All MetalShaping

Go Back   All MetalShaping > General Metal Shaping Discussion > Shop Safety
  Today's Posts Posts for Last 7 Days Posts for Last 14 Days  

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-05-2016, 05:56 PM
Kidpaint Kidpaint is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Garner, Ia
Posts: 262
Default eye safety

I know its been brought up before but I just had another...yes another battle between metal and my eyes. I use to work for a company that make rail grinders for the railway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t37W3EaoIPg

In this video, which was way before we had a dust collection system you can literally see all the grinding dust in the air. Now much much cleaner but still dust does blow. The grind motors are smaller than a bathtub but not by much and at the time of me leaving the company we had made one with over 100 grinders. Double the length of a football field.

We were required to wear safety glasses or goggles depending on the situation at all times. The biggest factor for accidents with the company was still particles in the eye. We tried various goggles that blew air across your eyes to blow any dust away. etc etc.

But of the 3 times I have been in to the Dr for removal, today being the most recent. The metal was never from direct contact with the eye. I wasnt grinding or cutting and hit my eye. What happens and every Dr agrees is that the metal dust or chip is usually in your eyebrows or in your hair and falls into your eyes later. I still wear goggles everytime i cut or grind so I can only assume this is how it happened again. I got into the habit of taking my hands and wiping my head down before removing the goggles and looking down when i take them off to make sure to stop metal from falling in. But the other night I know I didnt do that after grinding some aluminum.

So becareful out there and dont just assume that its from metal hitting your eye. Take care to wipe or blow yourself off (safely) so you dont feel it landing in your eye a few hrs later while eating supper.
__________________
Cody Lunning
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-05-2016, 08:21 PM
AllyBill AllyBill is offline
MetalShaper of the Month Feb 2019
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: UK
Posts: 375
Default

I came up in a town full of heavy industry where shrapnel in the eyes was a daily occurrence and the hospitals had special electromagnets on rails so they could strap the patient down then crank the magnet over the eye to suck the shard straight out. The old hands that trained me wouldn't give me any eye protection until I had learned to use a grinder without firing filings at them. If I did they'd fire straight back and hit me in the eyes. I learned that one pretty quick!
My problems with eye safety resolved as my eyes failed and I had to put lenses ahead of them but what can you do if a fragment falls off your eyebrow or you wipe it into your eye trying to shift the sweat?
What you do is get it out of there FAST. What does the damage is leaving it in a second longer than necessary. If it fell off your eyebrow it has no energy or heat so it won't stick so try this trick. I keep a little stack of 1/4 inch diameter neodymium magnets about two inches long that will make a piece of steel fly out of your eye from a half-inch range in an instant.
Doesn't work so well on aluminium, you'll need a Q-tip and a colleague for that but again, get on it straight away.

Will
__________________
Here to learn.


William Pointer
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 02-05-2016, 08:53 PM
Kidpaint Kidpaint is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Garner, Ia
Posts: 262
Default

Yeah we had little strong magnets at work too, that plus flushing was teh first things we did before going to the Dr.

This time I made the mistake of waiting. I actually thought that flushing it had worked. It was a little irritated and I mean very little. So I just thought it may have scratched it or something no biggie. Went to work the next day everything was fine still a little irritated. Mind you I dont work with aluminum at all at work. And I was taking a shower before bed and rubbed my eye and could instantly feel I had pressed it into my eye. Oddly enough the Dr said that the day in my eye made it easier to get out then a fresh piece falling in. Stating that the eye makes a little "hard" cirlce around the metal which helps it slide out. He then looked in my other eye which was fine...metal there too. who knew
__________________
Cody Lunning
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 02-06-2016, 09:36 AM
Oldnek Oldnek is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Ulladulla, Australia
Posts: 1,346
Default

I find I get more in the eyes when you take your shirt off after the day, and I think the fine powdery dust is the worst. The safety glasses I use have a foam rim, which is good for protection, but they fog pretty quick and you have to lift them slightly so it defeats its purpose..
Your eyes are your best tool, so its best to look after them the best you possibly can.
__________________
John
EK Holden V8
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 12-18-2016, 09:37 AM
ojh ojh is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Shenandoah Valley, VA
Posts: 674
Default

On Thursday I had a little irritation in my one eye (blind in the other) Friday I knew I had some trash in it an dbought that eyewash in a cup thingy, it helped. By Saturday I knew I needed to see the doctor, he looked in it and found metal in my cornea and removed it with a needle. The metal had started to rust so he drilled that bit out and packed the hole with some special membrane (Ovarian?) to promote growth and healing. He capped it with a lense similar to a contact lense and I am waiting now to go back so he can check on the progress (at 11:30 Sunday morning).
I can barely see right now, the keyboard is just a blurr so if something is spelled odd, it just the way it is. My distance vision is getting better, the killer was bright light and today is overcast so I can drive. Yesterday was horrible, I barely made it home and I was only a couple blocks from the doctors' office.
I really believe I'll get better and the first thing I'm buying is a magnified set of goggles. I've learned my lesson.
__________________
oj higgins
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 06-14-2017, 03:11 PM
norson norson is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Portland, Or.
Posts: 400
Default

OJH
That reminds me of the day a guy walked up to my parts counter to buy parts. His wife was guiding him and he had a patch over one eye. He was already blind in one eye and had got some steel in the other at work. They were waiting to see if he would be able to see again. That was 50 years ago and it still takes my breath away when I think about it.
Norm
__________________
Norm Henderson
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:54 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.