Wear your PPE

[growler2058]

Gday all PPE is an acronym for personal protective equpiment.

This weekend I have been working on my beloved troll. I've spilled the claret ,smashed a knuckle and copped a few other minor injuries all in the name of DIY. However it could have been alot worse had i not been wearing safety glasses. I work in construction where PPE is a way of life even for the most innocent of jobs so it comes naturally to me to chuck the gear on. Also I've had experiences with the type of task im about to tell you about in the past so was aware of the dangers.

Getting old bearings off without a puller was the job at hand today. Bearing carriers are made of very hard steel chrome plated for added longeviety, very hard and also brittle. So after breaking a finger nail from a heavy lump of steel travelling at terminal velocity I was slightly frustrated with the task at hand, and took to it with increased vigour. Lump (mash) hammer and cold chisel. "Hitting like imeant it" as they say. Well the stubborn little bugger came off kind of like a mini hand grenade, not loud but throwing little shards of schrapnel around everywhere, striking me in the face and ear and causing numerous little blood spots. These shards are sharp as glass and a SH!t load harder. You may have seen stickers on hammers saying dont strike two hammers together or against other hardened steels, the same thing can happen. So the point I'm trying to make is no matter how small yhe job at hand is take time to think about all possible consequences. These inner bearing carriers are only about the size of a 50c piece but in the right circumstances can have devastating consequences for the under prepared.

Play it safe out there folks, our safety statement at work is IIF (incident and injury free) and its something i try to take on board all the time. Our recreational pastime of 4wding is a great way to show our kids this brilliant country we live in but can be bloody dangerous, so think before ya act and have safe fun