Safety video for ALL users of hand-held powered cut-off saws
It's amazing what a comparatively small industrial diamond saw blade can do in a hand-held cut-off saw. Fire or police rescue teams use them to cut through every imaginable type of material. Gas powered cut-off saws are found on nearly every active construction job. Both surface and underground mines either have one on site or within easy reach all the time. Geologists even use these versatile tools to be more productive. The different types of blades available for gas, electric or air powered cut-off saws make them extremely valuable tools in hundreds of applications.
A potential problem with a versatile, comparatively simple tool of this type is that many of the people that use them have never been properly trained in how, when, where and why to use them safely. Some ingenious devices have been engineered to keep powered cut-off saw users from serious injury. Unfortunately some users have employed their own ingenuity to defeat built-in safety devices.
A cut-off saw is rarely the most expensive tool on the job. But that fact is hardly an excuse to treat the investment in this tool casually. Any business owner has a right to be upset if the tools they invested in to improve work quality and efficiency are misused. That applies to all the tools they invested in from the small hand held items like cut-off saws to the biggest truck, dozer, crane or anything else.
The flip side is that if the employees assigned to use the tools have not been trained in there correct application, care and feeding, maybe it's not entirely the employees fault. Tools like cut-off saws are often available to nearly every employee on the job while dozers or excavators ordinarily don't have more than one assigned operator.
In general an employee with no experience with a cut-off saw and a need to use one may be shown how to check vital fluids, start it and shut it off. That does not qualify as training. And the person doing the initial familiarization walk-through probably was not trained either.
The solution is really pretty easy. Visit http://www.vista-start-smart.com/html/saws.htm to see a review of a neat 17 minute video on cut-off saws. Taking the time to have employees view this little program is one more step in asset management that eventually pays big dividends. Hand held gas or electric powered cut-off saws can make nearly impossible jobs possible. But like any tool they can be, and indeed are, misused and sometimes miss-applied. Not necessarily through malice but simply because of a lack of training or experience. Investing in a bit of training can make use of these tools more efficient and safer. Good training increases the value and return on investment in the diamonds in the cut-off saw blades.
