Shop Accidents

[Shelley Bolster]

Hey......hopefully, after enlisting Dennis' help, this will work this time....I tried yesterday but lost everything!
Since Matt and my accidents with routers this last week, there has been a fair amount of discussion about safety......this is great! But, unfortunately, it has seemed to be all about TOOLS ......... again.:rolleyes: OK granted, the tools are in fact what inflicts the actual injury...does the damage however, it almost always boils down to human error that is the actual cause. Sometimes embarrassment over a "stupid" mistake will cause many to avoid telling of accidents or near misses. It took me 5 days to work up the courage to actually post about my accident...........any by the way, that is what it was, an accident. Could it have been prevented.........of course. Did I feel uncomfortable with the procedure I was using.......you betcha........did I stop and re-think the whole thing......yup - after I almost had removed 3 of my fingers! Was I the cause of the accident - without a doubt - YES. But.......after all was said and done, it still was an accident. So, I can sit here and feel sorry for myself or try to help others by a rather graphic example, to become aware of the dangers - not of the tools we use but just how we use them. So people......save your tool discussion to other threads - this is not whether a shaper is safer than a router table........if I operate a shaper unsafely - I am gonna get bit----period. The price or that brand name doesn't mean dick if I, as the operator, do not practice safe handling of any machine 100% of the time!!! 99% of the time doesn't cut it.......it is that 1% that will sneak up and get you.
I figured by using a poll, (with anonymity to the voters) we can get a closer look at just how many accidents really do occur in a woodworking shop and why. I have had several PMs the last few days with guys telling me of accidents they have had so I am betting money that almost all of us, have at one time or another, have had an accident with varying degrees of severity or at the very least, a close call. Please folks, be honest.......no one will know that you too are human and made a stupid mistake but, in order for this poll to inform all of us of the real dangers we face and that we indeed have a far greater chance of sustaining an injury than not, the votes cast must be a true representation of the facts.
Anyone that feels comfortable in sharing an accident or near-miss please do........remember, the sharing of information is what these forums are really all about. I also ask that we refrain from telling each other "what we did wrong"...that kind of post will only inhibit others from sharing their experiences.

I have put the first poll in 2 categories: under 20 hours a week spent working in the shop and professional and semi professionals (having clients and deadlines)
I think it might be interesting to see if someone with 40+ hours a week shop time is less or more likely to have an accident than someone who spend 4 hours. They are if fact, around and exposed to dangers 10 times more - are they 10 times more likely to have an accident? Or, does the person spending fewer hours in the shop have more accidents due to inexperience......or are they in fact more cautious?

[Andy Hoyt]

I've never had a shop accident severe enough to warrant a trip to anywhere other than the first aid kit. But I have witnessed some really horrific stuff.

Each time I've drawn my own blood or suffered a pulled muscle or franged a knuckle it's been attributable to two things - In a hurry and being well past the "it's been a long day" point in time.

I have a small strategically placed momento in my shop that reminds me each time I see it that the work will be waiting for me another time.

[tod evans]

shelley, as you know i type one fingered so most of my posts are short. i`ve already given you permission to post anything i have written so if you believe it`s helpful go ahead, i ain`t typing it again! yeah i`ve been bit more than once but still got all ten knock on wood. tod

[Travis Porter]

I have not had a major injury in the shop (I have outside the shop), but I have had lots of minors. Some nothing more than scraping my knuckles on cast iron ( a regular thing for me ) and some where the tool was not adjusted or handled correctly.

[markus shaffer]

Years ago I ran a finger through a dovetail bit in my router table. Chewed it up pretty bad. That learned me quick to respect all these tools we play with. User error was a definate issue though.. My thoughts were elsewhere that day as a girl had recently drug my heart through the mud and kicked it into a trash can.. Rotten girls..

Since then I've only had one "accident".. Also my own fault. Working late I was tired and not paying enough attention.. Tablesaw kickback put a failry small piece of 1/4" masonite into my upper thigh.. I walked with a limp for about a month after that and the bruise was one of the worst I've ever had. This coming from someone who's spent over 20 years skateboarding. Don't let slip your mind where you're supposed to stand when using a tablesaw..

-Markus

[Mark Singer]

I have done little stuff, with power tools...splinters always get me. I recently was boring a hole with a hole saw in a torquey corded bill drill and it grabbed and twisted my wrist....I had it on the drill/hammer mode...My wrist is still sore. I have never gone to the hospital with a shop or field injury...knock wood! I have been very lucky....and i never used a guard on my Skill 77 wormdrive....I have really been lucky! Instead of being complacent and invincible, I would rather feel that I am over due and keep the caution and care at a high level.....It can happen to anybody...

[tod evans]

one more question; how many stiches counts as a major accident?

[Vaughn McMillan]

Skinned knuckles and a few scratches here and there, but no real bad accidents for me. I'm still recovering from getting my thumbnail a bit too close to the inverted belt sander a few weeks ago, but that didn't draw any blood. Most recent blood was from a very sharp flush-cut saw grazing a finger after the cut, because I was holding the workpiece wrong...user error indeed. Oh, and there was the time I was showing LOML how nice and sharp I'd gotten a chisel, and in my attempt to shave a bit of hair off my arm, I shaved off about 1/2" square of skin instead. (Nice clean cut, though...healed right up. ;) )

Thanks for the poll, Shelly.

- Vaughn

[Shelley Bolster]

Man Tod.......you would have to make my life difficult! ;) :D I dunno, how many stitches would YOU say?? But then again, you are the guy that super glues all of your "oops" together don't you? How about if we agree to consider that any injury, whether or not attended by a physician (for those DIY's) is considered serious or major if it in any way impaired your life, short or long term.:rolleyes: :confused:

Here is an edited version of a PM Tod sent me the other day.........


Anybody that works screws up. Anybody that works alot screws up more. Anybody that sits on their butt pushing paper will eventually get a paper cut. Anybody that handles wood will get a splinter. Anybody that works with sharp objects will eventually get cut...........Anybody that denies the fact that we all make mistakes is a fool!! As I get older I try to minimize the extent that I screw up. I learned to raise panels freehand on a 12hp shaper, single pass top and bottom cut....then I watched the foreman remove the left side of his left hand in seconds! He didn`t even know he`d done it until he reached for the next panel and couldn`t grab it......2 fingers and part of his hand ---hamburger in the dust collector! I very seldom use a router in a table for the simple reason I feel safer holding the motor. I can overpower any router I own. The shaper is another story all together, powerfeeder, sliding table or jigs, always! Enough of my rambling!! Yeah I`ve screwed up LOTS!! and have the scars to prove it.

If it`ll cut a board ......it`ll eat meat! later, t.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Other than the usual nicks, scratches, and cuts I've only had one shop accident and it was with hand tools. Two years ago and a couple of days after Christmas I was in the shop working on the final fitting of a stand for an antique plow plane. I needed to take a little bit off of the side of a through slot on a small pedestal. (Here comes the root cause) Rather than walk the six steps over to my hand saw till and grab a tenon or dovetail saw I figured that "just this once I could get away with using a 3/8" bench chisel." To make a long story short, I was paring downward with my right hand below the chisel (I'm a lefty) when the short piece of end grain blew out. The 3/8" Marples Blue Chip bench chisel sliced along my fore finger, entered the top side of my middle finger and exited through the bottom, and impaled my middle finger onto my ring finger. After the appropriate foul mouthed noises, removal of the chisel and wrapping of the hand in a bench towel, I went up to the first floor bathroom to inspect the damage under cold water in the sink. Needless to say, my wife had to do the driving as we drove to the local emergency room.

Analysis and Comments: This accident could have been easily prevented by::
1 Listening to the little voice which said "don't, it's not safe"
2 Obeying the rule of never having any body part downstream of a cutting edge.
3 Being in less of a rush and taking the time to do it right.

The fingers have healed well, but there is some loss of sensation in the tips of two of them after almost 24 months. I stupidly did something I knew wasn't safe expecting that I could get away with it. I couldn't, and didn't.

[Jim Hager]

Well, I fully agree with the spirit of your post, that it is human error not the machine that causes accidents. I, thankfully, have never been the victim of a power tool accident but I think about it each and every time that I face an operation with a power tool. I teach shop in a jr. high school and have also had several years experience with sr. high level. I have to work with the students each day on shop safety and I stress mostly the "attitude" of the tool. I show kids what can happen when they do something against physics. I throw boards with the table saw, feed things backwards and demonstrate things not to do as much as I do things to do.

Power tool safety or just safety in general is an attitude. If you let down the attitude an accident is probably going to occur. I am self taught with most of my shop work, my college shop courses were a joke. I had already been there and done that with nearly everything except for the machine shop work. So I have had my fair share of close calls but I learned early on to mock up an operation and think it through before turning on the machine. There is almost always a safer way to do anything but there is also a factor of diminishing returns on setting up an operation to the greatest level of safety possible. That being said I will only go so far and rely on my experience to get me by with lots of tool operations.

I truly respect a spinning blade of any sort and work really hard to get my students to do the same.

You might like to know that your fingers were the subject in my class yesterday then I went to the shop and showed the 9th graders how to use the router table. I even set up and demonstrated what I thought that got you in trouble. Your experience has done some good at least with my students.

Thanks for sharing. Good thread by the way.

[Scott Parks]

I've had two minor incidinces/injuries. The contribuiting cause was that I didn't know squat about what I was doing.

As an uneducated young buck, (about 10 years old) I thought it would be a great idea to carve my own baseball bat. I found a lathe chisel in my dads tool cabinet. On the first attempt at stabbing the peice of wood, I got my finger instead. Didn't go get stitches, but probably should have...

2nd, was in Junior high. In shop class we got to use the band saw. So, my dad permitted me to also use the bandsaw at home. As I recall, I was cutting a dowel or rod about 2" in diameter. As I pushed it into the blade, the peice spun out, and my thumb hit the blade. Again, no stitches, but lots of blood and a good scare!

Both of these accidents can be contributed to LACK of education, training, and SUPERVISION!

Knock on wood... I think back to a lot of risky things I've done because I didn't know any better (again, LACK of education). Now I know, and I'm darn lucky to have all 10!

Next to lack of training, I bet the next biggest cause of an accident is "it won't happen to me, I know what I'm doing."

[Gail O'Rourke]

Silly, but it really hurt, I stuck my hand in the underside of my dust collection while it was running...hose fell off, debri sticking out...grabbed it, finger in impeller....what I didn't know is that's where the impeller was, but of course, I should not have been sticking my hand in there... big ouch, small cut, - wasn't following the 8 inch rule. Thank goodness it wasn't a blade.

[Bill Stevener]

Hi Gang,
I have worked >40 yrs. in the commercial construction field, and the accidents that I have personally been witness to, are with out any consideration, way to long to begin to list in a post.

The major no. 1 question that is always asked during a safety meeting is,
Who is responsible for Safety. The one and only answer is -- We All Are.

About the only work, shop related accident I can recall, was when my partner and I were aligning a large coupling. I said to my partner, as I was adjusting the coupling, when I nod my head, you hit it, and he did so.:eek:
Have a Safe and fun day.
Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Matt Meiser]

Besides the injury I just posted, my woodworking injuries have been minor scrapes or splinters. I did have to get stitches several years ago cutting some angle iron with a hack saw. When I fininshed the last stroke of the cut, my hand fell into the piece I was cutting which had a fresh 45 degree edge that cut like a razor. I also have sprained my wrist when a ladder shifted while putting up siding, and cut my hand on some wire fencing. All could have been prevented, though I never did figure out why the ladder shifted as it was on a sidewalk, set up right, and I wasn't leaning out.

[Chip Charnley]

Numerous minor injuries that, IMHO, just come with the territory. One major injury. Growing up I had done a bunch of hand woodworking with my dad but I never really used any power tools beyond a drill and table saw until I got in the US Navy. Got lucky and was stationed at a base that had been down-sized but still had a major hobby woodshop. I did not know squat about power tools but there's this jointer, lathe, etc. and I dove in. Only knew what I was able to teach myself or thought to ask the very knowledgeable retired carpenter running the place. Anyway, to make a long story short, I tried to run a too short piece of wood over the jointer. It flung it out of my hands and the tips of two fingers got jointed. Painful and instructive. Many days and pain pills later, I was back in the shop and finished several pieces of furniture that are still in my house today (nearly 30 years later). Unfortunately, it's been 25+ years since those wood working days and I have done precious little else due to lack of access to tools/space. That recently changed with the new house LOML and I just built and LOML has allowed me to purchase several new tools (lathe, jointer, planer, drill press, drum sander and bandsaw plus hand tools) to re-start my hobby. I have approached these tools with respect and trepidation. I trust I will be smart enough now to not repeat the folly of my youth. :)

[Bruce Page]

Shelley, this should be a great poll!
As a journeyman machinist with 25+ years on the floor before I was moved “upstairs”, I have always had a healthy respect for machine tools. I have seen many accidents, some of them horrendous, over the years. The only serious work-related accident that I’ve had was when I ran the tip of my index finger about 3/8” into a bandsaw blade – never wear gloves when operating a bandsaw! I have only had one semi serious mishap in the home shop involving a Sawzall.

[Chris Padilla]

Well, this guy was having a REALLY bad day. I think we all know what happend to the last appendage! ;)

[Andy Hoyt]

Well, this guy was having a REALLY bad day. I think we all know what happend to the last appendage! ;)

Yeah! "Run away .... in the general direction of your mother"

[Richard Wolf]

I have been thinking about this accident thing for awhile now. First, I have a degree from the State of New York, in Industrial Arts Education. (Shop teacher). It was along time ago, but safety and teaching safety was of paramount importance. I taught H.S. for ten years. I worked in heavy construction for nine years and have been a pro woodworker for 16 years.
Most of that doesn't mean much, but I've been around the block. Some of my observations about people and accidents comes down to two important factors, and these have been mentioned in other threads on this forum lately.
1) No body sticks their fingers in a spining blade. What usually happens is your hand is past the blade, the wood gets grabed and sucks your hand back with it into the blade.
2) Is lack of education. Most people are self taught woodworkers. Is that a good idea? How many self taught airplane pilots are there? Not many. It's esay to say, take your time and build a jig. Alot of people have no idea what kind of jig they need or how to build it, or maybe even that they need one until it's to late.
I would strongly suggest, that most people spend some time and money and get some instruction. There is so much to learn about this great thing that we call woodworking that can only really be learned from watching first hand. A great place to start would be at the seminars at the wood shows. They may not be directly saftey related, but they will stress how to do something safely.
I just feel there are alot of people with the idea of "how tough can it be" attitude and think they know it all.
This is not directed at anybody or buy any means
the all out answer to stop accidents, they will always happen, just hope we can all recover from them.
That being said, I have had my share. A knot in pine caused a bad kickback. I had another kickback that actually knocked the tip off my left index finger, I had a small piece of wood suck my left index finger in the table saw balde, (same finger as above, now a little shorter). And Iv'e stuck my thumb in a router bit with suprisingly little damage.
So, all this long winded, soap box, BS comes down to this. Lets get shop classes back in schools so young people can safely learn how to use tools.

Richard

[Roger Los]

"None shall pass." :)

When I took a racing class the instructor had an interesting philosophy--there are no accidents, only crashes. In other words, the machine is very very rarely at fault, and even then, often times the machine was trying to tell you it was going to fail but you either didn't know what to look for or ignored it.

I'm been fortunate, but also have little experience with anything other than RAS, chop, table and hand held saws. I required a few stitches on my thumb from an utterly stupid cut from a utility knife. Lots and lots of close calls and minor nicks from various hand tools.

For me, the leading cause is a lack of patience, anxiety to get something done so I can get to the next stage. My own solution to that is to have more than one thing going at a time, or have a really good book I'm into, or a computer nearby. Even just a semi-comfortable place to sit is good. Often the best safety procedure for me is to simply walk away and do something else while my mind figures out a way to do it better.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Shelley, mine was a comedy of errors. Here is my story. I posted this when I used to hang out near that other body of water. Thankfully I can still laugh at my stupidity on many fronts and it remains the only serious blood I've spilled. The Lord has been good to me.
_______________________

For those needing a chuckle - a comedy of errors

So I'm down to my last tenon which needs to be fit into a round mortise.The chisels are freshly sharpened to a mirror finish using the scary sharp method. I respect their sharpness and have always tried to take great care in my work and my safety. After all, my wife and I were reflecting just the other day that I've never been seriously hurt woodworking. Nothing more than a sliver really. What's that old saying about eating crow?

Well last night, with a slip and an "ouch," I created a nice holster for my ½" chisel right there in the fatty part of my palm. Here is where the real fun began.

Being the quick study that I am, I ran upstairs knowing, with a keen sense for these things, that I would need stitches. One snag - the door to the upstairs was somehow locked. Apparently my dear wife told the kids to make sure kitty stayed in the basement - which was interpreted by them as "lock" the cat downstairs. You know how felines can open doors and all.

Anyway, no big deal. Just yell.

After going horse, I realized that no one was upstairs and further realized that your hand is a major reservoir for blood, that is, when there isn't a hole in it. Another realization came to me, my wife went for a walk with the kids so that they wouldn't have to listen to my woodworking.

Of course, all the little lock opener thingies that come with the handles were gone, that's when my years of being submersed in cop dramas "kicked in." "Kick open the door, old boy," I thought. And with a mighty thrust of my right foot and a Bruce Lee, "Whaa," I came to yet another realization -for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Translation: don't kick at something while you are precariously positioned on the stairs. No, I didn't fall, but close. Coming to my senses, I thought, "A-ha! Use the shoulder! Certainly I've seen that somewhere as well." Sure enough, the door popped open like nothing. Now I just had to track down my ride to the ER.

Long story short, my wife and I went to the hospital and quickly became the laughing stock of the ER. My pride was hurt as they probably thought I was just some goofball dad trying to build a pinewood derby car for the first time. "No, I was building a 'Shaker style' headboard with walnut accents and solid cherry floating panels so that the wood is free to expand and contract with the changes in humidity. Honest." "Sure...." they must have been thinking.

At first the doctor was nervous that I might have seriously torn the thumb muscle, tendon's or nerves, but it turned out that everything was okay. All in all, my wife and I had one of the best dates as we were able to laugh at some of my less intelligent moves. It could have been worse, but it wasn't. We were thankful and we tried to express this through some good hearty laughter.

When we got home from the hospital, our great neighbors had cleaned up all the blood that I spilled on the stairs and humorously chalked out a body with our kids sidewalk chalk where I left blood on the driveway. Apparently they have seen too many cop dramas as well.

Ten stitches later, I hope you can find some humor in this as we did. And whatever you do, be careful with those tools. I will certainly take even more care in the future. I want to make it at least another six years before any more accidents like this.

Have a safe weekend everyone. I'm out of the game, per doctors order, for a few days. Now I get to read my new book, "The Day I Became Uncool" by Dan Zevin. It just seems so apropos.

[Kevin Post]

Fortunately, I've only had one minor incident. I was removing a mortising attachment from my drill press. Part of it fell off, striking my index finger and leaving a perfect, 1/4" square hole. It just goes to show you that tools can still bite even when they're turned off.

[Fred Voorhees]

One little accident a number of years ago. I decided to test the sharpness of the blades of my jointer with the tip of my thumb. Bleed? Yeah, you can be the house on it!

[Jack Diemer]

My only accident came from a coping saw. Pulled the saw through the board and hit my left index finger. I have a nice wishbone shaped scar. About all my accidents happen with hand tools, I get myself in trouble when I have to be the motor.

[Richard Gillespie]

My friends have given me the nick name "slice and dice". This isn't because I cut wood for a living. The local hospital has a suiture room within the emergency room with my name on it. I cut myself and have to go to the hospital, there's a sign in my driveway when I get back "he did it again".

Okay, I don't do it on purpose, but obiously I'm not as careful as I should be. Not only that, there are places on my left arm where I have no feeling because of spinal problems. Years ago, was working on my pick up truck and a friend was helping me. He noticed a pool of blood on the floor and wondered where that came from. I didn't know but after checking had a cut in my left arm. Took seven stiches that time.

Last two accidents that I remember were a chisel slipped and cut my finger on my left hand and my right hand got trapped between a metal door and a cabinet. That resulting flap took 6 stiches to fix.

Knock on wood I haven't had another accident in two years.:rolleyes:

[Tom Stovell]

My 'accident' involved Birkenstocks, beer and a 'Scary Sharp' 1" chisel.

Tom--lesson learned

[Steve Rowe]

Looking back on my 25 years of woodworking as a hobby, I have had several minor injuries and one near miss of a major accident. The lessons learned from this is that most of my injuries started with a SMALL PIECE OF WOOD! All of them involved inattention to detail on my part. Now that I have learned these lessons, I have been injury free (other than a few splinters) for 13 years. Before you start a task with any tool (power or hand), I suggest taking a safety minute to evaluate what and how you are going to perform the task, know what the risks are, and take actions to minimize or prevent those risks.

The following are descriptions of some of my more memorable experiences that may help others avoid injury:

Molding head on radial arm saw shaping the edge of red oak. Bad catch and kickback with board ripping a big chunk of skin from the palm of my hand. Shot the board about 40 ft out toward the street. Bent molding head caused radial arm saw to start dancing around the garage.
NEAR MISS: While working on a Shopsmith with the jigsaw set up on the left side I had left the tablesaw set up on the right (you can probably guess where the blade is and where the guard wasn't). While jigsawing, felt breeze in the vicinity of my right hand. Didn't go back into the shop for 2 days after that scare - I was very very very lucky.
Sanding small piece of wood using 6x48 belt sander without stop. Small piece left hand and I sanded the skin off the tips of my fingers. Hurt like all get out and took several weeks to heal. A whole new respect for belt sanders resulted.
Drill Press - boring hole in a piece of maple 1-1/2" x 8" I had a catch with the bradpoint bit and slung the piece tearing my watchband off and leaving a big bruise on my forearm. Ended up at the doctor for xrays - fortunately no breaks.

[Andy London]

I have been very fortunate for the past 28 years and have not had an accident in the shop nor when I buuilt homes for a summer. I have seen some pretty bad accidents with tools however.

I've cought my mind wandering a few times over the years when doing repeat stuff, I thnk the closest that comes to mind was during resawing a stack of wood, was tired and had been doing it for a while, my knuckle got close enough to the blade that I could feel it moving the hair on the back of my finger......shue everything down and called it a night.

This time of the year makes me extra careful, I put 35 hours in a week at the day job and at least 40++ in the shop.

I've also been very fortunate around chain saws which I've been also using the better part of 25 years, never had an accident, a few close calls but I can honestly say it was when I was not paying attention.

I've seen some things being done at woodworking shows and on TV that make me cringe and I wonder how many newer woodworkers have been hurt because they tried it at home. Some of, IMO, most dangerous things I have seen is watching turning video's a few years ago with my son, holy smokes, I could not believe it:eek:

[Carole Valentine]

My 'accident' involved Birkenstocks, beer and a 'Scary Sharp' 1" chisel.

Tom--lesson learned
Oh yeah, I know about the Birkenstocks and chisels! No beer though...when the top is popped, the door is locked. Fortunately the chisel hit the metal buckle on my sandal and only barely nicked my foot. You would think from that experience I would leave my Sandals in the house when going to the shop, but nooooooo...I was only going to bandsaw some turning blanks and it was hot-I didn't want to put my boots on. Big mistake. Try losing your grip on a 6" thick slab of maple and having it land on your big toe. Ouch!!!!! I am still waiting for the big black mark under my toenail to grow out.

[Randy Moore]

About the only work, shop related accident I can recall, was when my partner and I were aligning a large coupling. I said to my partner, as I was adjusting the coupling, when I nod my head, you hit it, and he did so.:eek:
Have a Safe and fun day.
Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>:)
Bill, did your partner hit the coupling or your head?

I have been in the HVAC buiness 33+ years and have my share of cut, scrapes and bruises, some got stitches and 1 broken hand. However when I am working with power tools or machinery I PAY ATTENTION . Don't bother while I am doing what I am doing. This goes for my co-workers all the way up to the owner of the company. :eek:

You have to pat attention to what you are doing all the time or it will bite you in the butt. You don't watch TV or read while you're driving do you? :eek:
And they call me GRUMPY at work!!!!!!!!!!!!!:(

Shelly darn good thread.

Randy

[Barry O'Mahony]

One little accident a number of years ago. I decided to test the sharpness of the blades of my jointer with the tip of my thumb. Bleed? Yeah, you can be the house on it!
I did that once, right after getting my first jointer. 'couldn't believe machine knives could be that sharp. No stitches, though, so I don't think it "counts".

The one accident requiring stiches, while not strictly in the shop, was with a hand tool and is illustrative of what one should not do, so I counted it in the poll. I was replacing an old electrical outlet in the kitchen with a GFCI. The old one was installed in the same box with two switches. I turned off the power to the outlet circuit, but left the power to the two switches on. Hey, I'll be careful enough not to touch the wires to the other two, right? Besides, I'm an electrical engineer and can ignore those rules sometimes since I'm an "expert".

Anyway, whoever installed the old outlet didn't read the part of the NEC that says wires in junction boxes must be at least 6 inches long. I needed to strip off a bit more insulation from the ends, and the j-box was set back in the corner with a countertop between me and it; it was just a pain to work with. I was using my Swiss Army knife with a recently-sharpened blade. Given the awkward location and short length of the wire, I had to hold things in a less-than-optimal position.

I remember thinking, "better in slip when holding it like this, or I could cut myself", when part of my hand hit one of the swtiches in the j-box: the one that powers the garbage disposer. The loud noise startled me, I flinched, and the next thing you know I have my hand wrapped in a towel while trying to drive myself 12 miles to the nearest emergency room. Five stitches.

Like many of the posts here, I had to do more than one thing wrong to cause the accident: if I had turned the power completely off, or I had run out to the shop to get a proper wire stripper, I would have been OK.


As to the question of power tool safety, one thing I try to keep in mind is, for a given tool, what are the OSHA requirements if this tool was in a commerical shop? Alot of people scoff at these, and take the attitude that alertness and care obviate the need for guards and other safety equipment. But I figure these things are written by experts that know more than I do, and have access to alot of statistics on accidents. So they should be a good guide as to what is, and is not, a safe practice.

[John Nicholas]

one more question; how many stiches counts as a major accident?

I would think of minor accident is one that requires you to stop what you are doing and think about what happened. EX: Tablesaw throws a small piece across the driveway, the street and into the neighbor's yard. DAMHIKT.

OR You stop to have first aid and go back to work or realizing it is late or you are tired and quit.

I would think of major accident as one that requires or causes you to leave the premises to obtain first aid or other medical treatment.

OR EX: You quit for the day to deal with the upset neighbor down the driveway and across the street because of what that small piece hit after it entered the space over his/her property. What we can all be glad didn't happen with the first example. ;)

[Corey Hallagan]

Wow, just saw.... yuk and read your original post. I hope it goes ok for you and all heals well and quickly Shelly. Got to watch myself!

Corey

[Andy Hoyt]

I've had my heart skip a beat or two as a result of being very focused on what I was doing and unaware that someone had entered the shop until they were quite close. Either their words or movement would finally catch my attention and then I'd have to catch my breath.

I now have a bell - one of those hand held choir bell things - that lives on special shelf just outside the shop and so close to the door knob that it's impossible to miss. There's also a sign instructing visitors to crack the door and give the bell a good ring regardless of noise or other activity (or the absence thereof) prior to entering.

The bell is high pitched enough that I can clearly hear it over any machine made noise. It has proven to be quite effective.

[Larry Fox]

I have had two minor accidents and one which ALMOST happened to my son - and had it resulted in injury it would have surely ended my woodworking.

Mine:

1) Routing a small piece and router grabbed it and finger came into very brief contact with bit. Small cut, nothing more than a bandaid.

2) This was far worse than the router one and was sheer stupidity. I had cut a tennon and was dry fitting it into the mortise. It was WAY too tight and I had to persuade it to even seat up - mistake number 1. Well, I had to get it out to trim it and was wiggling it back and forth making no progress. So, I decided to put the mortise piece on the floor and stand on it and pull up on the tenon piece - while leaning over it - mistake number 2. Well, with considerable force the tenon let loose and the board came up and busted me square in the mouth. Nasty cuts on both inside and outside of lower lip and a loose tooth or so.

3)
My son:

He was about 3 1/2 at the time and in the shop for whatever reason. I had to make one cut on a small piece of plywood. I told him to put on my safety glasses and ear "muffs" and stand well out of the way. I was making the cut and he became interested in something on the other side of the room and got up walked behind me. I turned my head to direct him back out of the way. Needless to say, head turns body turns, body holding wood so wood turns. Blade caught it and threw it in a trajectory directly past me. It flew right in front of him and slammed into the wall behind me with considerable force. By the grace of God it missed him. As I type this, I am physically sick to my stomach thinking how close it was. With the benfit of hindsight he should not have been in the shop at all while any work was being done. He likes to be in the shop with "the old man" - which I am very happy about - but we should have just sat on buckets and drew pictures on scraps of wood or something.

1 and 2 are ok - I am ashamed of the third.

[Dan Larson]

First of all, I want to wish Shelley & Matt speedy recoveries.

Although I'm relatively new to woodworking, I'm no stranger to power tools. No power tool accidents to report, thankfully.

For my day job, I work in an environment that presents many more potential safety hazards than the woodshop. Because I want to live to become a crusty old fogie, I've learned to very carefully manage risk. The most important thing to remember is that you're never too experienced, too clever, or too lucky to get hurt. NEVER let down your guard. I'm reminded of this reality every time I look at the big scar on the palm of my left hand that I aquired early in my career.:(

Many thanks, by the way, to Shelley & Matt for sharing their unfortunate experiences with us. By stimulating a number of outstanding threads about shop safety over the past few days, you've helped us all become better woodworkers.

Dan

[Frank Hagan]

Mine was 8 stitches in the knuckle of my left index finger. I learned how to hold something so the chisle doesn't hit my left index finger if it slips. Since then, I've been trying to learn things without pain involved!

I don't consider the minor stuff anything but regular life ... splinters, skinned knuckles, abraded skin (belt sander!), and that sort of thing don't count. I figure if you bleed, or have to go to the ER, then its an accident!

[Paul Comi]

Threads like this in which people's injuries from table saw kickbacks and router table injuries are discussed I belive have saved me from serious injury so far. I'm a self taught woodworker who has had a home shop for 3 yrs and the only injury so far was a pretty strong kickback when a board flew off my table saw and smacked me in the ribs giving me a nice black and blue bruise and scaring the heck out of me.

Up until that time, my unisaw was without a splitter just like I saw Norm Abrams do but I ordered a zero clearance insert and a micro splitter that night and have not had a kickback since. I am religious about using a splitter in the saw unless I've got the dado blades in it or have my sled or other device on the saw and the splitter gets in the way. The micro splitter to me is a minor inconvenience that has made woodworking definately more safe for me.

I've learned that when woodworking, do not wear long sleeves or loose jewelry that can catch on spinning tools and the one thing I did get from Norm is to always wear my safety glasses or at least some glasses when doing woodworking. I must admit that when I turn on the table saw, bandsaw or any of these stationary tools I can't help from imagining the possibility of hurting myself and that reluctance I believe is a healthy respect for the tools. It seems so commonplace for old woodworkers I knew growing up to be missing fingers etc and I don't want to be one of them.

[John Hart]

Most of my injuries have been with hand tools and nothing major. Have had several minor injuries with my power tools but nothing that a bandaid would'nt take care of and was ALWAYS due to my inattentiveness. I am extremely lucky in most cases that it wasn't worse. I am always on the lookout for a feeling of complacency...then I stop and take a breather.

[Matt Meiser]

abraded skin (belt sander!)

I forgot about that. My Jet belt sander has gotten me about every 6 months since I got it. I'm usually fine when using it, but you have to reach around back to open and close the built-in blast gates, and the one for the belt sander portion is WAAAYYYY to close to an exposed portion of the belt. Every time it happens, I say I'm going to build some kind of guard, but then I forget about it for another 6 months. Of course proper safety probably indicates that I should shut it off when I do this, but I usually remember after switching from belt to disk or vise versa and have a big cloud of dust in my face.

[Bill Lewis]

I am glad to say that I am one of the fortunate ones to never had serious accident while perfroming woodworking, house construction, home remodeling, Scuba diving, auto repairs and restoration, metal machining, firearms, or high explosives. This is not to say that I haven't had my share of cuts, scrapes, burns, splinters and minor bruising with any of the aforementioned.

The only time I had to get stiches were two incidents. both were when I was very young, and both involved X-Acto knives while model building (though several years apart). I think these two battle scars were all a part of of and early and ongoing education on self preservation.

Sometimes though all you can do, or plan for just isn't enough. Recently I gave myself a cut while squaring up some mortices with a new blue marples chisel. I was using my thumb to guide the side of the chisel, and I found out just how sharp the side of the chisel really was. None of my old chisels had sharpened sides! It was just another reminder that sometimes it really is the unexpected and unforseen that'll get you. Oh, and the cut, though a little worse than average, it nothing serious, just a bandaid to fix it, definately not a candidate for stiching up.

[Michael Gabbay]

Knock on wood..... :) I have only had one minor accident with kick back. I was ripping a piece of 8/4 mahagony that was 10' long. I was only taking off about 1/4" and the pawl on the saw guard was not able to hold onto it. It kicked out and gave me a very nice scrape, cut and bruise on my forearm. It shattered into a houndred pieces when it hit the concrete wall behind me.

I had a close call on the router table with a dado bit. That was just after Alden said "make sure you don't dovetail your finger". That was a stupid mistake, no feather boards.

Mike

[Byron Trantham]

I've had one very close, very serious [potentially] and two hits. The first one was beyond stupid. Several years ago I was using my contractor's saw, the dust collector was going the saw was going and I had my monkey ears on. For what ever reason I walked behind the saw (still running) and stuck my arm into the back of the saw! I still don't know why I did that but I did. The blade hit my watch and broke the crystal. That was it. NEVER LEAVE A TOOL WHILE IT'S RUNNING!!!

The next one happened several years later, a year ago last October. I ran my left thumb into a a spinning TS blade while cutting down a small piece of wood. I was home alone and bleeding like a mug. I called 911 and they were there within a couple minutes (happened to be in the neighborhood). They talked with me for awhile to make sure I wasn't in shock. I drove myself to the hospital. Damage was minimal but painful.

The last one (operative being LAST) happened six weeks later! Similar problem only this time I got my left index finger.:eek:

Both events were the result of simply not paying attention. My mind was on the next step instead of what I was doing. A year has gone by since the last accident but I really THINK about the potential problems before I commit to an action. Simply put, I don't put my body in close proximity to any running blade!:mad:

One thing I do now that I put off in the past, is use feather boards and push sticks.:rolleyes:

[Bob Oehler]

Hi
I consider myself very lucky in my shop. I treat all tools with respect and a little fear on the power tools side. So far except for a few blisters from pushing my smoothing plane. (I have big hands and the meat of my hand rests on the sole of the plane and just rubs.) I have had no accidents in the 1 year 2 months I have been working in my shop.
I have a small farm and somone said always be scard of your tractor.:D
This also holds true for motorcycles if you feel comfortable and confident on your bike it is time to sell it. :rolleyes:

My 2 cents
Bob Oehler

[Mike Forsman]

To date I have not had anything more than minor cuts and nicks. However, I have had some close calls. One of which caused me to evaluate how often I unplug the power tools. My teenage son and I were making a decorative bird house for LOML. His teenage friend was in the shop with us (had gotten permission from the friends mom before he was allowed into the shop). We had just about finished up the project and needed to cut off a dowel to make the perch. Someone leaned the long remainder of the dowel against a mobile tool that had been moved out close to the table saw. We were across the shop when the dowel slipped enough to fall down and hit inside of the power on button on the table saw (Delta Unisaw) which then started the table saw. The chances of that happening would seem really small (if I tried, I most likely couldn't make it happen). I hated to think what might have happened if one of us had been standing by the saw or if something else would have gotten into the blade. So, my new rule is use the tool, and then unplug the tool. A few more plug/unplug cycles, but in my shop it seems worth it.

As to teaching shop classes in the schools, I live in a school district that still has a group of shop classes. Both of my high school aged boys are or have been in shop. This includes wood shop and welding shop. My problem with the wood shop is that the only real tools they seem to focus on is the CNC based wood cutting. While I realize that CNC is the direction that many bigger commerical shops are headed these days. I don't have one in my shop and my guess is that most other home/small woodworkers don't either. My thought is safety on a CNC machine is much different than safety on most of the tools that we have in our shops.

[Don Baer]

They only major injury that I have every had around power tools didn't happen in a wood working shop, it was a metal working shop. It happened over 20 years ago and I had installed a digital readout on a large (100") horizontal boring machine for a customer. I was teaching the operator how to use the DRO . The machine was turned off and I was holding a 6" diameter end mill in one hand explaining how to use cutter compensation. The cutter slipped from my hand and like an idiot I tried to catch it. The thing weighed a several pounds and on its way past my fingures if took a chunk of flesh from my left index fingure. It required 16 stiches to close it up. To this day that finger is narrower then the one on my right hand and the because of nerve damage that was caused I still don't have proper feeling in that finger. The moral of the story is you can't be too careful around sharp things.

[Bill Lewis]

Don, that reminds me of an old saying "never try to catch frying pans or knives"

[Barry O'Mahony]

I have a small farm and somone said always be scard of your tractor.:D
The expression around here is "pasture pizza". That's not what you want to end up being. :eek: Always use that ROPS and seat belt.

[Shelley Bolster]

I got the OK from Tod Evans to repeat a story he told me about one of the more serious accidents he had while woodworking. This sent chills through me because on more than one occasion I have found myself doing the same thing......But for the Grace of God!

Seems he was bent over raising the blade on his TS a bit while the the saw was running. Unfortunately for him, there was a piece of wood on the saw and as the blade rose up, it grabbed the wood flinging it straight into Tods cheek leaving a gaping hole requiring over 30 stitches. :eek:

Like I said...this story did sent a chill through me as I am sure it is to some of you.......because it is something most of us have probably done at least once. Thanks Tod for allowing me to tell that story.

This is exactly the reason for this thread....stories like this that stop and make us all think. Until 10 days ago, I would have been in the group of WW's that have never had an injury with a power tool........like several my worst accident involved a Blue Marples freshly sharpened chisel and my finger. I too had a healthy "respect" for my power tools and I was even a little smug at the fact that with the number of hours I spend around power tools, I had never had an accident. Well, now I have and although I am hoping and praying that my fingers will eventually work again, they will never look the same......the scaring is always going to be with me. 99% of the time I was a safety freak......it was that 1% that got me so folks, yes, it really can happen to you. I think with all the above accidents the one thing that we have in common, (other than most if not all could have been prevented) is that you can not possibly move fast enough to avoid them.......they happen is a slit second. The only way to prevent the same from happening to you is to first accept the fact that you can indeed be a statistic...the moment you walk into the shop, you are that much closer to having an accident.
So, as you are trying to finish up your holiday gift list this season, take a moment when you first walk into your shop to remind yourself to Work Safely.

[tod evans]

for all you folks who don`t know my backround i started woodworking in the early `70s some of the shops i worked in still had machinery running off jack shafts, built long before such things as guards were incorporated in their design. safety was the responsibility of the person running the machine, not the machine manufacturer. i still run some of my machinery without guards and will most likely do so `till i die. this is what i am comfortable with, i`m not sugesting that any of you follow suit! i have numerous scars from my own stupidity, no direct contact with powered cutters knock on wood!! the cheek incident did convince me to wear eye protection and i do so now. the majotity of my scars are from wood flying out of a machine back into me. machines are much safer today than they were years ago but the potential for throwing wood exists with any power tool so please be aware of this hazzard as well as spinning cutters. a chunk of maple in the face hits as well as the best sucker punch i`ve ever taken. be safe, tod

[Gary Herrmann]

So far, I've been lucky. I listen closely to my little voice. When something feels dangerous, I don't do it.

Recently, I was tapering some legs on my TS (using one of those little hinged aluminum jigs), ran it through with no mishaps, but just didn't like how close my hands were to the blade. Took the other legs over to the bandsw and felt much more comfortable.

I've had a couple kickback incidents with figured cherry. On the worst, I used a splitter and a featherboard. The internal stresses must have just pushed the cutoff piece enough to have it shoot out the saw and put a big dent in the closet door 15 feed behind me. Very glad I was standing to the left of the blade.

I will say that after what I've read about magnetic featherboards and the griptite fence, I think I'll be picking up a set of those for my new TS.

I have a number of injuries from years of sports. Bad right shoulder, 3 knee surgeries and 2 cracked vertebrae (car accident).

I also cut my hand very badly when hiking once. As I pulled my machete, it cut right through the edge of the sheath into my hand. If that blade had been powered, I'd have no fingers on my left hand. So maybe those things combine to make me paranoid about bits of carbide spinning around at several thousand rpm...

[tod evans]

hey guys we do better than 10% voting for a looser every four years! are there only a few of us that have gotten bit? or are the rest of you just not interested in seeing what the overall picture is? tod

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Only had a few nicks and cuts and mostly those with blades that are still and sometimes not even installed in the saws. Of course I work with power tools every day, so the safety conciousness is there every day.

[Jeff Borges]

I am a framing carpenter by trade, knock wood I have all 10....two serious injuries (by MY standards.. I am careful ..first.. was framing a wall.. wasn't watching how close the back of the nail gun was getting to my other wall...sent a 16 penny nail into my left hand, about 1/2 inch left sticking out... needless to say.. that was odd looking..

the other.. I was using my fairly new Jet contractors table saw..cutting raised panels.. fingers only protected by the panel... the fence moved.. panel kicked back into my shoulder...(*^%(*&%*)*&&((@#* and took about an 1/8th inch of the tip of my thumb.. didn't even know I was cut till I saw blood.. ironic thing was.. I saw a review of the same saw.. the magazine had ranked it second among the bunch.. mainly.. because the fence moved during testing... go figure...

anyhow.. I am typing with 9.975 fingers.. so I am happy :p

so many others said it.. I will too.. know your tools.. stop working when tired.. a clear head is the safest tool we have..

Now.. about those frosty beverages......

[Brad Tallis]

I don't enjoy reading about the injuries in this post, but I do enjoy reading them because it helps me learn.

The only major accident I had in my shop was on the lathe. I was turning a large chunk of alabaster and had got the wall thickness pretty thin. I always use a full face shield when turning alabaster (it's made of stone, not Nerf!).

Anyways, my wife came out to ask me a question. I figured it would be a quick "yes/no" type question, but it ended up being a longer conversation. I couldn't hear her well, so I took the face shield off, but had not turned off the lathe (it wasn't spinning all that fast). Anyways, about 2 minutes into our conversation, I heard a loud bang and suddenly felt "wierd". The bowl had exploded on the lathe and a large chunk hit me in the side of the face.

I went to say "ouch" and found that my teeth were rubbing against each other. I had broken my jaw clean through. The worst part was the fact my wife saw the whole thing...

So, after 2 hours of surgery, a titanium plate, a few screws installed, and my jaw wired shut, I learned what happens when you don't take the 1/2 second to flip a switch to turn off the lathe.

I sustained nerve damage that still bothers me today in my face. I can't feel my face in the lower right jaw.

Brad

[Ian Barley]

I have fortunately never had a siginficant injury in the shop. I nearly typed "luckily" as my third word but I think that attributing to luck might just be a dangerous trait in this respect.

I am always conscious of safety and have recently started, and have promised myself that I will maintain, a "near misses" book, The idea is that writing the details of a near miss makes me reflect on what caused it to happen with the hope of avoiding it again. I know its not an original idea but when you are your own one man safety committee things like this tend to be ignored. What is a near miss? Well for one its anytime that I feel the breeze off a moving tool, or when I have to reach for a band-aid for anything other than a splinter or anything that makes you catch your breath and feel you have just been lucky.

I had a reinforcement of how easy it is to get complacent and then injured at the beginning of the year. I was good at walking down stairs. Done it loads of times and certainly didn't need any safety equipment or to concentrate on what I was doing. Then I slipped, fell badly (carrying a 1 year old - who was fine) and broke my ankle in three places. 3 months incapacitated probably walk with a limp permanently. The point is that it is easy to get into the same mindset with a machine as I had with the stairs - I try now to be as respectful of the machines as I have become of stairs.