Stop, drop and roll! I set myself on fire last night.
It is amazing, when there is so many things to think about and try and keep organized, how incredibly stupid one can get. After work, I started on supper, and put a pot of turnip on the stove to boil. Gary came in and we began going over some of the details on the construction and the financing that seems to be ever present and needing to be attended to. As we were talking Gary’s eyes suddenly got very large and he said “You’re on fire.” Actually, if the truth be told it was my t-shirt that was on fire not me, but I was quite oblivious to the fact that I had been leaning inches away from a burner on high. Luckily, apart from a drastic reduction in my wardrobe, no harm came from it. Gary had been holding a cup of hot tea in his hands, and I consider myself quite lucky that he didn’t throw it at me to put out the smouldering t-shirt. Now THAT would have hurt.
So much of safety issues around the site, indeed any safety issue, surround awareness, or lack there of. There are a lot of dangers at a construction site, but surprisingly, little danger if you keep aware. Its important to know where your fingers are when you are using the saw. The one thing I seem not to be aware of is where my head is, in relation to scaffolding and other hard objects. I don’t know how many times I’ve rapped my head on a particular 2X10 that is decking for a scaffold at the back entrance.
The title of this post, by the way, is from Richard Pryor, who really set himself on fire (okay, he was freebasing cocaine, not cooking turnips). He said…
“Fire is inspirational. When you’re on fire, running down the street, people get out of your way.”