PSA Be careful out there!!!

[SlimJim]

Hey guys, I just wanted to take a moment to remind you guys that the things we do have enough inherent risk in them without tempting fate and adding to it. So take it from me, it can catch up with you, happen to you, so please be careful out there. It's those little "it will never happen to me" things that get us. I have been on a mission since my accident, in my attempt to make some good out of the bad, to remind people how quickly things can change when you take risks and lose. It happens every day. That cable or chain can break. That hose can bust when you short cut under that bucket. That PTO can catch you when the cover is cracked or missing. That tire or battery can blow, or the jack can kick out. That grinder can blind you, even with your eyes closed. That tractor can roll back over you. Breathing that chemical or those fumes from that scrap metal can kill you. That bad cord can shock you. That mower, tractor, or loader can tip. I spent a couple of months in hospital and rehab facilities and guys that place is slam full of people like me who took risks and it caught up with them. So it does happen every single day. Don't take chances or shortcuts. Fix those things that need it, that thing you have just not had time to fix lately that you will get to later. Most importantly, listen to yourself, heed that warning your mind throws at you when you are about to take unnecessary risks or do something stupid. Just be safe.

[toprecycler]

+1. Earlier this summer an old family friend was working on a skid loader with a friend, and both of them got caught when it moved somehow. I heard it rolled over him and proceeded to spin its tires tearing him up pretty bad. He didn’t survive long. His grandson had to turn the tractor off. This was a man who worked around equipment all his life.

The older I get, the slower I go, and take more time to think things thru. Better safe than sorry.


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[Shade Tree Welder]

Jim, great point, I was diagnosed earlier this year with diabetes, type 2. I have
lost a bunch of weight and now I have the diabetes under good control with diet
alone. I have lost about 60lbs. in the last year. I am getting blood work done
regularly and testing my glucose levels at a minimum of once a day. Also
monitoring blood pressure.

Anyway, this last blood draw I had some heavy metals checked, with my work
and hobbies I thought it might be interesting.

Lead, venous ........... 1 ...... <5 mcg/dl
Chromium, blood ..... 0.6 ... <=1.2 mcg/dl
Manganese, blood .. 27.9 ... 4.2-16.5 mcg/dl

Manganese is from welding. So I will have to start wearing a respirator
100% of the time when welding, not just for galvanized steel anymore.

[MetalWolf]

Originally Posted by toprecycler

+1. Earlier this summer an old family friend was working on a skid loader with a friend, and both of them got caught when it moved somehow. I heard it rolled over him and proceeded to spin its tires tearing him up pretty bad. He didn’t survive long. His grandson had to turn the tractor off. This was a man who worked around equipment all his life.

The older I get, the slower I go, and take more time to think things thru. Better safe than sorry.


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+1 older slower take time be safe! I'm there but the problem with that is I had been telling customers and friends I do work for that's how it is now and I don't want to risk injury so I take my time and let them know I'm going to be slow going... which is not acceptable for them or they say well I'm in no hurry and I agree to do the work with the understanding there is no time push and then they turn the tables a day or two later and get pissy because it's not going fast or done already... so I pretty much decided to finish the last project being paid for and not take another job in period retire and relocate. but relocating there are more factors to that dissension than turds who back step on me... Cause I'm already sorry that the times I allowed persons to push me to a point I got careless out of stress and ended up hurt and then put even further behind and still paying for it in pain and other health issues... so now I have to become the prick who say no take your crap elsewhere and stick to it.

[SlimJim]

Yep. I guarantee you, everyone, on here knows at least one person that has had something bad happen. Hell, we lost a good member to fumes. And we all have done something at some point and slid by. Some of us 100s of times. And sooner or later you pay the toll. I was damn lucky to get out of mine alive, much less with the leg still there. I cut two of the three arteries immediately and lost the other in surgery. If I had not crushed it the second time I might have bled out those hours I waited for help to come. If you go to that rehab hospital you will see how many of us are in there. Many were way way way worse than me. One guy had crushed his leg exactly as I did with a backhoe three years earlier, a landscaper, but he was there because his mower had flipped on him and cut him to pieces. Had been in there 6 months and had wheeled into my room to tell me my leg would be OK. There was a farmer whose tractor and bush hog rolled over him in there. The bush hog was not running but he still got bones broke from head to toe. Just be careful yall, and think. That's all I ask. If this just gets you thinking about safety a little more then I am good.

One other thing I need to say and I am done preaching. The thing you don't think about until it does happen is how much it affects others around you. I am 55, and my mom and dad found me. My dad, who is 80, had just been diagnosed with a rapid form of dementia a few months earlier. Him finding me laying there crushed and bleeding behind the backhoe and delirious from pain destroyed him yall. He was Ok up to that day. He was getting worse, but he was still fine. But finding me sent him over the edge, it was stuck in his mind and all he talked about after that was checking on me. They live across the pond from me and he would get out of bed, walk the dam, and come into my house in the middle of the night and say he heard me screaming. We ended up having to lock the room he slept in with mom to keep him safe. He died last week from the dementia. This last month he had been semi-comatose, just laying in bed not speaking or reacting to anything. Hospice had been coming for 10 days. The last day he woke up and started speaking again, saying goodbye I guess. What a man, to fight that off to say his goodbyes. My sister called at work and told me to come home. He was still "back" when I got there and talking and asking for me. To me, he asked, "are you Ok?". He probably asked me 15 times. I finally took off my boot and held up my leg to show him. My leg looks amazingly good. He smiled. He said, "you're Ok, you are ok, you'll be fine son". That was the last thing he said to me. It was a blessing, but it was hard. I could go on and on about the costs to my wife, my mom, my son, my friends, it was a burden for everyone and that is a hard pill to swallow. The guilt I have felt for that is worse than the event.

[5500bill]

Stairs are a good one to watch out for especially if carrying something. I live alone always have my cell phone also have an apple watch that I can call from. I am more careful than I have ever been bad things happen so quick

[MetalWolf]

Originally Posted by SlimJim

One other thing I need to say and I am done preaching. The thing you don't think about until it does happen is how much it affects others around you.

I Totally agree before my divorce when my wife lost her leg it had profound effects on me and my kids... and even more of what it did to her and her actions of her after the fact and the two attempted suicides by my daughter, after all, seemed for events that surrounded that one incident.

But most haven't a clue how something like trauma affects the people who surround you directly or indirectly... So I do believe you touched on a very real subject point...

[Polock]

I am new to this forum and when reading this I couldn't help but start laughing. Not at what you went through, or the message you're trying to put out there, which is completely valid. No, my laughter was at myself thinking of all the insane things I have seen, been a part of, or were spearheaded by me to "get the job done". I've lucked out and gotten away with so many things, have seen some things go completely sideways in 0 seconds flat too. My worst moment was when I needed to cut that one board to mount my fence to my table saw and then I would worry about finding something to use as a push block. My brain was screaming it was a terrible idea so instead of pushing the board through with my hand I reached behind the blade to pull the board through instead. I must have pulled slightly left of straight because the blade bound up and because the blade was spinning forward it launched that wooden rocket ship that my hand was gripping and sent my pinky finger into momentary contact with it. That blade cut 95% of the way through my pinky finger bone, right at the large part that forms the knuckle to my hand. Left a perfect kerf in the bone that the doctors just couldn't believe. Even this my unluckiest of moments I got lucky and a very skilled surgeon was able to save the finger, reattach the nerves and tendon and I have full range of motion in it. Now when anything gives me the hint of I shouldn't be doing this, I don't. I either take the time to be safe or I don't do it at all. Was a nice $36,000 lesson learned.

[SlimJim]

I guess a bump is not necessary because it is sticky, but I just wanted to give a little reminder. Yall be careful! And Shade, where your damn respirator!