Safety Tid Bit of The Year!.....CHOCK YOU WHEELS **GRAPHIC PICS**

[Sycostang67]

Dang thats a nasty scar, gonna remember that when I get front of my 93 off the ground for some front end work. I had a car fall on my hand while changing the tire, thankfully I too had a friend there to lift it off me. Removed most of the skin from my ring finger. I neglected to wash the blood from the wheel though as I thought it looked cool.

 

[6.9poweredscout]

well, i went back and showed that jeep who's boss, with more help from my friend we unbolted it and yanked it with his wrecker! also started putting the steering on the scout!!! off to bed, going to macungie in the morning for a truck show!

-Jon

 

[GOOSE]

HOLY CRAP JON!!!! Glad to see things only got to bad and didn't go from bad to worse

99.9% of the time I use large jack stands and am working on level garage floor concrete. This would be listed as a "near miss" in jobsite accident terms and we usually have a meeting to discuss what happened and how it could have been averted. Aside from lacking chocks, please educate any other variables that led to this. You have my attention and everyone else's I am sure. A huge percent of us work alone and in less than perfect conditions and need to be aware of the risks involved.

Thank the good lord you are here to tell. The smile on your face in the pics is uncanny. Then again, maybe I'd be smiling too if I walked away from that one with a mere Harry Potter tatoo on my forehead.

 

[icanfixall]

Well guys.... When I work alone on my rigs and I always do.... I make sure to check and recheck what I'm doing. I know there is nobody that will be there to help me if something goes wrong. So far I have had just one kinda funny accident in my garage..... I needed to get up and around my 1937 Cord to reach some parts in the shelves on the far side of it. The only way was over the trunk and down on the rear tire. So as I'm over there perched on a ledge walking back and forth looking at all the "parts" I finally found what I was looking for. I had just removed my cell phone and placed it up on a top shelf. I turned to leave this tight messed up area and tried to boost myself back up on the trunk and grab the cieling rafters for a hand hold... Well I slipped off and missed the rafter. As I was falling down backwards I rememberd the dead possium on the floor of the garage near where I was falling... It had been there for years by the look of it. I never get on that side of the car. So I finally hit bottom. I ended up stuck between the tire and the lower cabinet doors with both arms pinned to my sides... Feet kinda higher than my head. I can't get out... Really stuck so I remember my cell phone. I reach for in in my shirt pocket..... Then I remember its way up on the top shelf.... So there I am stuck but good wondering what spider is going to crawl on me or other bug wil bite me stuck like than and..... Nobody knows I'm in the garage and hidden form site very well stuck. I still have not hit the garage floor yet either.... Crying wont help and slowly loosing weight will take months... Well I just layed there and started working every muscle every way I could to break loose from the tire and cabinet python grip on my body. Finally I slipped down and turned as I did this. Standing up I was begining to realize how close I cam to being there a long time before my wife was to return home from work. And of course she would havewet her pants laughing at me and evientually would have called 911 to report a stuck husband in the garage.... Yeahhh I really really work much safer these days and I was always super careful before this embarrassing accident....

 

[towcat]

why i hate working alone on my truck at night in the shop. something happens i am DONE.

that's the only time I have to myself to work on stuff unfortunately.

 

[GOOSE]

that's the only time I have to myself to work on stuff unfortunately.

The norm for most of us I would guess.

 

[Goofyexponent]

Dude, you and me need to start a club! I almost decapitated my right middle finget last sunday, and punched a pretty serious hole in my left middle finger the thursday before that.....i'll make up the T shirts!!

 

[david85]

....I think your gonna need a Justin Bieber hair cut to cover that scar

I think I'd rather go bald.....

 

[Dave7.3]

Damn Jon, you are lucky it didn't crush your skull man! Glad you are okay, but holy hell that looks awful. Here is hoping for a quick recovery for ya.

My Dad was always nicknamed "Mr. Safety" and it has rubbed off on me. I end up always checking that kind of stuff. But even "Mr. Safety" can slip up though, Dad lost the end of his thumb while pulling fence posts about 5 years ago when the chain rolled over his knuckle.
Now whenever I'm headed out to work on something, I give him a thumbs up. Kind of a subtle reminder to practice safety...and he gets a kick out of it.

I think I'd rather go bald.....

Agreed.

 

[towcat]

Dude, you and me need to start a club! I almost decapitated my right middle finget last sunday, and punched a pretty serious hole in my left middle finger the thursday before that.....i'll make up the T shirts!!

i have you guys beat by a few years. unfortunately the understiches didn't hold, so I have a permenant knot below the skin. baseball bat to the head opened me up like a grape.

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

Wow Jon!

My garage used to me a carport for a travel trailer, which is now enclosed. Since I live in WV, you know I live on the side of a mountain! My garage isn't quite level and still asphalt.. Every time I jack the truck up, the jack leaves dents in the floor. I've been very lucky so far, but your experience has reminded me how dangerous my setup is..

Thanks for the post and I'm glad you'll be ok!


Be safe!

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

As hard as your head looks, I am surprised there wasn't more damage to the Jeep.

That was one of your allotted close calls; it is good that it wasn't worse than it was.

That lick was awful close to your living quarters.

I have had my share.

One experience that made me far more careful happened several years ago.

I had all four wheels of a 24-foot (floor length, 34' overall) Gooseneck all=steel cattle-trailer up on jack-stands and all four wheels off.

I can't remember for sure whether the trailer was connected to a truck or standing on the jack.

I stepped away to get something and BOOM!!!! , the whole mess hit the ground.


That little escapade learnt me to be far more vigilant in my future doings.

By the way, when you are "learnt" something, it is driven deeply into your skull in such a way that the lesson stays there; being learnt is far more effective than being taught.


I will say this about jack-stands; they are safe support in about 50% of situations, but they are by no means infallible.

Properly placed wood blocks or cribbing are much less likely to topple.

The trouble with any support system is that in most cases the support winds up being right in the way of the work.



As for the working alone as opposed to having a buddy around, from experiences I have had being around most other mechanical afficionadoes, I feel far safer being alone and the more alone the better.

This also holds true for timber cutting, any type of farming activity, and sawmilling.

I can count on one hand the men I don't have to watch like a hawk when I am around them working.


If you need buddies around, make certain that they don't add to the danger.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

baseball bat to the head opened me up like a grape.

What did you say to make her hit you ??

 

[david85]

Come to think of it, I had a close call earlier this year when a battery exploded in my face. By then it was hot enough that much of the acid just steamed off and filled the shop with a sour stench. Washed my face off real good then opened up everything and hosed down the shop (there is still a lighter colored blotch on the cement floor). Got off with some itching on each of my ears since I didn't think to rinse that part. Pieces of the plastic case were thrown all over the shop and I'm still finding some to this day. Its amaizing how fast things can happen. At first I thought the engine had backfired, then I looked down t see the nekkid battery under a could of sulfuric acid and could taste something sour on my lips.

I guess thats why they have starter relays instead of just slapping a heavy wire onto the battery post when trying to start a reluctant engine......damn right, I knew better......

 

[G. Mann]

You are gonna have a "nice little scar" so yer days in hollywood are over as the leading man. Damn glad to see the post instead of a funeral notice.

The rule for working on machinery is "NEVER put any body part you want to keep between the machine and another surface"

Block and chock FIRST. "Protect yourself" doesn't mean wearing a ****** while you are pulling wrenches. Think "how can this hurt me" first cause yelling "Ohhhhhhh ****" has been proven to have no effect in preventing injury.