What are your UNIQUE TO YOU safety rules in the shop?

[Peter Kelly]

No gloves when hand feeding wood (or metal) at the machines.

[Michael Callender]

This is a great topic no one mention tablesaw blade guards

[Howard Pollack]

Never, never reach behind a moving saw blade of any sort. And, if an edge tool starts to fall off of a bench let it fall, don't try to catch it (ask me where that one came from...). I remember a teacher telling me "if it will cut wood think about what it will do to flesh."

[Tony Roun]

I adopted a “2 minute drill” that we use at work. It’s a quick checklist to ask yourself before performing a task. How can I get hurt doing this? Do I have the appropriate PPE? Am I using the right tool? Are all safety devices in place? Am I in the line of Fire? Am I rushing, tired, or distracted?

If I don’t answer these questions correctly, then I pause and adjust. It’s a great muscle memory to have.

[Larry Edgerton]

I work alone, and so after cutting a finger off when someone scared me from behind, I now lock the door when I am doing something intense.

[Larry Edgerton]

Just curious, like many other hobby woodworkers, there are some days I know my brain isn't in gear and either before or after making a stupid mistake, I make the decision not to do any more work in the shop. Pros who have a schedule to meet and have bills to pay don't have that option, or do they? What do the pros do when they realize they're not on their game today?

I have those days. I go into every day with an objective in mind, what I want to have done at the end of the day. On those days I get rid of my goal and just get done what I can get done safely. I am going through a divorce, and at the beginning I was lost and probably got 4 hours work done in a 8 hour day, but I had to keep pressing forward as my clients have expectations that have to be met. I have no debt so I could stop, but my word is sacred, so I forge on at a pace that I can handle on those days.

[Brian Henderson]

I work alone, and so after cutting a finger off when someone scared me from behind, I now lock the door when I am doing something intense.

Nobody ever steps foot in my shop but me. Ever. If they need me, they call me and I come into the house. Otherwise, it's a completely solo activity.

[John K Jordan]

Never, never reach behind a moving saw blade of any sort. ...

Do you include bandsaw blades in "any sort"?

[Jerome Sidley]

I work alone, and so after cutting a finger off when someone scared me from behind, I now lock the door when I am doing something intense.

I'm sorry this is [unwise] how about if you cut something off and EMS has to get to you Never lock yourself from help.

[John K Jordan]

I'm sorry this is [unwise] how about if you cut something off and EMS has to get to you Never lock yourself from help.

You might consider that one way is not necessarily right for every person. You may feel safer if your shop is unlocked but the situation of other people may be different. For example, I am also easily startled and it is unsafe if someone comes up behind me while I am running machinery. As I wrote earlier, I lock my shop when using power equipment.

My shop is in a rural area, in the middle of 27 acres, and behind a security gate and a field with two fences with guard llamas. The EMS, fire, police, and military are not even slowed down by llamas, fields, fences, gates, and locked doors.

[Edwin Santos]

You might consider that one way is not necessarily right for every person. You may feel safer if your shop is unlocked but the situation of other people may be different. For example, I am also easily startled and it is unsafe if someone comes up behind me while I am running machinery. As I wrote earlier, I lock my shop when using power equipment.

My shop is in a rural area, in the middle of 27 acres, and behind a security gate and a field with two fences with guard llamas. The EMS, fire, police, and military are not even slowed down by llamas, fields, fences, gates, and locked doors.

It's a double edged sword. I can absolutely see where another person startling you could be dangerous. On the other hand, isolating oneself in a locked solo environment creates it's own risk. How would EMS know to get to you if you were incapacitated in your shop? For anyone else to find you, would they have to break in?
Not saying you're wrong and definitely not trying to make you change your habits, just saying that both schools of thought carry their own risks and I guess we each have to pick our poison.

[George Werner]

I typically work alone in the shop (stand alone building about 120 feet from the house) and my wife rarely comes out without texting first. Since I'm starting our kitchen cabinet build my solo work time is coming to an end and the wife will be spending a lot of time coming and going to the shop so I bought a small lamp with a red light bulb to put in the window that I can turn on when I'm running any of the machines to warn her to not enter.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have had three injuries in 40 years of doing this for a living. Each time it was someone startling me. When I am working I am all in, and I startle easy and dramatically. I'll stick with the locked door. If I can call EMS I can unlock the door. If I die in my shop that would be just fine, but I do not want to cut my hands any more. To each his own.

[John K Jordan]

I typically work alone in the shop (stand alone building about 120 feet from the house) ... I bought a small lamp with a red light bulb to put in the window that I can turn on when I'm running any of the machines to warn her to not enter.

That's a good idea. My wife never visits but my son does. He always knocks and waits for a response even when he doesn't hear the cyclone DC running.

I suspect those who don't startle easily can't completely understand. I used to have a motion-activated sensor (from Radio Shack) that can make a gentle chime or loud beep. I put one of these in the stairwell of my basement studio when working on the computers (I only went to work on rare occasions) - startling was not dangerous in that environment except for the possible heart attack! A monitor like that might be nice outside the shop. I'm not startled by even loud beeps, just people (I have wireless driveway monitors that let me know when someone is at the gate or on the lane).

The arguments that EMS wouldn't know how to get to me if I were incapacitated doesn't make sense to me. How would EMS even know they needed to get to me? How would even family know to check unless I missed a couple of meals? (I often skip meals.) I'm with Larry - if I'm capable of calling for help I can unlock the door. If able to call but unable to move I would call family first who know how to get in and they could contact EMS. If family was not available I can give the emergency people the gate and door codes. If I'm unable to move OR call, well I've already lived a long, enriched life, more than my share.

BTW, for shop and house I use electronic locks that do not require a key but a 4-digit code typed into a keypad so I never have to carry a key. That way family and close friends can get in without first locating a key. For those who lock with a key consider giving a copy to a close friend. I have a key for the house of a friend who lives alone - so far I've only had to use it once to help him to the car to take him to the emergency room.

JKJ

[Don Orr]

Wow, this a fantastic thread. I'm very impressed that everyone is so interested in keeping body parts attached and blood on the inside. I am as well.
I have trained my wife to wait until I stop doing anything with a power tool to get my attention, as I also startle easily when I am absorbed in a task.
The 1 thing I trained myself to do-and try to instill in anyone else-is a mantra I learned quite a while ago (maybe even here @ SMC). "Where will it go if it slips?" This applies to anything anywhere-tools, knives, screwdrivers, etc. in the shop, kitchen, yard, car, etc. It takes just a second to say it to yourself and think about what you are going to do. Similar ideas have already been mentioned. This has saved me many times. Any idea how much it hurts and bleeds if you drive a rusty, dull, #2 Philips screwdriver into your palm because it slipped out of the screw? I do. But that was before I learned my mantra.

Stay safe everyone and Happy New Year!