IML: Safety First

So right Mikey.  Safety has to always be job #1.  I work at home along 99% 
of the time and I am forever taking measures to be sure I don't get trapped 
under something or have some other mishap that will cause the need for 
emergency assistance.  We all forget the simple things too though, like 
Thursday when I was welding something in the bench vise and neglected to 
check the work bench for flammables left over from previous projects.  I set 
some papers and rags on fire when some residue from a lawnmower gas tank was 
ignited by the welding sparks.  It was a tense few moments until I managed 
to grab the garden hose and douse the bench.  I felt so silly because that 
is such an obvious error...I got careless.  I'm glad I had this little 
reminder and nothing valuable went up in flames.

I also agree it is valuable for everyone to throw in their two cents because 
no single person knows it all BUT, there is also a time to seek the advice 
of those who have been there.  It is not always apparent, on a list like 
this, who are the seasoned veterans and who are the back yard hacks (like 
me).  Trust me, I know for one, Mikey knows his stuff.  This is not to say 
Mikey know it all or is infalable, he doesn't and he is.  This is also not 
meant to be a post about Mikey, it's a post about safety.  You can bet that 
people who have worked in the industry for many years and still have ten 
fingers and ten toes and can see with both eyes and hear with both ears have 
a good idea of what it is to work safely.

Sometimes, those of us who have been wrencing a while, tend to forget to 
point out the pitfalls that are associated with a particular project.  The 
comment was made that "I wasn't told to NOT do it."  My advice is to always 
work under the assumption that if you weren't told to DO it, then you should 
NOT do it.  You need to take that with a grain of salt of course but it 
remains true.  You can't assume it is ok just because the person or people 
giving the guidance didn't point out every possible thing that could 
possibly happen.  There are certain assumptions.  An example is, if I told a 
person to jack up the car and remove the tire.  I would make certain 
assumptions like, they will use axle stands to set the car on, they will 
chock the wheels to prevent the car from rolling off the jack, they will 
remove the rim from the car rather than prying the tire off the rim (because 
I told them to remove the tire).  Some assumptions were made, some need to 
be repeated, some need not be repeated, some often aren't but should be.  It 
all comes down to our good friend "Communication".  Mine is not always that 
great and things often end poorly because of it.

Anyway, thanks for all the good advice, people.  Thanks for letting me 
ramble.  I think this is a topic that is not discussed enough, particularly 
considering its importance.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "mike and linda sutton" <mikanlin62@charter.net>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2006 11:12 AM
Subject: Re: IML: advice - the pros and cons


In the past 8 years on the IML I have learned quite a bit about much of the
who, what, where to get a lot of valuable parts and such for our cars.
Being a mechanic by trade has made the work itself pretty much a no brainer
for me but I do understand that not everyone has acquired the methods and
skills to do their own stuff,  but thats ok.  For whatever reason some folks
just dont want to, dont think they can, prefer to pay to have it done by
someone else or just never got the knowledge and skills to do it themselves
and thats fine,  for the people who are trying to learn thats
great...knowledge is power and theres nothing better than getting
knowledge - as long as its the correct knowledge.

Point being...today some of the best possible advice you can or will ever
get in your life about jump starting was given out by someone who definetly
knows his stuff in that area.  Im not here to cause a flame war or point
fingers but I have seen a lot of anecdotal advice given out since Ive been
around here that makes me cringe to think what kind of potential damage
could result to a car, or more importantly, to the person doing the work.
Usually its things of purely mechanical nature that if done wrong generally
only result in frustration,  possibly damaged parts and lots of extra time
wasted in trying to correct a problem.  Today it was on a subject that could
very easily result in SERIOUS damage to ones person and ones car.

I used to throw a lot more " how to......" stuff out, but often found it
being debated by people who were convinced they knew better, or that the
advice they got from their nephews brother in law's neighbors paper boy who
knows a guy who had a car that was kinda like that but it was different was
better advice than mine.  So I figured that if someone wants to throw money
out the window or do it the hard way, its their choice.  Still, Id hate to
hear someone caught themselves on fire , blew a battery up in their face and
is blind, dropped a car on their chest in their driveway ( happened to a
neighbor of ours once ) or anything like that.

Folks, PLEASE,,please be careful out there.  Most of the time youll never
have a problem but it only takes once.  Your car can always be repaired
after a mistake but you only get one set of eyes, ten fingers and two hands.
I tell my students you want to leave the shop the same way you came in every
day, we should all want that.

Thanks much

Mikey
62 Crown Coupe



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