Thread: accidents whilst welding

My worse happened about a year or 2 ago while i was welding up my job at school when a nice blob of hot weld went strate through my shoe, shoe lace then my sock and you guessed it into my foot, well did i dance
My shoe ended up on the other side of the room anyway
Havn't been flashed yet..

CHEERS TIM.

a bloke i kinda know was welding near a fuel tank when it caught alight and he was in hospital for a bout 3 months with his whole body burnt to a crisp

When I did welding at TAFE, my teacher was telling me about some bloke in America who was using a stick welder to build a trolley for his newly purchased oxy/acetylene cylinders. For some reason or another he decided to weld a bracket directly to the A bottle.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Originally Posted by disco_mitch

a bloke i kinda know was welding near a fuel tank when it caught alight and he was in hospital for a bout 3 months with his whole body burnt to a crisp

A guy I grew up with was a highly competent boilermaker-welder. He was restoring a Holden FJ ute and found a leaky fuel tank. He did all the right things. Used a high pressure hose to remove all residue, filled it with hot water and strong detergent to sit over night, blew it out again with the hose, filled it with water and put it on to boil, used the hose again, and left it in the sun for a few days before hosing it out again. Then when he went to weld the crack with oxy-acetylene it went bang. Black peeling face and ears, eyebrows and the front half of his hair gone.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

A guy I grew up with was a highly competent boilermaker-welder. He was restoring a Holden FJ ute and found a leaky fuel tank. He did all the right things. Used a high pressure hose to remove all residue, filled it with hot water and strong detergent to sit over night, blew it out again with the hose, filled it with water and put it on to boil, used the hose again, and left it in the sun for a few days before hosing it out again. Then when he went to weld the crack with oxy-acetylene it went bang. Black peeling face and ears, eyebrows and the front half of his hair gone.

Just shows how hard it is to remove the last of the residue.

We had an aircraft fuel tank that was used as a boom spray tank for over 20 years. It was put aside once we updated to modern spray gear. About five years latter it exploded from a ember out of a near by fire. Was out in the sun and a hot day.
I am terrified by old fuel containers and drums after seeing that happen.

Khos, you were probably told this at TAFE, but for the others out there, NEVER carry (in your pockets) a disposable Cigarette Lighter when welding or Oxy cutting, if a spark sets one off in your pocket it can Kill or maim you, Regards Frank.

I have only managed to light myself on fire a couple of times. The last time I accidently leaned against a fresh weld and my jacket caught on fire. Also have had the hot slag down the back of the neck a couple of times while using stick welders.

A good few years ago my brother was cutting something up with an Oxy torch and a bit of molten steel went in his ear... That wasn't good!

I have had the 'sunburn' a couple of times, trying hard to never get it again... can't be good for you!

One of my worst accidents was with an old belt drive milling machine. It was fairly late and I was on my own in the workshops back home. I was deperatley trying to get something finished, I think from memory for an event that weekend, and wasn't really thinking.

I needed to change the cutter speed, so released the motor so the belt went loose, took off the cover, and went to move the belt to the larger pulley........

That was a bad idea, as the motor was still running, and as the belt went tight it wound 3 of my fingers around the front of the pulley, stalling the motor with my fingers still there.

Luickily I managed to reach the emergency stop button and had to manually wind the pulley back to remove my hand.

Never did that again.