It's been a couple months since I have been on the pages to write a blog about the wonderful world of fabrication. I'll admit it has been a seriously busy venture maintaining the YouTube videos and entering my busiest time of the year (SEMA and FabTech season) and it is the worst possible time to get anything done in an expeditious fashion.
There is a lot of truth to what the Old Heads say, “Injuries are inevitable.” After all, I'm sitting here pounding keys on my computer instead of stacking beads on the TIG. Why? Because, I ended up in the Emergency Room the other day as a result of one of those "inevitable injuries".
I figured this would be an opportune moment to shed light on a subject that, as I have learned, all serious fabricators face. While modern safety equipment has dramatically reduced typical injures per the statistics, it is not fool proof. To date, I have had 9 procedures done to remove foreign bodies from both of my eyes. Eight of those procedures were metal extraction.
Just about everything has fallen into my eyes both with and without safety gear in use (but of course less often while using safety gear). Such is life as a fabricator. Sadly, it's so common that I know the procedure well enough to know where I'm supposed to be sitting, looking, and waiting when the doc comes in. First the eye drops, then the dye followed by the UV light, then the slit lamp (yes, I know what it's called) that painfully shines a series of bright and colorful lights straight into my retina. After the extraction comes a follow up with a specialist who scrapes my eyeball clean of rust a couple days later.
No. I'm not proud that I know all of this.
Foreign body extraction procedures are only the beginning. There are tons of typical injuries you’ll just have to learn to tolerate if you want to enter this industry.
For those of you with the guts to continue, here’s a list of common injuries you will be faced with in your career as a professional Fabricator. While practicing the utmost level of safety is always encouraged, you will inevitably be faced with some or all of these throughout the course of time:
- Burns - This is actually for that moment where the weld you are laying down is almost complete but your glove is shrinking and you can feel the blister forming over that last half inch before you vigorously shake your glove off and blow on your finger. This is the final contour made by hand grinding when you were already feeling it two radii ago. This is also that moment when you just finished a full weld, took your gloves off, and grabbed the work like an idiot. Burns are inevitable.
- Cuts - Saw blades, cut-off wheels, grinders, razor blades, sharp metal, "meat hooks" after getting strong with the snips, and just about every sharp edge WILL find your body somewhere. You can absolutely do your very best to avoid it by paying attention, but they're going to find you and they will absolutely let you know when they do. Cuts are inevitable.
- Knuckle Busts - If you've ever slung a wrench, you've likely learned about the knuckle bust. While knuckle busts mostly pertain to auto work and fab, they definitely (and sadly) have their place in the true fab world. Tightening work into a vise while your hand is sweaty will cause it to slip, thus forcing your knuckles to punch the anvil and slice them open (ask me how I know). Loosening a bolt after welding which is mechanically locked due to the heat will make you punch the fixture after it breaks loose. Knuckle busts are inevitable.
- Mystery Blood - Some Doctors would likely label this as nerve damage. This is when you're working on a piece like any other, set your tool down, and see red. We're not talking about throwing a total fit because you messed up, but more about the moment where you realized you were bleeding all over your work but had no idea you were cut. The funny thing is you will be staring at what looks like a homicide scene only to find out that there is just a little pin prick on your forearm which bled out enough to create a mess. Mystery blood is inevitable.
- Phantom Scabs - You'll find these more and more as you progress and the items mentioned earlier on this list are repeatedly experienced. This is every time you have cleaned up the layers of metal dust from your skin after a hard day of fab work. Soon, that scab will become another scar. Of course you’ll never know how it ended up there and you will swear it wasn't there in the morning. Phantom scabs are inevitable.
- Crushed and Smashed - METAL IS HEAVY!! The tools made to make cool metal stuff are heavy as well. All the steel capped boots in the world will not save your toes the day you decide not to wear them. Gloves will not protect your fingers from the wrath of the BFH during a strike. No matter what you do, you will almost always find one appendage underneath something heavy. Some causes deformity - others are nice enough to only make that part of your body turn purple for a bit. In either instance, crushed and smashed body parts are inevitable.
- Eye Injuries - Go ahead and slap those middle school science class goggles on your face. Somehow, some way, something is going to get in through there and into your eye. Even more common is the dust or dirt that falls from a chassis that sees daily use (in the automotive fab industry), or the time you left your welding hood facing down which caused the lens to collect metal dust and you tossed it on your head without cleaning it off first. The interesting part about this is it is not common to have stuff randomly fall in your eye because the reaction of blinking keeps foreign bodies out. Junk usually enters your eye after you blink and quickly try to wipe your eyes clean, which invariably introduces particles into your eye. Do yourself a favor and visit the eyewash station and clean your face before vigorously rubbing your eyes. Eye injuries are inevitable.
- Half a Breath - Strange metals that claim to be a particular grade with no certification, oils, road grime, paint, specialty coatings, metal dust, rust, and about a thousand other things are floating through the air in the average fab shop. Face it - you're not going to escape them - EVER. After a long day of work, you might find yourself a little short of a full breath of good 'ol fashioned air. While respirators and dust masks are highly encouraged to protect your lungs, they are not often used and if you chose notto ue one, you will end up spending a few extra minutes throughout your day fighting to fill your lungs to max capacity. Half a breath is inevitable.
- Metal Mouth - This is absolutely disgusting. You're exposed to metal all day. Dust, slag, dross, and even rust will end upon in your mouth. You can taste it, spit rust, and even taste the difference between A36 and 1018 steel. A regular brushing of your teeth reveals a nasty gray trail winding down the drain as you rinse and spit. Your breath is foul, you feel the grit etching into your teeth, and you tend to hide your smile at all costs. Metal mouth is inevitable.
- Iron Boogers - Gross? Yes. Common? Extremely. Ok, I know... It looks like the list is winding down and I am nitpicking at every little detail. I'm actually not. I take a lot of calls from professional and amateur fabricators alike and somehow we all end up on the conversation of metal boogers. I'll sum it up - after a long day, you can grab all the tissue you want and blow your nose like a hurricane in Florida, but you'll still find yourself taking the manual index finger approach to dig another one out after a long day of work. Metal boogers are – you guessed it! – inevitable.
Take a look at my hands (picture courtesy of Cesar, my local bar manager). I have more burn tissue, scars, gouges, and suture marks than most people my age. My scar count is unable to be tallied because one scar overlaps the other. My blisters and burns have turned into one more layer of defense before my nerves trigger me to drop something hot on the deck. The dirt stays for days regardless of how hard I scrub with the latest miracle hand cleaner, and my finger nails will never grow back straight because I've smashed them into deformity.
Is that all?
No. In my 16 years as a professional fabricator, I have not even come close to the "fab hands" level that half of my predecessors have. Introductions with those people are painful (for me). It's like shaking hands with a brick.
Keep yourself as safe as possible.
#GetStrong
— Justin the Fabricato
Injuries are inevitable. Get used to it or find another profession.
-The Old Heads