Almost lost a finger on a lathe last week because I skipped a safety check

I was running a tight deadline on a job for a local machine shop in Akron. Last Thursday around 4pm I got lazy and didn't lock out the spindle before changing a tool holder. The chuck grabbed my glove and yanked my hand in before I could react. Lucky I had the emergency stop close by and hit it in under a second. My glove got shredded but my hand just had a bruise. The foreman saw it happen and told me straight up that's the fastest way to get sent home or worse. Has anyone else had a close call like that from rushing on a Friday afternoon?

2 comments

2 Comments

shah.shane12d ago

Man I had a nearly identical thing happen on a Bridgeport at a shop in Canton about five years ago. My glove got caught on a rough edge of a tool holder and I swear my heart stopped for a second before I hit the e-stop. The only thing that saved me was I had my glove on wrong so it ripped off clean instead of pulling my whole hand in. Foreman walked over and just said "that's why we don't wear gloves on rotating equipment" like I hadn't heard it a hundred times before. It's funny how one second of being in a hurry can make you feel like a total idiot for a whole week. You still using the same lathe or did they make you take a day off?

kaimiller12d ago

Wait, wait, hold on @shah.shane, your glove ripped off clean because you had it on wrong? That's wild, like your mistake saved your hand? I mean, I've heard of lucky breaks but that's a whole other level. The foreman probably didn't even know what to say besides the usual safety lecture. Man, it's crazy how things work out sometimes.