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Faceshields (accident report reprint with permission)

Mike Jones

Mike Jones

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Turning

Subject: accident *PIC*
Posted By: Adrien <[email protected]>
Date: 8/29/2013, 9:01 pm

I was wearing my Trend Pro helmet.
I’ve no memory for the two days after the accident.
Apparently I had the lathe set for high speed, and the 15” platter broke
Into four separate pieces.
One went into the shop window.
Another went through the helmet and into my skull, through two layers of bone.
The black cover of the helmet just flipped off, the remaining material
was not strong enough to block the piece of wood. Whether the Trend
gave partial protection is uncertain, but the injury I incurred was close to fatal
and the helmet did not really protect me.
I’m going to follow Lynne Yamaguchi’s idea and get a ballistic face shield.


Adrien's photos did not cut and paste here, but you might visualize a Trend-Pro Air shield with a through-and-through hole just above the line of attachment of the clear plastic shield and large enough to stick your thumb into.

My note to all woodturners: The ANSI z87 Standard Designation is primarily for goggles and safety eyewear and is not designed to prevent injury from flying chunks of wood. The "headgear" of most face shields sold to woodturners are not even tested, let alone rated. Please do not be emboldened by a false sense of security when you get your face shield on.

Mike Jones in Redding, Ca
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mike give me the link to the photos and I will post them in your post. I can grab them.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3
Kevin said:
Mike give me the link to the photos and I will post them in your post. I can grab them.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Kevin...... http://www.woodcentral.com/woodworking/forum/turning.pl/page/2/md/read/id/470618/sbj/accident/
 
Thanks for sharing, Mike.
 
Wow - I have one of these helmets... while it never emboldened me to do something I would not do without it, I did believe if offered some level of protection. This is a very eye opening post Mike. Thanks for sharing.
On a different note - where does one procure a ballistic face shield ? and why do they make them? and who in the hell tests them? :sarcastic:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6
NYWoodturner said:
Wow - I have one of these helmets... while it never emboldened me to do something I would not do without it, I did believe if offered some level of protection. This is a very eye opening post Mike. Thanks for sharing.
On a different note - where does one procure a ballistic face shield ? and why do they make them? and who in the hell tests them? :sarcastic:
Click to expand...

Scott, I've done a short search session and have found some promising possibilities keying "riot gear" "tactical gear", and "surplus tactical gear"...but nothing definite yet. Let us know if you have some luck!
 
I have a basic face shield from the big box store, I have had chunks of bark and wood hit the shield pretty hard and made me happy I was wearing it. When turning some things that are a little questionable I try to stand off to the side and not directly in the line of fire. But reading this thread now has me questioning my shield. :dunno:
 
Thanks for the link and notice, Mike. A little further down in the original thread, the author posted a photo of the platter he was turning, and it was a suspect piece of wood. Unfortunately, I have a real affinity for turning pieces very similar to the one he showed. I also got the impression that the piece exploded when he turned the lathe on possibly because the speed was set far too high for the blank he was turning.

It's a good reminder to stay out of the line of fire, assume every piece of wood is potentially problematic, and always check the lathe speed before turning the machine on.

I've got the same helmet he was wearing, and I'll admit that I don't wear it as often as I should. I'm glad(and frightened) to know that the helmet is not offering a sufficient level of protection for something like that.
 
DKMD said:
Thanks for the link and notice, Mike. A little further down in the original thread, the author posted a photo of the platter he was turning, and it was a suspect piece of wood. Unfortunately, I have a real affinity for turning pieces very similar to the one he showed. I also got the impression that the piece exploded when he turned the lathe on possibly because the speed was set far too high for the blank he was turning.

It's a good reminder to stay out of the line of fire, assume every piece of wood is potentially problematic, and always check the lathe speed before turning the machine on.

I've got the same helmet he was wearing, and I'll admit that I don't wear it as often as I should. I'm glad(and frightened) to know that the helmet is not offering a sufficient level of protection for something like that.
Click to expand...

David - I thought about you when I read this. To have been a platter it had to have been a suspect piece of wood or the world worst catch. You are the lord and master of suspect wood... Be careful. We can't be getting these pictures of YOUR hamlet...:negative:
 
I sell some wood to a few guys from the local turners club. There has been a surplus of turner wood for quite a while here though. The biggest hoarder in the club had a giant piece come off his lathe. He did not survive the mistake. We all must be careful because the nature of our hobby???/ obsession has it's hazards. Then again driving or living has them also....... BE CAREFULLLLLLLLL
 
Thanks for the reminder. I had a piece fly off the lathe Monday. Scared the bejesus out of me. It always does. We all get complacent at times.

Think Back about 3 weeks ago when nywoodturner (Scott) almost lost a finger at the bandsaw. This should be a reminder to us all to be vigilant and to not cut corners when it comes to safety.
 
Mike1950 said:
I sell some wood to a few guys from the local turners club. There has been a surplus of turner wood for quite a while here though. The biggest hoarder in the club had a giant piece come off his lathe. He did not survive the mistake. We all must be careful because the nature of our hobby???/ obsession has it's hazards. Then again driving or living has them also....... BE CAREFULLLLLLLLL
Click to expand...

Agreed; you can never be too vigilant regarding safety. Prior to turning I check the wood for fractures / checks, etc. followed by hand turning prior to powering up the lathe, and stepping to the side of the headstock staying clear until its safe to start turning. I wear a standard face shield with safety goggles. This latest news has caused me to take a different look at ppe. Early research provided a couple offerings for "ballistic grade" shields but these are only half shields. So far I haven't found anything in safety offerings that really stands out; most manufactures recommend wearing safety glasses under the shield which raises the question; what impact will it take before failing? Just a thought, my ice hockey helmet is fitted with a clear face shield which has survived a respectable # of direct hits from pucks and hockey sticks. I'm not about to wear it in the shop, but I think this same technology could be applied to woodturning protection. I will keep searching
 
Thanks for posting this. I got a catch and made a 12" bowl explode on me Monday. One piece went straight down and another bigger piece went straight up and hit the 12' ceiling in my shop. Thank goodness I was standing off to the side. All I've got is a box store shield and was actually wearing it. Doubt it would have done much good if I were looking down over the piece though.
 
Mike Jones said:
My note to all woodturners: The ANSI z87 Standard Designation is primarily for goggles and safety eyewear and is not designed to prevent injury from flying chunks of wood.
Click to expand...

There is the Z87.1 standard and the Z87.1+ standard.
Without the + the faceshield must withstand a 1" diameter ball dropped 50" without the shield breaking. No velocity test.
If it is + rated the + will be embossed in the shield during manufacture.
With the + it must withstand a 1.3 pound pointed object dropped from the 50" AND a velocity test of a 1/4" ball at 100 mph.

I have + rated Dewalt saftey glasses that I wear with a light weight "chip" shield for very small items. For most turning I have a modified V50 shield (withstand 17 caliber fire).

Here is my modified with ear and neck cover removed.

Face Shield.webp
 
Are these viable options?
http://fl-int.com/Ballistic_Face_Shield.html
http://www.galls.com/paulson-riot-face-shield
http://www.galls.com/CGBCSTYL?PMSTYL=TE141

I wonder if one could retro these with the trend-pro air filtration. The best thing about the trend pro is the forced, cool air... which makes me 10x more likely to use both impact protection and respiratory protection... but I'm disturbed it may not be adding much impact protection.
 
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