Got Digits?

 07 Dec 22:

I had a previous life as an Naval Aviation Safety Officer, and thoroughly enjoyed administering the program for several Commands. Prevention of mishaps through hazard identification was the goal, and in addition to Aviation Safety our Department was tasked with Ground and Off Duty safety education. Surprisingly, or maybe not, many Marines and Sailors experienced more serious mishaps off duty than on. 

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Drill in Saudi

I recently happened across the Naval Safety Center's Online Lessons Learned Library, and checked out a few of the offerings. 

     "The Lessons Learned Team created concise, readable (and sometimes funny) safety lessons to help Sailors, Marines, civilian employees (and their families) avoid repeating a mishap." 

One that caught my eye was Off-Duty Woodworking Mishaps. There's a lot of gotchas in the shop, and a periodic refresher of the hazards found in the shop is a good thing. Posted below is the link for the Lesson, and here are some of the author's final thoughts:

     "The shop manuals for your power tools provide a wealth of material on operating the tool correctly and safely. In order to keep your ten digits and toes, your two eyes, and your hearing, always wear your PPE. Pay attention to the task at hand. Don’t lose focus because anything could happen in a split second. Based on the data, seven Sailors or Marines will get seriously injured or lose a digit or two by one of these tools this year. If you can keep your safety discipline at work, why not do the same at home?"

Off-Duty Woodworking Mishaps: https://navalsafetycenter.navy.mil/Portals/29/Documents/LL%2018-07%20Off%20Duty%20Woodworking%20Mishaps.pdf?ver=ZZWvaHl-jeDwISyGZtmcNg%3d%3d

I think I may put Hazard Codes on my saws and drills, the table saw would have the highest hazard code of 5.7 on a scale of 5, and maybe a 3 on the circular saw. I had a 2x4 kickback once on the table saw and I got a glancing blow off my boy parts. Once I was able to get up a few minutes later from the garage floor I limped inside and laid down for a while. Skipper said I looked "a little gray." My other close call was when a compact left handed circular saw backed up towards me and snatched itself out of my hand. Luckily that cut power to the saw when my finger came off the switch. But not before the blade gobbled up the tail of my shop shirt and nicked my heavy khaki pants, inches from the femoral artery. 

I did several things wrong, I should have supported and secured the workpiece better, and I was standing behind the saw. The workpiece slipped, the saw bound, and there I was, counting fingers, toes, other parts and arterial integrity. Spurting expletives fortunately, and not blood. It was a great little saw that could cut a slight curve, but the compact size meant there was only one really good handhold. If I was investigating my own mishap, I would have found both human and material factors that contributed to the incident, identified several hazards and recommended several actions to be taken, from personal training on specific tool use, associated hazards, hazard mitigations and a redesign of the saw to add a second handgrip. 

I have a little self talk before I use certain tools now, and ladders, and appreciate the time that the NAVSAFECEN took to compile and share these Learning Lessons. I no longer own that saw, and use the kickback preventer on my new, larger table saw.

Play Smart

"Clark" Kent Lewis

Capt USMC (Ret)

Mild Mannered Boat Builder

Skipper's Rule: Don't bleed on the boat.