One time I was sharpening a carpet knife when the wheel caught it and flung it
right at my eyes. I was wearing a face shield which took the wicked curved blade
and kept it from my eyes - barely. It destroyed the face shield. I hung that on
the wall right by the light switch at the door and showed it to my kids a bunch
of times. They got the idea.

Many small 110V appliances have regular plugs. I bought a bunch of cheap luggage
padlocks (tiny) off ebay, drilled out one lug on each plug and clicked a padlock
into it. Kept little fingers from e.g. starting up the bench grinder. Point well
taken.

I got each of my kids their own work gloves and safety glasses. They loved 'em
and got the idea.

I kept teaching safety. They got yelled at for coming in the shop without safety
glasses.

My kids still love my shop. Here's a real recent shot of me with my daughter at
a gas welding class.

http://tinyisland.com/images/temp/Gr...GasWelding.jpg

Be patient, and love 'em even when you're yelling at 'em. Treat them with
respect and teach them with kindness. Don't bore them or lecture them, and make
them little things they can put in their room. It won't happen overnight.

P.S. My daughter is taking a minor in art metal in college now.

GWE

Bart D. Hull wrote:

Gentleman,

Just thought I'd run this past y'all. Recently got a girlfriend with 4
kids (1 Boy 4, 3 Girls 8 - 14) They
are painfully ignorant on how to be safe in a shop or garage
environment. (Had to spend Thanksgiving in the ER due to one of the
girls tipping a motorcycle over on herself and piercing her thigh with
the foot peg. Three layers of stitches later she's somewhat OK.)

In your experience how do you get these guys up to speed without them
killing themselves. If it wasn't for the lady being a really special
lady and REAL easy to look at I wouldn't bother. (She rides dirt bikes,
works on her own van, likes to travel, not afraid of anything, assists
with projects and is pretty darn smart, just to name a few.)

It is even difficult to get them to understand something as simple as
taking their shoes off in the house and put them on to visit me in the
garage. (Yep, already had one cut a foot on some metal scraps, due to
bare feet.Still have to yell at her to put some shoes on when she comes
into the shop.)

How do you teach the "common sense" a great deal of us seem to have in
this group? I never had more than some burned fingers (my fault) and got
a small scald from a bad radiator cap. (Wrong place, wrong time!) I sure
didn't need any trips to the ER before I learned.

I have a great deal of patience, but it bothers me that they
will get hurt. Only other thing is to lock them out of the garage, but
you just know they'll find their way in when I'm not there and truly get
hurt.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Bart