Challenge: Be a Safety Fiend!

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Gabe

You are wrong.
FIRST rules demand that you wear gloves whenever using power tools at the competition venue.
Look it up.

Gloves prevent injuries on all tools. If your gloves get caught in a power tool, then your gloves are not the correct size. A glove should fit tight (like a glove), and the extra layer of skin is better for your hand.

And FIRST safety rules are the opposite of industry rules as I understand them. Industry--if a glove (or other loose item--hair, clothes, etc.) could get caught in a tool, you don't wear it. Period. (Or else you get it out of the way.)
FIRST--must wear gloves.

I think I'd rather go with the industry standards. For one thing, I don't know of a glove that will both protect your hand and not be loose enough to get caught. For another, industry standards have been around for decades at the very least.

[artdutra04]

Okay, in the name of what genuinely is the safest thing to do I would honestly like to know the truth. I don't want to be doing the wrong thing because of false information.

I originally posted that wearing gloves while using tools such as a drill press, band saw, or table saw was dangerous, because (this is what I was taught in shop class in freshman year by a teacher who also served 20 years in industry) if the glove gets caught in the tool, it is more likely to shred into threads which get caught in the tool and "pull" your hand into the tool and cause greater damage. I was also taught that tight fitting gloves helped, but they would still "snag" in the tool nonetheless, unlike your skin, which justs cuts right through. To simplify it even more, I've was taught that anything on your hand, even rings, which can snag on the blade/bit cause much more severe injuries with cutting/drilling tools if an accident does occur than otherwise would have if no gloves were worn.

But the FIRST rule book says otherwise. I can see that this makes sense for certain tools, such as sanding, welding, using heavy/outdoor equipment, etc. where the glove would provide another layer of protection without the added risk of having it snag in the tool. I searched through OSHA's guidelines, and honestly I cannot find anything in the OSHA guidelines that says gloves must/should be worn as a PPE while using 'shop' tools such as saws or drills. I find a lot related to temperature, welding, electrical, and chemical protocols, but nothing related to cutting/drilling tools.

Honestly, I've been following the advice of my freshman shop teacher for the past four years and I haven't been wearing gloves while using cutting and drilling shop tools. But now I am genuinely confused about what really is safer (depending on which tool you are using): gloves or no gloves? (Edit: I've now been able to confirm through multiple sources that not wearing gloves is indeed safer than wearing gloves for using cutting/drilling tools. Now I kinda feel jipped for receiving negative rep (the first time ever for me!) for a post in which I was correct. Oh well, they're just dots.)

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Originally Posted by EricH

And FIRST safety rules are the opposite of industry rules as I understand them. Industry--if a glove (or other loose item--hair, clothes, etc.) could get caught in a tool, you don't wear it. Period. (Or else you get it out of the way.)
FIRST--must wear gloves.

I think I'd rather go with the industry standards. For one thing, I don't know of a glove that will both protect your hand and not be loose enough to get caught. For another, industry standards have been around for decades at the very least.

I've soaked my gloves in water and then let them dry on my hand to conform tightly and fittingly to my hands. Afterwards, only I can wear them and there's not a bit left loose. Yeah, that tight. I realize how non-conforming gloves would get caught.

[Nick Seidl]

Godwin's Law invoked straight from the thread title.

I understand wanting to be safe, but let's not be ridiculous about it. We can't live in bubbles. The ultimate safe thing would to just stay home. You know, where you can accidentally fall off the couch and get carpet burn.

The best thing to do is just think about what you are doing, and be aware of your situation at all times. That is the ultimate protection against injury. Ask yourself "How can I prevent any reasonably foreseeable problem here, and who or what around me could be affected?"

[John Gutmann]

Well, if you wanna get nitty gritty, then any gloves shouldn't get caught because you should have your hands that close to a blade/bit. But of course we all know that will never happen so, for me I wouldn't be wear gloves. Even if they are tight gloves. They restrict my sense of feel, make my hands less flexible, etc. Besides, I have good reaction time. Maybe it would be safer to get just dull tools...I have hit my hand on bandsaw blades many time and haven't gotten cut yet! Maybe we should get some officials in certain area that give safety "classes" so we don't need te rediculous rules.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by sparksandtabs

Maybe it would be safer to get just dull tools...

Also not a good idea. Any Boy Scout above Second Class rank could back me up that one of the most important rules about knives is to keep them sharp, and I mean sharp! (For a pocketknife, sharp is defined as not being able to see light reflecting off the edge of the blade.) The reason: a sharp tool is less likely to slip and fly into x item (hand, robot, computer, eye...err...safety glasses, the person in the next pit, you name it) than the same tool with a dull blade. Even a dull tool can still cut you badly, and it might even do worse damage than a sharp one.