Car/truck safety precautions when working alone in your garage

[kencombs]

2 hours ago, Sniper said:

One of the things I don't see mentioned and is related.  Whenever I work on anything with my son I always make sure we both wear our PPE.  I have a metal cabinet on the wall with everything in it.  Dust masks, ear and eye protection, nitrile and work gloves, etc.  All that goes along with jack stands and the other things mentioned.  That and making sure my son gets in the habit of working safely.

Great suggestion.  And one I don't follow often enough.  Especially hearing protection.  I wear hearing aids due to a lot ofpast  factors, noise being one of them.  And nitrile gloves as none of the components used in parts cleaning, paint or other solvents are safe for the human body .  Eye protection goes without saying.  I've taken a couple of trips to the emergency room in the past due to lapses in that area.

Edited January 2, 2021 by kencombs

[Plymouthy Adams]

even better notching them at different width and depth per facial...screwing locating blocks on each side of the top 4 x 4 and be easy slip in and out from the top.....may duplicate this process for when not working on the lift.  Looking forward to getting the lift I am installing on line as it has two rolling jacks with the capacity to lift 12K on the runways when elevated.

[Art Bailey]

1 hour ago, Sam Buchanan said:

Good thread even if the baby monitors won't work.

 

I try to get these "jack stands" under the car if at all possible:

 

I like those! I'd probably want to countersink some all-thread in the 6 spots that the beams contact each other, plus Gorilla glue. Wish I had seen this before I opened my wallet for the Gray stands...

Edited January 2, 2021 by ratbailey

[Eneto-55]

On 1/2/2021 at 10:07 AM, NickPickToo said:

My dad and I work as a pair.  He watches or I watch or when were both working one is always out from under heavy objects.  May not be practical for everyone, but having a wrench partner makes the project more entertaining as well.

As far back as I can remember, even when we were just little kids, my dad would have us there with him when he was doing any work on the car or PU.  When we were really little all we could do was hand him wrenches, and I think a lot of it was that he just liked to have the company, but we also learned wrenches sizes about as soon as we learned to read anything.  Then when we were older, and working on our own projects, he would hang out with us in the shop, giving pointers & helping, too.  Often we would be out there till 10:00 at night or later, and he stayed with us.  I just lost him in December, and thinking back, it's one of the things I appreciated too little, because he had to get up really early in the morning and get off to work.  Way earlier than any of us got up to get on the school bus.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Eneto-55
correct grammar

[Oldguy48]

Rich,  Thank you for posting your article.  I always take my cell phone with me to the garage, but the baby monitor idea is something I never thought of.  And we already have one for our grandson!!  If I use it, I'll just have to be mindful of my language.

[desoto1939]

3 minutes ago, Oldguy48 said:

Rich,  Thank you for posting your article.  I always take my cell phone with me to the garage, but the baby monitor idea is something I never thought of.  And we already have one for our grandson!!  If I use it, I'll just have to be mindful of my language.

Oldguy48:  Yes I know what you mean. I will be getting my first grandchild in June.  We all know that grandpops are perfect but we do need to be careful not to influence them in the wrong direction.  Over time they will learn the bad words but hopefully not from us.  Glad that the article was useful to someone and hope that no-one ever has to resort to using them in an accident in the garage. An ounce of prevention is worth every penny that you spend even if you do not have to use the mechanism to help with the issue.

 

Another option is to use Alexa and have a station in the garage with you when working on the car so it could call your wife or even 911 or the police department

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol

[Los_Control]

I wish kids would read this and learn ... kids never listen.

Years ago when was 22 years old, worked in a Bandag retread plant. At one point we were doing 176 tires a day. High production shop.

In order to meet this production ... imagine if you will, a 30' long chamber filled with air. At 110 psi. We had 3 chambers. Takes a long time to exhaust the air out.

We would cheat and exit the air more quickly. What a noise it made ... today I need hearing aids .

 

Later I was a remodel carpenter ... and a smoker ... I hated wearing mask because could not breathe to begin with .... Imagine if you will opening walls & ceilings.

cough ... cough ... cough ... all good here boss.

 

Later, I did over extend myself carrying roof trusses ... they needed to be dropped with a crane. Result is my back is hosed ... I am permanently disabled.

 

Today, I walk into shop and put on safety glasses, wear a mask when I should. I take safety precautions every chance I get .... fact is, I should have done it when 30 years old and not start when 50 .... just my ramblings as a disabled idiot.

[Sniper]

This Dad makes his son wear the stuff when we are working together and I lead by example.  I also explain why we are doing this and some life lessons I learned the hard way, like you did too.  Whether it sticks, I dunno, but he's called me out on occasion when I forget so there is hope.

[Los_Control]

Dumb things like using a razor knife ... you pull it towards you, and you thinking ... hope it does not slip. It does and you probably need stitches.

But we knew what was going to happen ahead of time.

 

Kids, they pulling the knife, it slips ... happened so fast they no clue what happened.

Is how we learn.

 

I remember the weekly Monday morning safety meetings as a union carpenter ... think it was really just a chance to let the men get over their weekend hang over.

Ladders have always been the biggest issue.

 

Funny story ... as a finish carpenter, I remember looking out the window and a framer falling off a 6' step ladder while doing some fascia.

He actually fell off it 3 times ... uneven ground, issues ... After 3rd time, he looked like the Tasmania devil and destroyed the ladder. Was so funny to watch ... ladder spinning around and tossed to the ground. Then a big stick and beat it to submission.

Just saying sometimes we get ahead of selves ... the ladder never did anything wrong.

 

 

Work smart, work safe

 

 

[James_Douglas]

At the place out of town I have a lift. My back really likes that. But here in San Francisco I can hardly get the car up in the air before I hit the ceiling. I use my 2 ton Milwaukee floor jack under the front frame or the rear-end and I use stands. If I am going to be doing any work that would rock the car, I also pull out very large first growth Douglas Fir blocks from a BIG beam that came out of a 1922 building here in San Francisco.  In addition, I often use my Blackhawk bumper jack as well.  

 

Three things would have to fail for me to get seriously hurt.

 

As for calling for help. One could always carry your 45 Auto with you and that would get some attention....at least around here ? 

[PT81PlymouthPickup]

This thread on safety reminds me of an experience. When I was a teenager (a long time ago) I was at my buddy's house watching his dad paint a car outside in the yard. Using lacquer paint and propelling it with a propane gas cylinder because his air compressor was not working. He was doing this all the while puffing on cigarettes. Even as a dumb teenager, I thought this can't be a good place to be and high tailed out of there. The paint job was completed without incident? Lols!

 

There's probably not one of us on here that hasn't done some stupid and risky things and most of the time got away with it. I'm amazed I survived my youth.

[Los_Control]

3 minutes ago, PT81PlymouthPickup said:

There's probably not one of us on here that hasn't done some stupid and risky things and most of the time got away with it. I'm amazed I survived my youth.

Yeah am embarrassed to repeat some of them ... but if someone does learn?

I had a 1965 2door impala, Needed to change front tire. It was on a bumper jack and was yanking on tire to get it off the hub ...

It came off the jack and landed on my arms while trying to loosen the front wheel.

Turns out it landed on the tire because I never broke it loose, but both arms received road rash as it fell off jack and had my arms on tire under fender.

 

Yeah sometime I do wonder how we ever survived youth.