Workshop Safety

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Neil Evans
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by Neil Evans »

btriplett wrote:
Neil, this spurred me to pass it along to the MG Experience forum. Receiving a very positive response and obviously not something commonly known. So your expertise and thoughtfulness is spreading well beyond our group. You have probably saved another life. Or ten. Kudos, my friend.
I noticed that Neal (OVY?) spread the news on Facebook too... :thumbs:

There are some 'safe' brake cleaners out there but I find as with many other things that have been substituted they don't work half as good as the proper stuff. However i do keep them solely for brakes. I've heard somewhere that prolonged exposure to it can also cause infertility in men... Not a great issue for us oldies but...
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OVY871
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by OVY871 »

Neil Evans wrote:
btriplett wrote:
Neil, this spurred me to pass it along to the MG Experience forum. Receiving a very positive response and obviously not something commonly known. So your expertise and thoughtfulness is spreading well beyond our group. You have probably saved another life. Or ten. Kudos, my friend.
I noticed that Neal (OVY?) spread the news on Facebook too... :thumbs:
I did indeed and possibly helped.. even if it's only one more person that knows to be careful that's better than none.
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Edosan
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by Edosan »

the post about brake cleaner made me realise how valuable this thread is, I've never used brake cleaner but I could easily envisage the situation where i used it, found it brilliant and thought I'd try using it on other stuff. Also made me think about my own near misses, one I'll share involves electrical leads. I never take an electrical cable through an open car door now, its tempting with inspection lights or going the other way 12v power cable for electric tyres pumps etc. I was once working inside the car but outside the garage with an inspection light and the door slammed shut with a gust of wind severing the wire in half, there was a nice bang as it fused out but it could have been much worse, I always open a window now and feed it through so this cant happen. doors can be shut by gravity, by the wind, by a mate tripping etc etc. Also need to be careful with bonnets and boots which can be slammed shut, be careful to protect wires from these hazards. All Best Ed

PS A30 / a35 doors particularly vulnerable as there is no mechanism to keep door open
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Neil Evans
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by Neil Evans »

Mains powered inspection lights have been banned from garage premises for many, many years now. With todays rechargable LED lamps as little as £8 at Lidl it's daft not to.
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Minerva
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by Minerva »

Neil Evans wrote:
Feel I must point out that applying heat to the petrol tank in ANY form is dangerous. Sand blasting, grinding or sanding and even a wire brush could be enough to cause an explosion. Remember the flashpoint of petrol is minus 43°C
Posted this before but here's a reminder.....

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4097&hilit=+stud
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Cudders
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by Cudders »

Bit obvious but never take the guards off power tools..

I now have a chunk out of my left hand from an angle grinder slip. :cry:

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Mark

Re: Workshop Safety

Post by Mark »

I worked with a guy years a go who was single and restoring a VW Beetle. Anyway, one Monday morning he didn't turn up for work without any calls. A day later his parents rang to say he had been killed by his car falling and crushing him over the weekend whilst working on it.

No one knows how long he was trapped for before dieing.

Sad loss of a nice guy caused by poor use of axle stands.
Bill
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by Bill »

Going back to tanks. I once cleaned a motorbike tank out with Coke. Yes, Coca Cola, or the cheapest Aldi version I could find. Filled the thing left it for a week and hey presto rust transformed by the acid in the coke. Wash it out, dry it and on you go. I know our tanks are bigger but coke is cheap. You get some strange looks at the supermarket with 7 gallons of the stuff though.
TILDAS PILOT
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by TILDAS PILOT »

PAINTING.

Arranging/preparing/painting can turn out very expensive, especially if working on a very tight budget.

But PLEASE PLEASE buy a GOOD QUALITY MASK, PROTECT YOUR LUNGS. They can get damaged in a very short time and ruin the rest of your life or WORSE. :study:

I lost a friend at the young age of 51, he was a dam good painter, but sadly did not use a quality mask to his peril.

I do not want to lose any more friends this way or any other way.

The above I might add refers to anything you may be doing that can give off harmful dust.

Hopefully one will already be doing this but it does not hurt to be reminded.

Enjoy life, stay healthy. :thumbs:
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matt
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by matt »

TILDAS PILOT wrote:PAINTING.

Arranging/preparing/painting can turn out very expensive, especially if working on a very tight budget.

But PLEASE PLEASE buy a GOOD QUALITY MASK, PROTECT YOUR LUNGS. They can get damaged in a very short time and ruin the rest of your life or WORSE. :study:

I lost a friend at the young age of 51, he was a dam good painter, but sadly did not use a quality mask to his peril.

I do not want to lose any more friends this way or any other way.

The above I might add refers to anything you may be doing that can give off harmful dust.

Hopefully one will already be doing this but it does not hurt to be reminded.

Enjoy life, stay healthy. :thumbs:

My grandad died from lung cancer, it was partly caused by diesel fumes from the poorly maintained lorries he used to drive at work that leaked fumes into the cab :(

Another workshop safety topic are heaters, I have a super ser heater which I use when doing any cleaning, polishing, woodwork or brush painting etc but always switch it off when using spray paints, spray cleaners or any other flammable substances I have heard a few cases of people getting injured when working in confined spaces with naked flame heaters. The other risk is lack of oxygen when using flame heaters
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by gazza82 »

TILDAS PILOT wrote:PAINTING.

Arranging/preparing/painting can turn out very expensive, especially if working on a very tight budget.

But PLEASE PLEASE buy a GOOD QUALITY MASK, PROTECT YOUR LUNGS. They can get damaged in a very short time and ruin the rest of your life or WORSE. :study:

I lost a friend at the young age of 51, he was a dam good painter, but sadly did not use a quality mask to his peril.

I do not want to lose any more friends this way or any other way.

The above I might add refers to anything you may be doing that can give off harmful dust.

Hopefully one will already be doing this but it does not hurt to be reminded.

Enjoy life, stay healthy. :thumbs:
All I can say is after clearing out parts of the garage I found everything I moved covered in a fine layer of blue dust. :?

I had to respray some of the Peugeot body work about three years ago and this is the result of the overspray. Some of this was over 6 feet up too!!! :shock:

Oh and I did use a mask. With replacement cartridges.
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Neil Evans
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by Neil Evans »

I've just been reminded that it's a year ago today I did this...
IMG_20220701_162749.jpg
IMG_20220701_162722.jpg
Fortunately it's healed up nicely, though my then new overalls now have a vent hole...
IMG_20220701_155703~2.jpg
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Duncan
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by Duncan »

Owwww....
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philipangus
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by philipangus »

A timely reminder to us all to read the tool manuals :study:
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Re: Workshop Safety

Post by Chairman »

Mine are to me unforgettable even all these years later. First one was pre A30 A35 days and my first car, a Fix or repair daily 1600e which lived up to its name…another misfire and at 18, I held the bonnet up engine running and with my other hand, checked the ignition leads….I soon found out which one was misfiring!! Even 12 volts belting through my arms hurt! Only did that once… :whistle:

Not sure which car it was with, but checked points or spark plug gaps with completely all metal feeler gauges which extended happed to be the same gap span as the battery terminals…yes I went to put them on top of the battery, quick bang/flash and they were spot welded together…..I was wearing thin rubber gloves thankfully or would have ended up with a scorched hand.

In my mid twenties I won a contract to cut up a dozen or so railway wagons that were on Victoria Wharves in Plymouth. I already had the transit drop side truck and Gas cutting gear so first few days were uneventful apart from the odd burn hole due to bouncing molten metal.
I thought I had plenty of hose to finish off the wagon I was cutting, tugged the hoses and the nearly full gas bottle fell over onto concrete and smashed the regulator off. It promptly flew 20feet across the yard and rammed itself into the pile of already cut scrap, escaping pressurised gas roaring away until the bottle emptied……..I s*** myself! An expensive new regulator and bottle later I finished the remaining wagons and still made a good profit, which included new underwear! So even now I double check if I have enough space and that tools will reach easily….
:thumbs: :thumbs:
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