6 sneakily dangerous things in the garage
The garage is a space that can be many things. It can be a shrine to a favorite car or a workspace that’s chock full of tools. Depending on who you are and what you enjoy in the garage, there are a number of things that may conspire to maim and injure the relatively delicate human body. Some of those are obvious. They wear warning labels and tamper-resistant guards aimed at protecting us from ourselves. Other items in the garage are just as dangerous but come with no warning label. Like a snake in the grass, you have to be aware to even know you are in danger. Here are six of those items you might have and not even think about.
Sleeves
We all wear clothes. Okay, most of us wear clothes and all of us have likely said the old saying about rolling up our sleeves and getting to work. That saying exists for a reason. As much of a danger as it is to be working on your hot rod in the nude, it can be just as dangerous to have loose clothing on. The machines we work on are very powerful, even the small ones like cordless drills, and are capable of catching a bit of cloth and whipping it into a fury.
This is often discussed when working with big equipment like lathes or milling machines, but an alternator pulley or cooling fan is just as—if not more—powerful. Adjusting carburetor tuning or ignition timing on an engine puts us in a place where we can get pulled into things quickly if not careful. An unbuttoned flannel shirt or hooded sweatshirt with strings hanging down is just as dangerous as sleeves too, so it pays to be conscious of what you are wearing and how it might conspire to hurt you.
Chips
No, we aren’t going to stop you from crunching away on some Lay’s while in the garage, but there are chips to be scared of. Any time you are drilling or turning you are cutting away small pieces of metal that are called chips. These slivers of metal are dangerous at first because they are often hot and thrown away from the workpiece. Safety glasses are critical there. Once they hit the floor the danger is not over though. Those chips are hot for a little while, but often sharp forever. They can become prickly little tire deflators in short order if you forget to sweep up or roll a tire over them without thinking.
Heavy things up high
I’ll admit I’ve stood on a stool to grab that bin off the top shelf only to find it’s heavier than I remember when it finally slips off and all the weight is in my hands. Luckily that ended okay but it was merely luck that I wasn’t injured due to falling off the stool or dropping that bin on myself or something I care about. Garages serve as storage as much as a workspace for lots of us and while it is funny to think that the storage side could potentially be dangerous, it happens.
The fridge contents
The garage fridge is a sacred place to some. It can help lubricate our tongues until the fun stories come out around our buddies. It can also help with press-fit parts by chilling them until they shrink just enough to make popping things in place a little easier. Lastly, it can cause us to forget the basics and not respect the power of the tools and vehicles we work on. When in doubt, stay sober until the project is done and it’s just the clean-up left.
Chargers or tenders
Sadly, we are not talking Dodge or chicken here. Seasonal storage is the (unfortunate) norm for many owners and that means keeping batteries topped up so cars will be ready when driving season arrives. There is also the rising popularity of battery tools which require occasional charging to keep in working order. Leaving either of these items plugged in for extended periods is often safe as the devices have fuses or safeties built in, but those are not fail-proof.
All it takes is a battery to get overcharged, or a wire to get rubbed a few too many times and cause an arc and suddenly there’s fire. It often happens silently and causes damage quickly. Check your chargers or tender regularly to see if they are warm to the touch or otherwise defective. If possible, unplug them when not needed as it will minimize the risk of something melting down without you being there to catch it.
Air
Yes, be scared of everything! Just kidding, this is really only for compressed air. As tempting as it is to use compressed air to blow dust and debris off your skin while working, it carries risks that not all are aware of. Most air lines in shops run at least 90psi of pressure and when that is funneled through a nozzle and pointed at our relatively porous skin there is the chance an air bubble can form under our skin. That is called an air embolism and causes serious health concerns. Blowing your skin off also can force contaminates into you skin rather than off of it. Human bodies cannot process many of the chemicals that are common in garage projects so on a long enough timeline this will poison you from within.
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Of course, someone could make an argument that just about anything is dangerous and it would likely hold some truth. Anyone picking up tools and working in the garage accepts some risk but it is always best to understand the dangers you are engaging with and understand how to mitigate the risk if appropriate.
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There are so many poison fluids in the garage it would take a long time to list them. And many of them are explosive as well. I finally got used to wearing disposable nitrile gloves and even those are permeable by some of the chemicals we use.
A fellow i knew was using a tractor in a field when it stalled. He must have gotten off and checked the ignition wires, fixed whatever had come loose and then bridged the starter solenoid to get the thing running again. It started and ran him over and killed him, because he left it in gear.
That’s the problem with living. It always ends with a fatality.
Eye protection is essential around a garage…..good safety glasses with side protectors essentially when grinding or hammering …..always wear a welding helmet welding ….no cheating by looking away or closing your eyes-resulting corneal burns are very painful and subject an to infection and/or vision treating scaring……batteries are prone to exploding and eye can be seriously injuries and even blindness……all this I know about professionally as I’m an ophthalmologist having treated most of these problems.
A potentially fatal issue is working under a car on jacks or a lift ……I know at least one recently lost soul ….a professional mechanic!!!!!!
I quickly learned that a person using a motorized wire wheel should never wear rubber/latex/nitrile gloves. It took just one nip to teach me that lesson. The wire quickly engages the rubber and winds it around the wheel–pulling the fingers right into that whirling mass of wires. There’s no escape! Better leather gloves or even bare fingers for some things.
See my previous post – I NEVER put anything on a grinder or wire wheel directly by hand. I hold the item with some sort of tool that will be what contacts the spinning wheel first if something goes wrong. I want my hand to be the third thing away from the wheels, thus possibly allowing me a split second to turn loose and jerk away. Even so, I’m always on extra-high alert status when at the grinder!
When I went to Trade School, many years ago, my Instructor took us to the Drill Press. He told us of a previous student who had very long hair. He bent over to have a look at his project and the drill caught his hair. If there hadn’t been another student close by who shut down the drill, he would surely have lost his scalp.
Twenty some years ago a friend of a friend lost an eye. Was using a press to remove a bearing and the metal end on hydraulic hose exploded. No safety glasses on. Ever since that happened I use safety glasses pretty regularly around power tools. Pretty hard to replace an eyeball
tools are much like firearms, they are only as dangerous as the operator makes the;m
What an insightful column Kyle – and how about garage door springs? Can’t take them lightly either.
First thing i do with a new hoodie is cut the strings off! i suggest, don’t leave any chargers plugged in for too long. A friend almost lost his house when his kid’s radio controlled car charger or battery over heated. Closed door to the bedroom kept most of the damage contained. Still cost the insurance company 80K. Fire Department said, much more common than you would think.
Recharging my cordless tools, 3 hrs. usually is enough. I plug them into a timer set for the appropriate time and have 24 hrs. to unplug. (in case I forget them)
Interesting idea! Just use a Christmas light timer?
Kyle. There are count down timers that look like “Christmas light” timers but can be set from 12 hours or less and stay off until reset. They sell for $10 or less on EBay. I use those timers on chargers for almost anything that I don’t want be on when I’m gone.
Spoke with a friend about tool batteries a few weeks ago. His story was that he was getting the last bit of juice out of it before swapping it out. Well it exploded in his hand. He was glad he was not holding the bottom of the battery as it came out of the drill grip and was in pieces on his garage floor. Quality Dewalt tools, he was never one to question price and purchased the next grade up. Lithium batteries from the phone to your car are waiting for a charge issue or connection failure. As dangerous as gasoline. I worry about charging as well. I’m using 2 power strips fed by one 24 hour timer. The Battery Tenders can cover up two outlets as well as the flash light charger. Only charging for a few hours during the day and not at night. My last safety concern is about a 3” spot of oil or grease on the shop floor. One of the most promising seniors in my class in 72 got his dream job at Cadillac. Was asked to help push a car to a lift. Well with his back to the bumper he found the little spot of oil. His back was never the same at 19 years old. Our instructor had him comeback to speak on safety. I remember his tearful voice that day so long ago. He was one of the biggest and strongest in the class with his deep and powerful voice. Everyone be careful.
back in the early seventies I worked at a Sears auto center in Oakbrook Illinois, we did brakes, aftermarket air conditioners, front end work, alignments and installation of stereos and speakers, the mistakes made by a bunch of young knuckleheads could fill a book, some of my co workers got hurt so bad they required hospitalization, one was crippled for life, it was the most dangerous place I ever worked, a combination of kids with no experience plus a shop that was poorly maintained made for one disaster after another.
Safety glasses are definitely a big ‘yes’ regarding metal shavings and chips.
Even a small shaving (super tiny) can be damaging.
If you have a bit in or around eye and need an MRI, the magnets in the machine can pull the sliver through your eye causing massive damage.
There is a reason its a question on the MRI sheet.
Don’t put any liquid chemicals in empty beverage bottles. More than once an empty bottle of (fill in your favarite beverage) has found its way into the refrigerator. Then some one in a moment of thirst blindly reaches for that bottle and gets a mouthful or worst yet a gulp of diesel fuel, gasoline etc.
“Adjusting carburetor tuning or ignition timing…. on an engine….can get pulled into things quickly if not careful.
I was 19, one of my first jobs at Alfa-Omega in Lexington Park, MD was a tune up on a very nice big Healey. The cord on the new Snap-on timing light got caught in the fan. I held on for as long as I could before the light jammed into the radiator and the engine stalled.
Sadly I learned the hard way about static timing on 60s era British cars.
cost me 2 pay checks…but not my arm🤣
Back in high school, a fellow student weekend worker was installing tires at the Sears garage. Over-pressured one tire because the bead would not seat. Tire exploded with him over it and killed him instantly. Sad day.