The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Shop safety

Just got back from a farm/estate auction.I used to work for the guy when I was a teenager.They are auctioning off lots of 50 s era Fords that I would love to buy.Found out he died from burns he received after catching his clothes on fire while welding a few months ago.I dont know how it all happened.He had worked around heavy equipment most of his life and was very safety concious.Please be carefull,dont weld with frayed clothing or around flammables.This is the last guy I would ever expect this too have happened too.He was 80 years old and still worked in his shop everyday on his old trucks and tractors.Just take a few seconds and check your surroundings before you weld.Be safe, I cant imagine going out like that.

Thanks for the tip, and sorry to hear the sad story.

A friend of mine thought he could do a quickie weld on the underside of his 88 Mustang. I forget what he was working on, but he figured he could get in and get out. He had the 'stang up on jackstands, and he used his crawler to get under.
It took just a few seconds, but when he rolled out he smelled smoke. He looked up, and the car interior was full of black smoke. He had set the padding and carpet on fire, and it was really burning.

Luckily, he had a fire extinguisher in the garage, and he got the fire out before his wife found out.

A friend of mine got banged up pretty bad a few years ago. He had to weld a leak in a (empty) gas tank off of the car, and thought it would be OK because it "sat in the sun for a week".

We warned him that's not good enough - put water in it. We harped at him and repeated ourselves several times till he said he'll "think about it". We told him, don't THINK about it, just DO it.

Well he didn't, and the wummmfffff destroyed the tank and threw him across the shop. It gave him a bruised and burned face, and he had a badly bruised shoulder where he slammed into the toolbench.

He was wearing safety glasses that left 2 rings around his eyes, but without 'em he might have been blinded to boot.

i'm sorry to hear about your friend as well. i had several close calls, but i try to to be extra careful welding- especially inside. clearing the area before firing up is def not the place to take a short cut. we've all been there though. maybe it was a freak accident in his case. he may have been doing everything right, but something just went wrong.

Many of us, myself included, have a tendency to think, "I've just got this small thing to do, no need to (pick one) get the safety goggles...get the welding goggles...use gloves...adjust the safety shield...etc. Folks, that's how "accidents" happen. Let's all take the time to be sure we are taking the proper safety precautions. No need for any of us to get hurt by taking a shortcut.

How many of us have grabbed that part we just finished welding to inspect the job? That "bacon frying" sound is the first clue that something's not right, folllwed by the pain, and some dance steps John Travolta never thought of!
Jerry

If you have been doing mechanic work and have oil on your clothes, it's real easy to catch fire. I know of at least a half a dozen incidents in our shop in the past 45 years that someone was on fire and didn't even know it. Luckily there was always someone around to notice it and put the fire out.

I cursed myself for picking up the battery box I just welded..... Man that hurts

yes 581ton it's so easey to say, yea, yea ,yea, I'am fine. OK,OK,I Know. Your storey just under scores the importance of shop safety! having a nother person in the shop, Is important. or within yelling range. it just takes a split secound to turn a fun afternoon in to tradagey. We are all guilty of short cuts and indisctions. it just takes some thing like this to be A WAKE UP CALL. I feel for you. thank,s Floyd

I consider myself to be very fortunate to have had my mechanical training in the USAF. They pounded safety into your head and every base I ever worked at was the same. When I see some of the things that untrained people do around power equipment it scares the crap out of me. I know people who still clean parts with gasoline... WTF!?

Your entire life can turn on a dime, it's up to you to protect yourself.

I most often work alone (as maybe we all do to a great extent) so I over do the safety thing, takes a little more time but I feel I can concentrate better on the task at hand and not worry excessively.

....probably one of the worst "sins" committed is when someone jacks up a car and dives under it without any jack stands OR they put it on concrete blocks. I was 12 years old when my dad nearly died when a car came off the blocks. I will NEVER forget.

And like Woody, I was in manufacturing for 37 years and preached safety EVERYDAY. It never ceased to amaze me of how some folks seem to "go out of their way" to get hurt. Bottom line is its hard to "idiot proof" something and if you did some idiot would be bound and hell bent to prove you different.

Not only should we practice safety for ourselves but my grandkids, or anyone coming in my shop will hear it and see it.