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DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE AND READWITHOUT CONSIDERINGTHE SOURCE!MOVIES,TELEVISION AND PRINTED MEDIA SOMETIMES UNKNOWINGLY SHOW ABRASIVEPRODUCTS BEING USED UNSAFELY.

Have you ever watched a television show or movie and noticed an unsafe practiceusing an abrasive product? We in the Product Safety Department have seen thesemisguided and disturbing practices. In addition to our observations, we have beensent examples of articles or advertisements with technical errors. Such errors causeus great concern for the safety of the individual shown in the media,bystanders andany mislead future users.

Some examples of unsafe safety practices we have observed are:

Television shows that demonstrate conversion of products or “do it yourself” shows(motor cycles, cars, repairs, etc.) have been observed using cut-off wheels onpneumatic die grinders and un-guarded cutoff machines.

A movie showing a Type 27 depressed center wheel being used without a guard! The

spark stream makes for a great special effect. However, a Product Safety Engineerwould think,“What if the wheel broke?” We would have one less stunt person inHollywood.

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Another famous movie where the villain wanted to cut the power and phone lines toan office building; he took a gas saw and cut “live”electrical conduit. In real life, thiscould have been a real electrifying experience.

A woodworking magazine where an “expert”provided instructions on how to builda “router” which included a photograph showing a Type 1 abrasive wheel used on a

 bench grinder without a work-rest, proper guarding and improper application in theform of side grinding. The author

stated that“grinding wheelmanufacturers don’t recommend sidegrinding but I’ve always felt safe.” Itappears he knew it was wrong, but didit anyway. What he failed to tell thereader is that side grinding on a Type 1wheel is not only unsafe,but is aviolation of ANSI and OSHA safetyrequirements. A reader of this articlesent a written complaint to thismagazine. In this complaint he correctlystated that“You could put an eye out byside grinding with a Type 1 wheel.”

The last example was a famous shoe manufacturer’s advertisement that has aphotograph of a worker holding a large right anglegrinder without a wheel guard on it. They are sellingshoes “for those who grind it out every day.”However, from this photograph they seem lessconcerned with the shoe wearer’s remaining bodyparts.

What you must remember is that no matter whatyou see in the movies, on television or in printedmedia you must take the responsibility to know howto safely use tools. Sometimes, safety is not themedia publisher’s top priority. We recommend youmake the New Year a safe year and always “play it

safe at the wheel!”

For additional information on this topic or if youneed any other abrasive safety information,please review ANSI,OSHA and allliterature provided by the abrasive wheel and machine manufacturer.You may alsocontact the Saint-Gobain Product Safety Department at Tel. (508) 795-2317 or Fax.(508) 795-5120 or contact your Saint-Gobain Abrasives,Inc. representative with anysafety related questions.

Roger E. Cloutier 

Senior Product Safety Engineer 

Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc.

PO Box 15008 - M/S 413-201, One New Bond Street 

Worcester, MA 01615-0008Email: NortonSafety@saint-gobain.com