# Hydraulic Punch Safe Work Practice



## gnuuser (Jan 13, 2013)

generally the safe practices involve reading the manuals but rarely happens,
your safety gal has a good idea to create and train your people on them.

most often misuse of tools is a primary cause of accidents with them!
example would be trying to punch hardened steel plate with your hole punch!
its not made for such use.

one thing i could add is that components under hydraulic pressure are storing a tremendous amount of energy and staying out of the line of fire would be the primary rule
(should a part fail it will become a projectile)


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Safety tip! Don't let your testicles get caught in the thing, and if they do , don't pull the trigger. Seek help..


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

There's several pages of safety stuff in the manual that nobody reads, your company's safety lady lives for this kind of thing. 

https://greenlee-cdn.ebizcdn.com/media/C:/Users/acooper/Desktop/IM Revs/52068346REV03.pdf 

I saw a sign from the 1930's in the Hoover Dam plant, I wish I had taken a picture

*"The Most Important Safety Device Is A Careful Man"
*


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## pswarbrick0 (Apr 19, 2016)

I've used the manuals for our equipment to get a start on it. What I want to do is write a safe work practice which can apply to all small scale punch operations regardless of the manufacturer, so if we get another punch from a different manufacturer people can use the same practice. I also want to see how others describe the whole process so I can get the the simplest and most easily understood explanation on what to do. English as a second language for half of our shop guys, so while I may understand all the terms mean, my co-workers may not understand all of what is written or said.


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## pswarbrick0 (Apr 19, 2016)

I've had a bit of time to think, and I think it would help to read the manuals of similar equipment to the ones mentioned in my original post. So if anyone has different equipment to the ones I've mentioned then let me know and I'll look up their manual.


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## Nom Deplume (Jul 21, 2013)

Rule #1, put the cutter and die on the stud facing the material being punched.
Rule #2' don't try to punch material that is hardened or too thick.
Rule #3, RTFM


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

Nom Deplume said:


> Rule #1, put the cutter and die on the stud facing the material being punched.
> Rule #2' don't try to punch material that is hardened or too thick.
> Rule #3, RTFM


Especially #3 :thumbup:
If all else fails RTFM


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## pjholguin (May 16, 2014)

What did the person do to cause this?
:confused1:



pswarbrick0 said:


> Does anyone have a Safe Work Practice for using the hand operated or battery powered hydraulic hole punch like the Greenlee Gator LS100L or the Greenlee 767? I'm not having any success finding something that fits with the small scale stuff we use. Most are for things like the big sheet metal punches or bench punches. I'm looking for some good reference material for crafting a company safe work practice.
> 
> We had an incident where someone misused the Gator and sent pieces of the punch flying across the shop. No one was hurt but our safety gal recommended creating a safe work practice on top of retraining everyone on proper use on both our punches to prevent a reoccurrence.


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## RePhase277 (Feb 5, 2008)

macmikeman said:


> Safety tip! Don't let your testicles get caught in the thing, and if they do , don't pull the trigger. Seek help..


I hate it when that happens... and it happens A LOT.


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## RePhase277 (Feb 5, 2008)

People have been warned of the dangers of smoking since kindergarten for the last 50 years, but people still smoke. You can see someone splattered on the pavement everyday, but people still don't buckle up. The fact is, all the "safe work practices" you put into place won't stop stupid people from doing stupid stuff.


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

macmikeman said:


> Safety tip! Don't let your testicles get caught in the thing, and if they do , don't pull the trigger. Seek help..


"Honey....you seen my cup? I've gotta punch some holes at work today".


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## 360max (Jun 10, 2011)

What did the person do to cause this?


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## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

splatz said:


> There's several pages of safety stuff in the manual that nobody reads, your company's safety lady lives for this kind of thing.
> 
> https://greenlee-cdn.ebizcdn.com/media/C:/Users/acooper/Desktop/IM Revs/52068346REV03.pdf
> 
> ...


Pages 3 and 4 of the manual should do it.
I think you might have had a once off incident.
I wouldn't start a mandatory class until some sort of trend appears


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## chrisfnl (Sep 13, 2010)

Just a note, not sure if it's in the manual, but always take a second to see if the cutter fits into the die before using the punch...

I broke one a while back, it sent chunks flying, and it wasn't a hydraulic punch... Just regular ratchet...

Used mixed npt and metric parts (probably 20mm die and 1/2" npt cutter)

I realize not all locations are going to have mixed metric and standard parts, but we did, and they were tossed into a drawer together.


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