Welding Tips and Tricks

How many of you have an AED (automatic electronic defibrillator) in your safety kit at work?

It's an expensive item that we, as a family company, could not afford. Then, we were purchased by a large corporation, and their safety department demanded we have one.

In November, it saved my friend's life, in the middle of the shop floor.

Steve S

Steve,
We do not but have talked about getting one for a while. We "technically" are not required by OSHA to have one as we are under 10 employees but $1500 is well worth it when you can save someone's life.

I am glad you have a AED and apparently and I assume received the required training. That is the other thing about having a AED. OSHA requires a few to be trained in its use and I know that some employees do not want that responsibility.

Great topic Steve.
-Jonathan

We had two people trained on the AED, but when this incident happened, our corporate safety man was visiting, so his skills got put to the test. When things go wrong, sh!t flows UPhill...

Joe just collapsed, without a sound or warning, and Kevin, one of our qualified first responders noticed it immediately. This was a good thing; He flagged me immediately, and I busted into the office, told them to dial 911 and what was up while he gave first aid. Eric, the safety man, was out there with the AED pretty quick, and they got it set up. That machine zapped him three times before the EMS arrived, who zapped him three more times with the appropriate medicines. He was semi-conscious when he left.

We were told outright that the AED and our quick response are the only reason Joe didn't die on the floor in the middle of the shop that day.

Steve S

Good for you and your team! It makes you feel good when you are successful in an actual crisis. I am one of the first responders, and the Safety Director. Which most dont know. Thankfully we have not had any accidents besides your common cuts.

At least everyone knew what to do. I have been in several situations where the others I was around froze and didn't know what to do. It is advisable to practice letting each take charge in a mock problem. It opens up your eyes to what needs to be done in an emergency.

I still say we should have a Safety section on the forum.....
-Jonathan

I have to say, I was pleased in the final analysis that no one panicked, and everyone contributed in some way, even if something as seemingly simple as clearing a path wide enough for a gurney, or heading to the street corner to direct the ambulance.

I also have to say there was luck involved... as we've expanded, we're in two buildings. It's just as possible he'd have been doing the same task in the back building, and might not have been noticed for as much as 20 minutes, by which time he'd have been stiff.

It reminds us all to "be our brother's keeper", and be aware of everyone around us.

Steve S

I'm with Jonathan.

Without getting all crazy about it, a safety section on this forum would be a good thing. Case in point; a recent poster implied that his welding and grinding area was indoors, in a carpeted area.



Kym

Okay, that's two votes, with one from a moderator...

We'll have some discussion, and see if we can make it happen.

Maybe right at the top of "welding discussion", so it's item one?

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:Okay, that's two votes, with one from a moderator...

We'll have some discussion, and see if we can make it happen.

Maybe right at the top of "welding discussion", so it's item one?

Steve S

Item One = safety first, makes sense.

I don't think it will ever be one of those sections that really hums, but I can see any entries therein being valuable reference. Lightbulb moments can save lives.



Kym

Steve, good to hear your coworker got the proper help...well done

Maybe under the new saftey topic there should be a this happened to me. I had to take the shield off of a 4-1/2 in grinder to get it into position under a tank and grind off a couple of tacks. It was a brand new 3/32 thin wheel and as soon as it touched the first tack it exploded. I felt it hit my glove but didn't realize the shrapnel went through. Had to have a hand surgeon look at my finger he said if it wasn't for the gloves I would have cut the tendons. I got by with 6 stitches.

Josh -

I think the 'this happened to me' idea is great, too. Talking safety theory doesn't engage people, but a practical example of 'I did this, this happened, here is a photo of the result' get attention - instantly it becomes a somehow more real lesson.

Your example is a good one...safety gear minimises harm.


Kym

The only negative potential I see with a Safety section is offering legal advice so to speak in the form of opinion. I would like to see posts of this happened to me, watch for this or that, and if questions arose only OSHA law, or local law, is cited so no one gets in trouble.

That aside, safety is no joke for sure. Better to warn the members here 1000 times not to remove our guard on the grinder or wear safety glasses than have something happen and wish we had.
Jonathan

We have these mounted on the walls throughout our buildings.
We also had to take mandatory First Aid courses as well.
It costs far too much to replace people.
Our policy is safety first.

Otto Nobedder wrote:How many of you have an AED (automatic electronic defibrillator) in your safety kit at work?
It's an expensive item that we, as a family company, could not afford. Then, we were purchased by a large corporation, and their safety department demanded we have one.
In November, it saved my friend's life, in the middle of the shop floor.
Steve S

The beauty of the modern day defib units is they basically tell you what to do. And contrary to popular opinion they will only deliver a dose to a patient to re-establish a correct cardiac rhythm and not start a heart that has stopped beating. But.. they can and do save lives as you have witnessed first hand. So glad to hear your story has a happy ending Steve.

And a "look what happened to me or look how stupid I was!" thread would be beneficial I reckon.

Flo

OzFlo wrote: And a "look what happened to me or look how stupid I was!" thread would be beneficial I reckon.

Flo

Pretty sure we already have a thread on this, can't find at the moment.

I am an office worker and they have them in virtually any facility I go to. I have been contemplating getting one for home. To me it just makes sense. I have a burglar alarm, dogs and guns in case of "police" type of emergencies. I have fire extinguishers, fire alarms, and CO detectors on every level of my home for "fire" types of emergencies. I do have a pretty well stocked first aid kit, designed to handle real trauma (no band aids and ointment here, we are talking tourniquets, Israeli battle dressings, clotting agents, splints, airways, etc.). In addition, my wife and kids are CPR and first aid trained. I guess it is the former paramedic in me coming out. But being that my wife and I are into our 50's now I think it makes sense to add a defib.

i've always been respectful of those 3/32 discs, so i always wear the ppe. a while back i was under the car cutting out the exhaust and it finally happened: the disc bound up and turned to shrapnel. got a couple hits on the face shield but otherwise no worries, only the inconvenience of haviing to go get another disc.

i may have accidentally stumbled onto the key word in that story: respect. it may have been a different story without that shield, or had i been that guy with the grinder and the plastic bag over his head.

Poland308 wrote:a brand new 3/32 thin wheel and as soon as it touched the first tack it exploded.

As part of our electrical licences here in oz we have to keep up to date our low voltage rescue and cpr tickets. Cpr training has included defib for a couple of years now. Some of the training organizations say if enough people from one company attend the course they get a free defib for their work place. Many shopping centers have them on thoroughfare walls accessible by anyone. They are pretty easy to use they basically tell what to do including stand back if it intends to discharge. I can't see why most shouldn't be trained.

Kids could easy be taught at school.

They can't be too expensive. The place I work has one in every job trailer.

Steve, congrats on the save. AED's are a wonderful thing. I don't work at an particular location, but I see them more and more often in workplaces. Also, I live in rural Wyoming and my community is a minimum of 30 minutes from a Paramedic ambulance and so there have been 8 AED's strategically placed around the community in heated weather tight boxes hung on the outside of people's homes. It can take as much as 15 minutes for our FD to get to parts of our district, at least this way neighbors have a chance to defibrillate in a timely manner.

R.J.

AED,great idea.
The only other thing to add would be oxygen and first aiders trained in its use as well.
2% chance of saving a life with just cpr vs roughly 50% with trained first aiders, AED and oxygen.
AEDs are comming down in price every year and only need a monthly battery check and quick look over, oxygen is a bit more involved but no more so than welding gas. Biggest issue is cleanliness.
My last work place had AED and oxygen located on the 3rd floor near the office workers, there were up to 300 people down on the hangar floor of that building and the surrounding 6 buildings.
Apparently paper cuts are life threatening.
We did however have at least 2 first aiders per crew, when shift work cut in 1 per shift, we got retrained every year.
Steve glad to hear your incident had a good outcome.
I like the idea of a saftey / this happened to me, dont do it thread.

Cheers

We have them all throughout the company along with medical kits. I'm part of the first responder group for all medical emergencys...seen it save a few life's here.

The USAF has started to keep them on hand at all PT test events, as well as having them in the maintenance buildings for ~5 years now.


A bit of entertainment from training on them a few years back:

The trainers for the various smaller units on base were required to be certified on the use and procedures surrounding administering first aid and using an AED. Part of the training is that the person providing assistance directs someone nearby to call 911, and then directs another bystander to go get the AED.

The entertainment came when during the practice rehearsal of the process, while tending to the rescue Annie doll that had no heartbeat (gasp!) the person giving aid forgot the acronym of the device that they were supposed to direct someone to get.

One of his ever so helpful fellow class-mates in the training class held up one of the class handouts to show what he'd written on the bottom: IUD.

The forgetful trainee rendering aid sent someone to get one, and the rest of the class broke up in laughter for a few minutes.

The training was ever after stuck in our heads, even if slightly twisted.

LMAO!

I'm not sure an IUD would have helped this guy, although I suppose he might have come around rather quickly when someone tried to "install" it...

I have no doubt that training stuck with you very well!

Steve S