are huge ( weigh a ton ) and when you pull that trigger it drives a 16d nail through a 2 x4 like butter.

I pulled the trigger to toe nail a stud and wham..... The nail hit the 2x4 at the right angle and  that it split the board in half and the nail flew through the wood and into the air. It hit several places in the room as it ricocheted around the room. I dropped the gun and got down on my knees and covered my head and face. Thankfully it never hit me.

I quietly went downstairs and called it a day because it scared the moose crap right out of me so bad that I was shaking. I always wear safety glasses when using pneumatic anything ( guns, staplers, nailers, etc. ) I had a buddy lose an eye when an angle grinder disc exploded. ( Cheap Chinese sanding discs ). That left an impression on me as well.

Chris

[sofadoc]

Growing up in the family business of upholstery and mattress renovating, my job as little 7 year old sofadoc was to prep the mattresses for renovation by cutting the laces loose with a pocket knife (this was back in the days when most mattresses were hand-laced, not on a machine).

I would slip the pocket knife blade in under the lace, and yank it towards my face with all my might...... Yup, I stabbed my eyeball with the pointy end of the knife.

The eye doctor put some medicine drops on it, put a patch over it, and in a few days I was good as new.

I was the envy of all my friends at school (after all, none of them had ever been afforded the opportunity to stab themself in the eye with a knife).
If such a scene played out today, CPS would yank the child out of the home (or factory) in a New York minute.

BTW> On the way to the eye doctor, there was no room for me in the seat of the car, so they laid me up on the dashboard.

[bobbin]

Kyle, your post was a good one.  Esp. for someone like me!  I am an experienced stitcher and my fingers are rarely anywhere near the needle of my machines.  But I'm very lax about basic eye safety when it comes to things like "ripping down" or using pneumatic tools.  I'm better about using hearing protection, actually!

Several years ago I was working in the garden cutting down "gone by" vegetation.  I wasn't wearing my sunglasses and managed to lean over too far and jabbed a dead stalk into my eye.  It was pretty painful but I "sucked it up".  After a sleepless night of discomfort I called the optometrist and went in the next morning.  Corneal abrasion... some drops  and aenesthetic ointment made it bearable, but I never garden without eye protection now. 

Thanks for the reminder to be so mindful of my eye protection "at work". 

(did you get the job you took the test for a while back?)

[SHHR]

Bobbin, I'm still waiting. I took the required test issued by the Edison Electric Institute and passed that. I recieved a letter in the mail stating that and that I would now be considered for employment when they're ready to proceed. The fellow I know who contacted me about the job and who has been pulling for me told me recently that they placed a temporary hiring freeze at the company. Another man I know who works there also told me they get in no hurry with these things. He interviewed in May of the year he was hired and didn't hear for his 2nd interview until late August. He said they hire a lot of summer help from employee's kids who are in college and once they start to leave for the year they'll start filing positions plus he said there's getting ready to be a mass retirement going on between now and the end of the year which will have to be adressed. They're adding on now too installing new EPA required scrubbers on their coal fired boilers and will have positions to fill upon completion. Right now I'm steady in the shop with work and discussing more projects with customers now too. If the opportunity presents itself I will go to this position and keep the shop open with me being more picky on what I choose to bring in. I just turned 38 last week and although that's still young, I feel this will be the best choice for my family.

[bobbin]

Kyle, I hope it works out well for you.  I don't think your desire to take such a secure job is a bad one!  In fact, I applaud your foresight and commitment to the secuirity of your family. 

I drop my safety glasses in salute to you! (thanks for the "dope slap")

Bobbin

[gene]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3A7Vq6bIs4

gene