safety glasses??why??

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by s_forbes

I've worked on things for long enough to realize what is the safe way to do something and what is dangerous. I work on bikes and cars and other mechanical things at home without wearing safety glasses because I know how to work on things carefully so that they don't explode and fly across the room...

You have worked on things for several years, and have accumulated several man-years of experience on what is potentially dangerous.

The industrial standards imposed for the use of safety glasses and other protection equipment is based on millions of people working in industrial environments for over a hundred years. By contrast your personal experience is 0.0000000000001% of the knowledge accumulated by the people who impose these rules.

I also sense a bit of protective ego in your post, the part of us that says "I know what Im doing, and Im carefull when I need to be carefull". This is not a bad thing, self confidence is necessary or we would never venture into a shop and use dangerous tools. But being carefull, being intelligent, and depending on your own experience is the same path that many other good people also followed, right up to the instant when they lost an eye or a hand.

Its the stuff you dont know about, the things you dont expect to shatter, the thing you never knew had a coiled spring inside that blows open in your face and gets you. Thats why many shops have signs at all the entrances: Safey glasses required beyond this point, because with all the variables that are out of your control, if you are present in that area, you are in harms way.