Shop safety

[VintageMusclecar]

One of my old next-door neighbors just stopped by today while I was out working in the shop. I didn't get to speak with him, but Rachel did.

Long story short, turns out he was recently working on the torsion spring on his garage door when something went awry and the spring broke free.

In the process, he lost a good chunk (literally!) of his left forearm, including muscle & tendons which his wife had to retrieve from the floor & place in a bag to take with them to the E.R.

Unfortunately they were unable to re-attach the severed sections, and as a result he will suffer significant (but not complete--thankfully) & permanent loss of use of his left arm from the elbow down.

We all tend to take shop safety for granted from time to time, I've done it several times myself--the last time having a copper air line burst free from a compression fitting while my head was about 6" away from it. I screwed up & thought the air had been completely bled from the lines--obviously it hadn't. I got away lucky with nothing more than a little rash on the side of my face from the air in the line and a little debris that made its way out in the process embedded in my cheek.

A couple of inches more to the right and I'd likely be blind right now.

Just a friendly reminder--to myself as well.

Stay focused.