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- Apr 13, 2012
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36 years in construction building houses, apartments, shopping centers, schools, all sorts of wood frame projects and I never had a serious injury.
Sure, there have been a few ladder falls, lots of splinters, I've smashed my fingers numerous times and had lots of cuts and scrapes but nothing even remotely life threatening. I've operated numerous power tools and never once had a serious injury. I've heard of guys cutting their hands with circular saws, knocking themselves out when operating a drill that gets stuck, causing the body of the drill to spin and smack them in the face. All of us in the trades have slipped off of a ladder or fell on our asses in the mud. That is part and parcel of the job....we are out there getting stuff done and no matter how safe you are, some things still happen.
For me, I had to retire to actually hurt myself.
Yesterday, I was doing something as simple as putting tools away while swapping a dishwasher here at home. I carried a few things including this angle grinder....
....when somehow I lost my grip on it, tried to grab it.....then must have pressed the trigger and cut my left bicep pretty deep. I had the wife rush me to the hospital. I was worried that I'd bleed out and die, I did not know how deep the cut was or how bad, I just wrapped a towel around it and called out to her and off we went. 6 1/2 hours later....
I was extremely lucky, I only cut tissue and somehow missed muscle, tendon and arteries. I am extremely grateful and have nobody to blame but myself, but....
This grinder....
Did originally come with a guard that would have prevented the cutting disc from touching me. Here is the way it looks when new:
The black steel guard would have hit my arm and probably prevented this. I looked a bit closer at the grinder today and while removing the guard never resulted in an injury while using the tool, it did when I tried to grab it from falling to the floor. Why is that?
Look at the way the trigger is positioned.
Almost all of the front face of it is trigger, to grab it, your fingers are likely to squeeze and start the wheel spinning. To add, the safety lock seen here...
Broke on this one and now it just lays like this:
This allows it to start just by pressing the black section. That is fine if and when you're ready for it to start which I always was until yesterday. I just wanted to warn others of this issue. I don't blame the manufacturer for ME removing the guard. I am completely responsible for that.
However....
It did not help that the trigger is so easy to engage. I got lazy and did not act with caution. This will not happen again.
Be aware of the risks when using these power tools.
Sure, there have been a few ladder falls, lots of splinters, I've smashed my fingers numerous times and had lots of cuts and scrapes but nothing even remotely life threatening. I've operated numerous power tools and never once had a serious injury. I've heard of guys cutting their hands with circular saws, knocking themselves out when operating a drill that gets stuck, causing the body of the drill to spin and smack them in the face. All of us in the trades have slipped off of a ladder or fell on our asses in the mud. That is part and parcel of the job....we are out there getting stuff done and no matter how safe you are, some things still happen.
For me, I had to retire to actually hurt myself.
Yesterday, I was doing something as simple as putting tools away while swapping a dishwasher here at home. I carried a few things including this angle grinder....
....when somehow I lost my grip on it, tried to grab it.....then must have pressed the trigger and cut my left bicep pretty deep. I had the wife rush me to the hospital. I was worried that I'd bleed out and die, I did not know how deep the cut was or how bad, I just wrapped a towel around it and called out to her and off we went. 6 1/2 hours later....
I was extremely lucky, I only cut tissue and somehow missed muscle, tendon and arteries. I am extremely grateful and have nobody to blame but myself, but....
This grinder....
Did originally come with a guard that would have prevented the cutting disc from touching me. Here is the way it looks when new:
The black steel guard would have hit my arm and probably prevented this. I looked a bit closer at the grinder today and while removing the guard never resulted in an injury while using the tool, it did when I tried to grab it from falling to the floor. Why is that?
Look at the way the trigger is positioned.
Almost all of the front face of it is trigger, to grab it, your fingers are likely to squeeze and start the wheel spinning. To add, the safety lock seen here...
Broke on this one and now it just lays like this:
This allows it to start just by pressing the black section. That is fine if and when you're ready for it to start which I always was until yesterday. I just wanted to warn others of this issue. I don't blame the manufacturer for ME removing the guard. I am completely responsible for that.
However....
It did not help that the trigger is so easy to engage. I got lazy and did not act with caution. This will not happen again.
Be aware of the risks when using these power tools.
