After reading a post about a loco melting in the “disasters” thread it made me realize that I should have a fire extinguisher and smoke detector in the layout room.
I suppose I will get a dry chemical extinguisher, but a CO2 extinguisher wouldn’t leave a mess if I had to use it.
Does anyone have other safety tips for mrring?
Construction:
Operation:
General:
My own background is in aircraft maintenance, and most of my career was spent in close proximity to operating aircraft engines. That tends to influence my thinking.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Always engage brain prior to starting any task.
For the past 50 years I simply turn off or unplug my power pack and never had a fire…
As far as smoke alarm I install those in several areas of the house anyway.
I have a fire extinguisher in the place there’s likely to be a fire-the kitchen.
I never overly concern myself with safety outside of hobby knives, power saw or soldering iron since that’s where the greater risks are…
I don’t overly concern myself about safety,fire or floods.
Why?
I live through a war, a tornado,flood and almost died from a stroke…
I survived those so,why worry about something that may never happen?
Naw…What will be will be and not much you can do to change it.
Always engage brain prior to starting any task.
Best safety tip of the day! [tup]
Do that and you should be accident free.
How about these? Never run 110 volt wires through the benchwork. Don’t lean over on a step ladder to reach ‘inaccessible’ parts of the layout. Keep sharp tools sharp. Clean up and remove everything that could become a trip hazard - especially cords. Always wear safety glasses and ear protection when running any kind of power tool. Anybody got some others to add?
I’m with Larry on this one…
If you live through enough stuff what can a RR room hold out for you that could be any sort of a surprise?
William Butler Yeats famously said,“Much of life is getting ready for things that will never happen.”
My maxim ! ! ! !
Get shot in a war a few times and a lot of stuff just doesn’t count as a hazard.
Besides… certain accidents can be educational… and sometimes pretty exciting.
see ya
Bob
Amen, I work as a metal fabricator. I have seen some people not use their brains and it’s really scary. I watch one guy use a plasma cutter to cut through a weld on a piece of channel and ended up cutting through the piece of steel tread plate that made up the bulk of his work. Needless to say a whole day’s worth of work went right into the scrap bin.
I also watched a guy run over his tape measure with a forklift and the steel tape went all up in to the front wheels.
I agree about the sharp things, I was a carpet installer for almost 30 years cut my self a few times with the slip of the carpet knife I also learned to stitch my self up, kept the needles and thread in the top of the tool box. Enough of that, we once had a mens clothing store to do with tearing up the old carpet there was three layers of carpet and they were all full of very rusty needles and pins, took 2 days with pliers to get it all up. I’ve had my share of “accidents” and my wife has the aloe plant for the burns from the dripping solder and the occasional oops with the hot iron and the small pinholes from the drill bits but thats part of the hobby, and as of yet I haven’t thrown any rolling stock yet [ lol]. Jim.
Always wear eye protection when using power tools. My dad was using his Dremel to cut plastic when a fragment flew up and hit him in the eye. Said fragment was partial melted from the friction and as a result my dad still has problems with that eye as a result.
This should be a no-brainer but never use power tools under the influence of alcohol or any type of medication.
Have a way to call for help if you need it. My dad’s layout is in the attic over the garage. If you have a medical emergency up there, it’s not likely anybody will hear you up there.
Have ventilation. If you use pink or blue foam for your layout, the fumes from cutting it with a hot wire or knife can give you Homer Simpson style brain damage.
Gidday, I won’t get on my [soapbox] but you just can’t beat " COMMON SENSE".
Cheers,the Bear.
This may sound rather obvious, but its one of those things you may find yourself doing reflexively, without thinking. Ifyou have to go to the rest room, or check the phone (I am not a fan of leaving the phone close to working tools in my garage shop), etc., DON’T just dash away “for a minute”, but turn things off, even if it inconveniences you at your work on some project. Turn off the soldering iron or station, shut off that paint compressor, etc. Things can happen while you “step out” and being cautious is better that being incautious! Cedarwoodron
Hi all
First off common sense doesn’t exist whats common sense to an aircraft engineer isn’t to a carpenter
Its also not recognized by the courts of law.
So my advice is to look at the task the tools the location any substances being used where possible read the instructions and hazard information on the substances being used
Think about how to deal with the job’s known hazards Eg Hot soldering iron nasty glue sharp tools etc
Anything you don’t know about? then find out
Then think about are those safe practices
Do I need goggles instead of safety glasses for that job and so on.
Have I removed jewelery tied back long hair wearing close fitting clothing with no loose tatty bits these ones particularly important when using power tools or machinery
And is the first aid kit close by water if required is water bad in the situation should it be something else.
That way there will be no 911 or 999 or 000 phone calls depending on where in the world you are.
Don’t go into a job with the brain in neutral that is a recipe for some serious pain.
One obvious one that gets ignored more times that you would believe DON’T use food containers for storing nasty substances.
regards John
Hi!
I can’t stay off this thread any longer…
I went thru a house fire at age 13 - and its still with me at age 68. I worked at some oil refineries and was well aware of carelessness that resulted in maiming and even death. Common sense & just plain ol thinking about what one was doing could have prevented them.
In our hobby, which I have participated since 1954, there are two areas of safety that especially concern me. The first is fire hazards, the second is eye & finger safety.
Please, make sure your layout and electrical tools, etc., are turned off when you leave the room. And, when you use an Xacto knife or Dremel tool, use some safety glasses and proper handling.
Its all pretty simple to be safe, so “why not”?
There’s nothing worse than a drunk drill or heavily medicated circular saw. [}:)]
(sorry…)
I’m not so sure that’s all that dangerous when compared to a unskilled person around power tools that has absolutely no business using them.
I have one to subtract.
There’s nothing wrong with running 110VAC wiring - INSTALLED TO CODE!!! - to the convenience outlets along the fascia. Just don’t mix the wires with your low-voltage cables.
My 110VAC busses are big, thick red-orange pieces of the 150 foot 3-wire outdoor extension cord that used to power my electric chain saw when I lived on a Tennessee woodlot. No one could mistake them for #22 or #12 single wires of significantly different color. Connections are made inside UL-approved boxes.
As with anything electrical, make sure the power is OFF before working on the house-power circuit, or using sharp-pointed things (like screws) anywhere near it.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I was attending a safety meeting at SP when the boilermaker next to me made this comment “ya know looking at all this man power standing here, we could get a lot of work done in stead of this stupid safety meeting”
I looked at him in disbelief at that he said that, but noticing he held a cigarette with the only two fingers of this left hand, and missing two finger on his right, I came to this conclusion
(1) This guy never will get it. (2) There is no safety rule, law, or magic pill that prevents “stupid”. (3) No common since is a lack of education in that area. (4) His statements elevated me to a higher level of personal safety replacing hindsight with foresight.
You guys have a safe day…John
Hi again!
My late father in law was a professional wood worker. He knew his way around tools of all kind, and did excellent work. Five years ago he was in his garage building a fancy birdhouse, and got complacent while operating a table saw.
The work bucked on him, and he lost the ends of two fingers and mangled a thumb and forefinger. Thank goodness my wife was there and she got him to the ER quickly and safely.
My point here is that no matter how experienced and skillful we are with tools and such, we can not afford to let down our guard.
By the way, he did not use a power tool after that incident.
I am always safety conscious, until today, I cut my hand at work. I have also found out if you use the wrong tool, it can lead to trouble real quickly.
But just for laughs though, you don’t want this guy helping you.
Gidday John, whether “common sense” is recognised in a court of law is, in my opinion, irrelevant. I intend to try to use my “common sense” to keep me out of trouble.
All the excellent points regarding safety that you and others have made come down to “common sense”, my definition being " the natural intelligence and self discipline to know when to ( to use just one of your examples) "Anything you don’t know about? then find out.
Your first statement, "First off common sense doesn’t exist whats common sense to an aircraft engineer isn’t to a carpenter" is somewhat unfortunate as I have to ask what about the aircraft engineer who maintains wooden aircraft?? [;)]
Cheers, the Bear,