Ok, so I just had a small fire in the shop. My own stupid fault,
inadvertently got wax on the bottom of the electro-cleaner pot, hot
plate got hot and poof, studio filled with acrid smoke. No damage
other than to my ego. But it brings to mind the necessity of watching
out for the unexpected. And to get that fire extinguisher I had on my
fit out plan. egg on face
It’s not a bad idea to do a safety review in our shops now and
again.
What do most people say when an accident occurs?? “I have done this
1000 times before and nothing like this ever happenend!” We should
all take a look at the tasks that we do over and over and make sure
that the short-cuts that we make are not putting us at risk.
Before being a stay at home mom I was a safety director and I always
told my technicians to analyze a task before they started the job
and ask themselves “what can go wrong here?” That way they could
eliminate obvious hazards and be prepared for dealing with any other
potential safety issues…ie preventing wax from getting on heat
sources but having a fire extinguisher handy just in case some wax
got on the bottom of the electrocleaner pot.
Everytime an unsafe task is performed you are at risk for injury. It
is up to you to weigh out what you would rather do… get the job
done this way or potentially injury your self. I always think about
that when I can’t find my safety glasses. I could go ahead and do
the job without them and nothing will probably happen, but if
something does, is this task something I am willing to lose my sight
over?
Stay Safe!
Casey Bowman
Ok, so I just had a small fire in the shop.
We did too. My husband was pouring silver tonight, and some molten
metal spattered from the top of the flask on the vacuum machine onto
a
pair of heavy leather welding gloves that were laying nearby. My
first question is why was he not wearing the gloves? Anyway, one
glove caught on fire in several small areas. It went out quickly, but
continued to smoke. Burning leather stinks! My husband calmly
continued what he was doing, while I grabbed a small bowl of water I
use for rinsing things as they come out of the pickle pot (no sink in
my shop). I sprinkled water on the smoldering gloves, and muttered
something about holy water. His instant reply was “Forgive me father,
for I have singe-d”…
And I had a brand new fire extinguisher sitting right out in the
open on a bench not 4 feet away the whole time. When we do those
safety reviews, we need to train our brains to respond to emergencies
correctly!!!
Kathy Johnson
Feathered Gems Pet Jewelry
My first question is why was he not wearing the gloves?
The answer to this is so obvious. He knew they were going to catch
on fire and didn’t want to be in them at the time! { - ;
Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-234-4392
I sprinkled water on the smoldering gloves, and muttered something about holy water. His instant reply was "Forgive me father, for I have singe-d"...... And I had a *brand new* fire extinguisher sitting right out in the open on a bench not 4 feet away the whole time. When we do those safety reviews, we need to train our brains to respond to emergencies *correctly*!!!
I think you got the first step right, actually it’s probably step
zero but really, never underestimate the power of not panicing.
Norah
I think you got the first step right, actually it's probably step zero but really, never underestimate the power of not panicing.
Not panicking says it all. About ten or twelve years ago I had an
acetylene hose blow. Singed off all my whiskers and eyebrows! As I
was putting out my face and turning off the tank, my apprentice came
at me with a fire extinguisher! Not in the best mood, I told her in
my loudest, and harshest voice, if you shot me with that thing I’ll
kill ya! After all these years we still get a good laugh over that
one. Needles to say we learned a valuable lesson and check all hoses
and connections often.
Safety first,
Christopher Arnett
www.christopherarnettjewelers.com
I keep a large spray water bottle handy to the soldering bench…
for those NON-Electrical fires… very handy. I’d hate to clean up
the mess from even a 5 lb. fire extinguisher!!
steve
It's not a bad idea to do a safety review in our shops now and again.
One relatively cheap little gadget that you can hang over your wax
pot is a Firestop cannister. They are made for range hoods, but they
are basically a can of sodium bicarb with heat sensitive release.
They won’t necessarily stop an intense wax fire, but will certainly
slow it down.
http://www.williams-pyro.com/managefiles/stovetop_firestop.php
is the company that makes it. Places that sell commercial grade fire
extinguishers will be be able to get it, or one of it’s kissing
cousins.
(I have a lot of family and friends that are fire safety and medical
people, so they infected me with fire safety…)
Ron Charlotte – Gainesville, FL
I keep a large spray water bottle handy to the soldering bench... for those NON-Electrical fires... very handy. I'd hate to clean up the mess from even a 5 lb. fire extinguisher!!
Consider a small CO2 extinguisher. No clean up, no danger, no
damage.
Mark Chapman