Just came back from a refinery job in Baton Rouge, and I'm seeing a bad trend with apprentice grinder guards

I was working a turnaround at the Exxon refinery in Baton Rouge last month, and I noticed three different apprentices had removed the guards off their 4.5 inch angle grinders. One guy said it was easier to see his weld prep without the guard in the way. That's a broken leg or a sliced face waiting to happen. I stopped the whole crew and made them put the guards back on before we hit the scaffold. The foreman backed me up, but some of the older hands were rolling their eyes like I was being too careful. Has anyone else run into this on their sites, and how do you get it through to the young guys that this is not worth the risk?

2 comments

2 Comments

benclark50m ago

Man I swear every time I take the guard off my grinder I instantly forget how to use it and nearly grind my own hand off. Maybe I'm just clumsy but I need all the safety junk between me and the spinning death wheel.

sarah_mason1h ago

Good for you for stopping the crew... some things you just don't mess with. I've seen a guy get a disc shard stuck in his arm and it was nasty, took months to heal. Speed and convenience aren't worth your eyesight or walking normally. The older hands rolling their eyes are the problem too, they should be setting the example. Keep being that foreman who actually cares, it'll stick with those kids more than they let on.