Keep an eye on your grinder...

[D4D]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/man-blinded-in-one-eye-in-one-of-several-angle-grinder-mishaps/story-fn7x8me2-1226067617632

A spate of backyard accidents involving angle grinders across Victoria has prompted a warning from paramedics.

[gibbo301]

Bloody hell the groin ones sound bad  :'( . A mate of mine dropped his grinder and tried to catch it made a mess of his hand

[OffRoadDave]

They are dangerous indeed, I work with them every day and still vividly remember the day I caught the edge of something with a flap disc cause I was in a hurry to get a job finished before a customer arrived to pick it up, it kicked out of my hands, flipped it over on to the back of my hand and ran a trench from my knuckle to my elbow, needless to say I am pretty vigilant with my grinders these days, and customers can wait an extra 10 minutes if need be. 

[cardinal28]

So true - Being a 'Boillie' buy trade I have a huge respect for angle grinders. I am not in the trade anymore and could not even consider picking up a 9" grinder again. Bloody dangerous bits of gear. I only have a 4" grinder at home and still treat that with the respect it deserves. 
 
  Graeme K

[Barrabart]

Yep some people have very little respect for grinders, and tools in general........... amazes me how often on TV you see guys using grinders both bench and angle without any eye / face protection....  a boiler maker i worked with on a mine about 5 yrs ago told me he was working with a bloke in a very confined space and the bloke was using a cut off disc for lopping off some light steel, the needed to grind the edge off a piece of fixed steel at head height, instead of changing the disc, he used the cut off disc for a quick grind, the cut off disc blew apart and the poor bugger copped a piece of it in the throat, the bloke i worked with basically held on to him trying to stop the bleeding, he reckons the poor bugger bled out and died with in minutes before any help could get to them......... and this can happen to anyone.

[dno]

Very dangerous little critters, But i had my revenge a couple days ago when i let the smoke out of one. Seem's if they carn't carve you up they try to choke you....

[camdyson]

Not as dramatic as shattered discs, but grinders are the number one cause of all eye injuries I treat. Plain old sparks in the eye mostly. Biggest problem is the stubborn blokes who "leave it a few days to see if it stops irritating"....

It irritates a whole lot more after I've burred several days' rust out and the anaesthetic has worn off!

While we're at it, anyone who still uses okky straps is just asking for it - number one cause of serious eye injury yet they still sell them. If you own any, chuck em out and get some decent ratchet/tie down straps.

Cheers,

Cam

[MDS69]

Does anyone watch American Hotrod on channel 73 maaate.
These guys have no idea on PPE.

[DANBRI]

I've banned 9" grinders with cutting discs on many sites.

[Squalo]

I used a 9" grinder once, and once was enough.

I have two 4" grinders because I can run one cutting disc and one grinding disc, or a wire wheel and a disc simultaneously. Saves a lot of mucking around when you know what you're going to need to do, and helps prevent the "it'll be right, I'll just grind carefully with the cutting disc" thing...

Also have a ripper of a bench grinder which you also need to respect.

Eye protection every single time.

[Symon]

9" grinders have been banned on every site I've worked on.

Every tool demands respect, even the humble old screwdriver can cause a lot of damage when people don't use them properly.

[camdyson]

Gotta watch those burnt sticks too....

[Bird]

Every tool demands respect

Best answer yet.

[fitzyfootlong]

Im in the shipping container industry and we all still use grinders of all sizes, most of my customers have come off second best at some stage, including me, with a rougue grinding or cutting disk, you are quick to learn to respect them!

In asia my work has a lot of branches, my boss reckons 9 inch grinders are not used there as they hit the switch and the disk stays still and the operator spins around it 

Proper training, regular maintenance and safety inspections and clean working conditions make it a lot safer..

[Dion]

Yep they're tricky bits of gear. I hate using them though.

I've got a 9" that I used to use a lot and have slowly cut down on it's use ... It's just so useful but I don't have the confidence any more ... I should sell it and just stick with the 4".

[baldheadedgit]

I had a cutting disc shatter on me once. yep it was a nine inch.!! took a while to find the pieces that flew of,,, found a good size piece stuck in a cask of Red that was sitting on top of the fridge in the garage,,, claret running down the door of the fridge.. lucky it wasnt my claret.!!!

[austastar]

Hi,
  I had to photograph a leg that had a close encounter of the painful kind with a big grinder.
Not a pretty sight.
I have been using one with a fibre disk and now have a steel/diamond one to cut pavers with.
Lots of care and caution, eye/ear/face protection and clamp the pavers before cutting.
cheers

[listo]

Same thing happened to my old neighbours son in Roma BarraBart, he died in his mates arms at work before anything could be done. Very sad incidents that don't need to happen.
Listo

[gunna]

Something we all should be aware of Powertools & Airtools Etc Etc  can inflick terrable & Fatal injuires
Hope you dont mind a couple of Pic's of nail gun injuires
I think it should be compulsory to do at least a basic First ad course
  sheeds

[Lowndsey]

Every tool demands respect

I disagree. I laugh in the face of 1200 grit wet and dry sandpaper 

[Slipus]

Reminds me of 30+ years ago when I was an Apprentice Cabinet Maker.  Safety was unheard of. I didn't know they had blade guards till I went to college.  After the 74 flood all our pine for cover in fine silt.  So we had to sand in on a very large belt sander with a flat surface on top.  This thing ran very fast and was savage on the finger and other parts.

Anyway the boss got one of the tradesman to start sanding the cut timber but because the timber was covered in silt it didn't take long till his fingers slipped off and he sanded the top of a finger, so he refused to do and more.  The boss then got the apprentices to do it one by one till we all sanded the tops of our fingers and refused to do any more as we couldn't hold the timber any more.  He then modified the floating table so it would lift high enough to sand the cut timber safely.

Sanding the tips of your fingers burns like buggery by the way, almost as much as shooting your self with a nail gun (experience).  Nails are usually worse as they get very infected from the glue holding the nails together.


regards

Pete

[toeball]

Every tool demands respect

Will you respect me?   

[austastar]

Sanding the tips of your fingers burns like buggery by the way,

I saw an xray of a thumb full of sand bits from a sand blast cleaner.

The owner of the thumb was very touchy about any one getting within 1m of it.

cheers

[Jon]

ANY power tool requires respect and common sense.
Unfortunately Darwin award winners dont have much of either.

[Rumpig]

Something we all should be aware of Powertools & Airtools Etc Etc  can inflick terrable & Fatal injuires
Hope you dont mind a couple of Pic's of nail gun injuires
I think it should be compulsory to do at least a basic First ad course
  sheeds

your not a real Chippy until you've been to hospital to have a nail removed i'm a slow learner and have been to hospital twice now. once through the finger and another time through the back of the ankle, both done with a 3" framing gun 
the time i shot my self in the back of the foot, i was the fourth day in a row that hospital had someone in for a nailgun accident. was better then the guy in the bed next to me who'd cut off some fingers with a power saw though