Re-evaluate our thinking (long)
Geoff Whaling
Well said Steve.
The object of our leisure pursuit is to enjoy hand wood turning to create beautiful objects. We can't do that if we are inured. Injury prevention may well be a quite selfish act for the hobbyist turner, or very good insurance for the self employed turner.
Our aim is to not get struck in the first place - do not do things that have potential to create high mass & high velocity flying objects. If you choose to perform tasks that potentially can then learn to manage hazards & risk.
Despite numerous attempts by turners who have had wide exposure to industry injury prevention / hazard assessment / workplace safety etc programs we keep coming back to the ill informed and naive notion that PPE - a face shield will some how as a last resort miraculously save a turner from their own actions that led to the creation of the flying object. No apologies for my stance on this.
Add powerful VS lathes, blanks with "natural feature" into the equation, plus a general denial or complacency about the hazards, risk and severity of potential injuries associated with hand wood turning and we generate a worrying scenario.
As many have pointed out if a turner gets struck by a flying object with substantial mass, velocity, or far worse - both, they are going to be injured perhaps even killed! Sure well chosen PPE may reduce the severity of the injury. It may also transfer the injury from one part of the body to another, say from the face to the neck & spine if a riot helmet was used. At best it may only be their pride or confidence that takes the hit.
Wood turners must be realists & accept that hand wood turning has substantial hazards, risk & in certain scenarios potentially lethal hazards. Many, almost all, of those hazards have been engineered out of metal turning by removing the operator (turner) from the source of the hazards. But metal turners still get entangled in lathes, maimed & occasionally an operator of a lathe gets killed in the workplace, despite the injury prevention programs, engineered designs etc. No safety program can totally eliminate injuries because of the subjective hazards - people - but they are proven to substantially reduce the frequency & severity of injuries.
None of the hazards we face as hand wood turners are new. They are all well known, researched, controlled even eliminated in allied trades by engineered controls etc. An example - using reverse with a threaded spindle nose!!
What we must learn & teach new turners is that yes there are hazards & substantial risk in hand wood turning if we do not manage our total work environment. Those hazards can be controlled very effectively so that the level of risk becomes acceptable.
The level of risk, the frequency and severity of injuries is entirely determined by how well we view & assess hazards; control them through elimination, substitution etc; implement controls; evaluate and review our work methods.
We control that in our own workshops. We determine our destiny - no one makes us do anything "unsafe" in our own shops.
We need to educate with programs like SAFER
See - look for hazards associated with the "work" environment, machinery, tools, blanks, products, byproducts etc
Assess - the hazard & potential harm, potential injuries, fire etc; likelihood of harm occurring & severity of consequences. Short or long term harm?
Fix - use controls to eliminate, substitute, reduce hazards & harm.
Evaluate - is there any remaining risk - how can we reduce it further.
Review - how well did the work methods & controls perform?
Some tasks even though we implement rigorous controls, can still "possibly" go haywire, and can still carry a significant element of risk (residual risk) with in some scenarios potentially lethal consequences. The turner has the freedom & choice to assume that level of risk BUT they must also take into account how their actions may potentially affect their families etc.
