With you, Tim.
And state so in any classes I teach: “When you buzz in the back area, stuff is happening, and your safety glasses should be on or your first stop if you are having to borrow some from DMS.” It usually is closely coupled to “closed-toed, full back shoes; not crocks, not flip flops, are the proper attire for the whole back area where just never know what you’ll bump into.” Required, or not.
I usually add “and if you see me without my safety glasses on, tell me about it, because I’ve pulled a bone-head and need to be reminded”.
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As Chris @John_Marlow likes to remind people who are not wearing safety glasses in the workshop areas: “your vision is a gift.”
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So it seems to be the consensus that glasses ought to be worn back there at all times, as several people I respect have mentioned they do it. Why, then, are we not making it mandatory? Legit asking.
I’ll have to give you a Dallas Makerspace answer…because:
Wood Shop Committee does require them
Metal Shop Committee does require them
Machine Shop Committee does require them
Auto Shop Committee doesn’t require them
Ceramics Committee doesn’t require them
Laser Committee doesn’t require them
In other words, Committees make their own rules.
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That does track, thank you for responding.
Last one, then I’m out.
Automotive- We don’t require safety glasses in our committee area.
Also Automotive- I’m about to do something that could blind you for the rest of your life, good luck everybody else!
Is that true?
I ask because I’ve been hit in the face by all sorts of eye-damaging things, including road grime, while working on a vehicle. I’ve also been hit in the face by various eye-damaging liquids, including battery acid, while working on a vehicle. I assume, given the plethora of eye-damaging possibilities, that automotive would require not just safety glasses but side shields as the minimum.
Welding is certainly allowed in Automotive, and while ask that you be respectful to others and follow all the safety rules; those which have welded in Automotive have not had hardly any issues.
As for safety glasses, they are normally available in the Blue toolbox, but we have not made a ‘hard’ rule about their use. If someone is installing a car stereo, the risk to their eyes is limited. The following rules seems to come to mind…
- Don’t be stupid
- Don’t do things that require us to make more rules
Your safety is ultimately your responsibility, while we go over 45 mins worth of rules in Automotive 101, the reality is that we could double the ‘rules’ and still have omissions.
At this stage, we simply trying to have members adhere to the rules we have, as opposed to making more rules…
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That sounds a lot like this:
Before the meeting
- Avoid bringing issues to meetings. Solve them on your own.
- Where possible, work through the existing committees.
- Avoid making new policies.
- Avoid bureaucracy.
- Use e-mail, the wiki, IRC, Jabber, tacking notices to the wall and any other communication method to define the problem and seek solutions.
I just taught Auto 101 for the first time last week; I recommended safety glasses be used. It’s not a ‘rule’ but it’s common sense, depending on what you’re doing or what’s going on around you. Maybe not so important if you’re wiring stereo speakers, and the bay next to you is empty, but even polishing headlights would be a good reason to wear them.
“Don’t be stupid.” Should be followed by “Pay Attention”.
I may slack off at times, which is odd considering that I’ve needed to get medical attention to remove things from my eye twice. Both times I was wearing safety glasses, so forgive me if I’m somewhat skeptical. Still, I keep them close at hand and recommend them, just remember that they don’t make you bulletproof.
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I have also been hit in the face by snippets of wire while using wire cutters. I assume being hit in the eye with a small shard of sharp metal would cause damage. But I could be mistaken.
I think that all the rules from the Welding Safety class apply- no matter where you are welding at DMS; so they have rules for wearing a hood, proper clothing, and the use of a curtain to protect others.
As for safety glasses, where’s an argument that says that we should require them all the time, but it seems silly if I’m replacing a dash bulb to require safety glasses. In our own garages, we (hopefully) use common sense, so we would hope that people would work safely, but apparently common sense is not so common.
I was also reminded my speaking with a member recently, that some of our members have zero experience in a shop. Phil and I have discussed two classes to replace the current 101. One class (safety) would still be required, but then have a second- welcome to a shop class.
The way I work with tools is (in part) a product of using these tools for years. It occurred to me that this new member wasn’t trying to be a jerk, he just had no concept of keeping tools in order as he used them. A ‘Welcome to Automotive’ class would be focused more around what tools we have and how we intend to see them used.
In a similar fashion, we had a new member attempt to compress a spring with the vehicle on the lift- while it is not an uncommon practice to use the vehicles weight to compress a spring; it it normally done with wheels on the ground. This member wasn’t trying to be unsafe, but he wasn’t thinking about keeping an ‘balanced load’ on the lift.
I’m posting this, as this is part of a conversation on what should we have for Automotive training… feedback welcome…
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When welding, one should always be wearing safety glasses if possible because in the case of a hood malfunction the safety glasses at least help protect from UV and spatter. It’s part of the welding safety class at DMS that it’s required in the metal shop for this reason as well as the dust/sparks/etc from the grinding we do in there.
On a sidenote, i was in the metal shop and i saw the curtain, but i didn’t see anything to use to hang it around where i would have been welding, so i just pulled the exhaust off the car and welded it in the welding area. Is there something to hang the curtain on that i just missed?
You sure you found the right curtain? We have spark of the black (really dark green) stuff, but what we normally weld with in the auto area is some rose colored stuff (ie pink, not the green stuff).
The reason I ask is the pink/red one is on a pvc stand iirc.
I found the red tinted one, but it looked like it was just wrapped around a 2x4.
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yeah it’s not on a stand at the moment, people improvise. I had some ideas but kept finding ways they wouldn’t work and would have to be redone again. Making better temp stands is something on my radar.
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