MTViper
Member
There have been a couple of long discussions about respirators, air shields, face shields, etc. As a 30 year veteran of aviation, occupational, explosive, electrical, construction, and a dozen other safety systems, I'm always glad to see people interested in and inquiring about the best ways to protect yourself when you're doing something that could be hazardous to your health.
I've found, though, that our safety training systems tend to lean toward personal protective equipment (PPE) rather than abating the hazards. That distresses me because we seem to have replaced common sense with equipment.
CAVEAT: OSHA STANDARDS DO NOT APPLY TO YOUR PERSONAL SHOP! I'm going to talk about OSHA directives, though, because they are the ones who do the most research into safety and personal protection. They might have some good ideas, even if they can't require them in our shop.
OSHA requires every business to analyze the hazards in their work places and abate those hazards - engineer them out if possible. If they cannot be abated, THEN PPE comes into play to protect against a hazard that cannot be abated. In other words, the requirement for PPE shows your abatement plan has failed so you have to take other action. Industry has realized that blanket safety requirements are easier than training every employee in hazard recognition. If there is a company policy on wearing safety glasses every time you are on the shop floor, regardless of whether you're exposed to a hazard or not, then surely you'll be protected when you're near the hazard and the company will have done its job to protect you. That's their thinking anyway. The down side of this is that people have begun to automatically throw on PPE - whether is the right PPE or not and whether or not PPE is needed in that situation - instead of assessing the hazards present and taking proper action or removing the hazard.
Different types of PPE are meant to protect different parts of the body from different hazards. Safety glasses are designed to protect against light, dust, mist, light to moderate particle impact. Face shields are designed to protect the eyes and face against dusts, mists, liquids, flying chips, etc. Notice there's nothing in there about flying chunks or head protection. That's a whole different standard. Following a couple of very dramatic turning accidents, Trend started publishing on its website that it is not designed to protect heads from flying chunks.
Following those same dramatic accidents, I got the local police department to buy and sell me a ballistic helmet with lexan and steel grid face shields. I don't wear it when I turn pens, but when I'm turning a big piece of mesquite that may have a hidden crack in it, you bet I'm wearing it.
I rarely wear breathing protection when turning unless I'm turning something like antler because I have found a way to reduce the dust hazard. I have a large fan that blows over my right shoulder and onto the turning area. It takes the light weight dust I might breathe in and takes it out of the breathing area. I took a class in hazardous waste operations and emergency response. The instructor taught us "The solution to pollution is dilution". Remove the hazard and you don't need the PPE. If I am turning the fan is blowing.
I do wear prescription safety glasses all the time. When turning solid woods, especially spindle turning, I add a face shield to protect against splinters and chips the fan won't blow away. When there is a crack or loose bark involved, out comes the riot helmet.
I am not trying to talk you out of anything you feel is necessary to protect yourself in your shop. By all means, protect yourself first. I do want to show there are options that you may use to address some of the hazards we face instead of a 1 size fits all rule.
Safe spinning and Happy New Year.
Steve
I've found, though, that our safety training systems tend to lean toward personal protective equipment (PPE) rather than abating the hazards. That distresses me because we seem to have replaced common sense with equipment.
CAVEAT: OSHA STANDARDS DO NOT APPLY TO YOUR PERSONAL SHOP! I'm going to talk about OSHA directives, though, because they are the ones who do the most research into safety and personal protection. They might have some good ideas, even if they can't require them in our shop.
OSHA requires every business to analyze the hazards in their work places and abate those hazards - engineer them out if possible. If they cannot be abated, THEN PPE comes into play to protect against a hazard that cannot be abated. In other words, the requirement for PPE shows your abatement plan has failed so you have to take other action. Industry has realized that blanket safety requirements are easier than training every employee in hazard recognition. If there is a company policy on wearing safety glasses every time you are on the shop floor, regardless of whether you're exposed to a hazard or not, then surely you'll be protected when you're near the hazard and the company will have done its job to protect you. That's their thinking anyway. The down side of this is that people have begun to automatically throw on PPE - whether is the right PPE or not and whether or not PPE is needed in that situation - instead of assessing the hazards present and taking proper action or removing the hazard.
Different types of PPE are meant to protect different parts of the body from different hazards. Safety glasses are designed to protect against light, dust, mist, light to moderate particle impact. Face shields are designed to protect the eyes and face against dusts, mists, liquids, flying chips, etc. Notice there's nothing in there about flying chunks or head protection. That's a whole different standard. Following a couple of very dramatic turning accidents, Trend started publishing on its website that it is not designed to protect heads from flying chunks.
Following those same dramatic accidents, I got the local police department to buy and sell me a ballistic helmet with lexan and steel grid face shields. I don't wear it when I turn pens, but when I'm turning a big piece of mesquite that may have a hidden crack in it, you bet I'm wearing it.
I rarely wear breathing protection when turning unless I'm turning something like antler because I have found a way to reduce the dust hazard. I have a large fan that blows over my right shoulder and onto the turning area. It takes the light weight dust I might breathe in and takes it out of the breathing area. I took a class in hazardous waste operations and emergency response. The instructor taught us "The solution to pollution is dilution". Remove the hazard and you don't need the PPE. If I am turning the fan is blowing.
I do wear prescription safety glasses all the time. When turning solid woods, especially spindle turning, I add a face shield to protect against splinters and chips the fan won't blow away. When there is a crack or loose bark involved, out comes the riot helmet.
I am not trying to talk you out of anything you feel is necessary to protect yourself in your shop. By all means, protect yourself first. I do want to show there are options that you may use to address some of the hazards we face instead of a 1 size fits all rule.
Safe spinning and Happy New Year.
Steve
