Letting other people use your equipment

[dmittz]

yes, the liability issue is something to consider for sure. Although again because i'm in canada the government provides free health care so there is no medical insurance company to worry about. But there could still potenitally be liability beyond a medical bill.

This is a tough one because I like to help others that are not fortunate enough to have thier own workshop or many tools, but at the same time I don't want people hurting themselves. Suprisingly thus far I haven't had any bad exeriences with loaning out tools to people I know.

 

[Janderso]

We see the excitement on this forum when members are buying new lathes, mills etc.
This thread once again reminds us to be careful in our shops.
Most of us have seen what a spinning part/chuck on a drill press can do. A gear head lathe can kill you in a blink of an eye.
Fortunately for Chuck, his buddy had a belt driven lathe.
NO GLOVES!!

 

[C-Bag]

I only know three guys who I would let use my machine tools. One is my brother who was a machinist. Everybody else has never even asked. I guess it’s the stickers all over my toolbox that say “please don’t ask to use my tools” from SnapOn and Mac. And if I ever caught one of the three doing something stupid, they’re outta here. I was lucky my shop teachers over did it on safety. It made me super cautious about what I was doing and especially what those around me are doing. But still I witnessed some horrible injuries that guys were told not to do, one was killed.

In a big shop I could only suggest, but in my shop it’s the law. #1 nobody even comes in without safety glasses and appropriate clothing and shoes.

 

[dmittz]

I will say my uncle did show up with steel toed boots, safety glasses and work gloves. Maybe that was part of what made me think he would act safely around a machine.

My wells-index 745 is belt driven with strp pulleys and a VFD with speed control, but that didn't seem to matter in this case. Actually my lathe is also belt driven, I purposely got belt driven ones with an eye to safety/ not breaking the machine (as badly) if there was ever a screw up.

 

[rabler]

Obviously any tool can cause some damage, and I suppose there is some liability in letting someone use a fork at the dinner table, it's pretty hard to avoid potential liability in the U.S. these days. I'd rather spend my time worrying about real safety issues than liability.

I tend to assess the person pretty carefully, but I do allow a couple of other people to work in my shop. One is relegated to palm sanders and simple things. Another fellow has worked around printing press equipment and has a good mind for safety, I've let him use the metal lathe after some instruction. But, no doubt, someone who ignores my safety related advice is going out the door in a heartbeat. My father was a pathologist, I got to see firsthand the results of some stupid accidents, on the morgue table.

 

[dmittz]

This might be a good reality check for me about letting other people use poweful tools and machinery. I have a new john deer tractor arriving soon with loader, paller forks, grapple etc... that I would have been willing to let others operate if they needed to borrow it. Now, after yesterday i'm not so keen to let someone else operate a 3000lbs machine unless i'm real sure they can handle it!

Perhaps I over estimated the common sense others have.

 

[C-Bag]

Please don’t. A good friends wife was killed on their tractor while doing something they had done many times. They were pulling manzanita up and she flipped the tractor and even though it had a roll bar it killed her.

 

[Winegrower]

When I was a little kid, my father who was a toolmaker told me “these machines are made to cut metal...what do you think they will do to your hands”? That thought has so far saved me from trouble. And it’s also saved my friends, because I don’t let them work without close supervision. Hovering, really.

 

[SLK001]

On work gloves, - this is a black and white issue I'm on the black side. I won't work without them. But this complements my other policy of never getting anything - not anything - near any kind of moving item. period. I know that there are experienced guys that have hurt themselves while wearing gloves, but they'd have ripped their hands off gloves or not.

The problem with gloves, is that spun fibers, even in moderate amounts, have a tremendous amount of pulling capability - enough to pull a person into the spinning object. Flesh, on the other hand, will most likely tear and limit the injury to the tear. Rubber, or nitrile gloves will easily tear away. My problem with the rubber or nitrile gloves, is that they don't breath, so in 15 to 20 minutes, they are full of sweat (South Florida, year round).

 

[SLK001]

When I was a little kid, my father who was a toolmaker told me “these machines are made to cut metal...what do you think they will do to your hands”? That thought has so far saved me from trouble. And it’s also saved my friends, because I don’t let them work without close supervision. Hovering, really.

That reminds me of a sign I saw at a local lumber yard over their radial arm saw when I was about 10 years old. It said, "THIS BLADE SPINS AT 10,000 RPM, WHETHER YOUR HAND IS IN IT OR NOT!"