Well, this is one of those topics that comes up every few months or so, so I guess it’s time again.
Just today (Saturday, Oz time), I was installing a clock for timetable operation on my layout when I felt a sharp pain under my heel. My first thought was that I’d stepped on a screw that had been lying down on it’s side - it was only when I moved my foot that I realised that the screw was actually embedded in my heel - up to the fourth turn of the thread. Once the bleeding had stopped, I covered the area with iodine and whacked a band-aid (sticking plaster) on it.
My own fault, I suppose - for leaving the screw down there and being barefoot [xx(]
The mole hole on my Santa Fe is located in a U shaped area under the top deck. There is a pop up hole, but the rest is framework. Four different staging tracks converge there. Lately I seem to have a talent of wacking my head on a couple of 1 by 4’s while staging trains. Didn’t used to have that problem. My wife is threatening me and said she was going to require me to wear a hard hat while “down there”. She was really unhappy last Sunday when I preached with two dings on my bald head.
that’s ok, Bob, just as long as your congregation doesn’t think you got your head peeled in a bar room brawl.
so far the greates safety hazard on my layout is the points of drywall screws that stick out underneath and out of sight. after encountering a few of them while working on my under layout wiring the blood thinner i take made the basement floor look like someone had been killing chckens down there.
i went to the auto parts store and bought a few feet of small diameter vacuum or windshield washer hose and cut it into short pieces. these cover the screw points and now all is well.
I second the hot glue gun comment. I also have to add a sharp #11 blade and a slip of the knife can always paint your parts bright red, they sure have mine, at the expense of fingers.
Then again I’d probably exceed my previous longest post if I listed all my injuries… but, hey! You have to enjoy life [(-D]… and I’m a qualified Health and safety Rep… I figure that I have the experience to know. [8)]
I read of someone with a layout in his roof that broke his arm when he forgot that he’d left the loft hatch open and stepped into it when heading to re-rail a loco.
It seems to be like most road accidents happen close to home… it’s often the familiar things that you know about that you forget for a moment and get bitten by.
(Great stuff for cladding joists and things that you keep bashing yourself on is the soft, split tube insulation that they put round pipes… but don’t put it on the bits you hold onto. Guess how I know that)?
[B)]
PS Just recalled. Last year I tripped on track at Crewe. I thought I’d done no damage as I was all suited and gloved - chin strap even kept the helmet on! After about a week I went to the Doc about pains in my chest (?heart?). Fortunately not the ticker but she said I’d broken a rib… and it would take six weeks to mend itself. Back on track that night at Middlewich I went skating, crashed down … and bashed the rib back where it should be. How’s that for a fluke? No trouble at all from it since. [^]
Then again the finger that got whacked by a coupler back in 78 still hurts when the weather is cold… you don’t get that problem from Kadees. [(-D]
The most “dangerous” tool for me is not a saw, my Dremel, a screwdriver, a soldering iron or any of those accident-prone things we use when building a model railroad empire, it is the rail joiner. How many times those things get stuck in my thumb or other fingers - I have given up counting the incidents. It is usually a quite bloody affair and hurts a lot - for days! Especially when they get stuck between the nail and the flesh!
As I am about to change scales - from HO to O scale (Finescale), this will be the first item to get rid of. I will use joiner plates - just like the prototype.
Back about 1973 I was shaping something (fascia?) with a wood rasp. Remember how the tine of the file is tapered to accept those wooden handles? The handle worked loose on me, so I went over to my bench and decided to really tighten it back onto the file. I slipped the handle on, and then gripped said handle tightly, raised it about 18", and vertically slammed the assembly down onto the benchtop, the idea being to firmly wedge the tine deeply into the handle. On about the third upswing of my arm, the file elected to NOT remain seated in the handle, but remained balanced vertically on the benchtop as I commenced the downswing. The tine did not reseat into the handle but about 1" into the side of my palm. Surprise was in the air, along with the file, followed very quickly by pain. Not one of my shining shop moments. Gary
Was shaving some plastic off of a piece that I was working on and buried the #11 blade into my thumb! pulled it out and hit it with super glue. Wasnt a good day that day. Kevin
Two weeks ago I was soldering two wires to a new motor for one of my slot cars. I set the iron down and it started to roll off the work bench. I caught it about half way to the floor. It left a very nice burn on 3 fingers and my palm.
AND - - - The most dangerous tool in the workshop is - - - - wait for it - - - - - - - according to the national safety committee is - - the screw driver, more accidents reported from this tool than any others, the reason? ? it’s used for a hundred other uses than it was intended, it’s a SCREWDRIVER ! how many guys drive one through their other hand or poke their eye with one.
Wasnt a good day that day. Kevin