On Sat, 5 Mar 2005 08:40:52 -0500, "Dennis Slabaugh, Hobbyist
Woodworker" wrote:

Most employees are trained to wear personal protective equipment. Many think
they are a bother and complain that they are "More dangerous". The key is to
get glasses that fit and are comfortable and are able to be worn ALL day.
Not just when you THINK you might need them, because you will be injured
when you are not wearing them during a task that you did not THINK you were
going to get hurt.

Comfortable protective equipment is always a problem. Back when I did
carpentry full-time I wore a hard hat all the time - it was
comfortable and no big deal to put on. Likewise the steel-toed boots.
Ear protection came close, we used muff types, but they were always
kept with the tools, so when you grabbed the saw you grabbed the
muffs. For a long time I actually had a pair of muffs threaded through
my hard hat suspension so they went on with the hard hat. Not always
best to wear them all the time, but worked when you ran power tools
most of the day.

Eye protection has always been the big bugaboo. I wear glasses and
there just aren't any good forms of eye protection that are
comfortable for long-term wear. Any type of goggles will fog up with
the slightest exertion, not to mention the amount of distortion they
offer. Face shields are a real pain except in specialized applications
like turning. I never did find a good compromise other than
polycarbonate lenses in the prescription glasses - they just get so
scratched in a week or so that they are useless, and there goes a
couple hundred dollars on new lenses.

Dust protection is another difficult one, especially for those of us
of a hirsute inclination. Dust masks work OK for most stuff, but you
have to get to some real dollars to get something that is useful for
organic vapors. Generally you are looking at either a hood type
arrangement or something blowing filtered air past your face and
hoping the pressure differential will keep the nasties away.

I understand those who don't wear safety gear, because most of it is
awkward, but I don't sympathize when that decision leads to injury.

--
"We need to make a sacrifice to the gods, find me a young virgin... oh, and bring something to kill"

Tim Douglass

http://www.DouglassClan.com