As an eyeball man I get to spend many Sundays a year taking five hour stretches of continuing education. That is just my lead-in to the subject of eye injuries and tools. Did you know that, by far, the leading tool injury that puts a person into “Emergency” is hammering? I hate to admit it, but I didn’t.
Part of yesterday’s continuing education was on tool use that put a person in the Emergency Clinic at the hospital because of their eyes. Well I tell you---after seeing a bazillion photos, scans, etc. of nails, pieces of metal, cement, glass, broken drill bits, wood splinters, pieces of chisel, etc. stuck into and through eyeballs I am ready to attach a pair of safety glasses to every hammer I own.
Many of these delightful projectiles not only went through the eyeballs, but on into the orbit and perhaps on through the bone into that mess of soft stuff, including the brain.
Regular eyewear, including polycarbonate lenses, offers only a very minor amount of protection from the flying missals. Legally and for all practical purposes, NO LENS IS A SAFETY LENS UNTIL IT IS MOUNTED INTO A SAFETY FRAME.
To be a safety frame, the frame must meet a whole bunch of criteria (fire, acid, how hard you can hit it, etc.). One of the main factors is that the lens in a safety frame must take a brutal blow before it comes out of the frame. This is because a dislodged lens makes a heck of an eyeball scoop (think ice cream scoop).
Because of exposure caused by head position, ricochet, etc. side shields are a “Must.”
I wrote this in this unorthodox manner hoping that it will stick in your mind and make you a much better, safer hammerer.
Enjoy
And keep wearing those safety glasses.
...........I want you to be able to keep reading my posts.
Jim
Moderator: I also posted this on FWW. Jim
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