First things first. Working with metal involves a significant amount of risks. Please read the following information thoroughly before using the metal workshop facilities. Do note that reading these instructions does not mean one can use the metal workshop without approval from Fellesverkstedets staff.

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Clothes

Working with metal can be dirty. Some materials have a protective oil coating, others might have some rust on it, and grinding metal also creates fine dust, ... All of these things will show on your clothes. In addition, working with metal can involve working with things that have sharp edges.

Oil, rust, sharp chips, dust take a toll on clothes

For these reasons we highly recommend using clothes that can get dirty, are strong and durable and don’t easily catch fire. Jeans or thick 100% cotton usually does the job.

Metal can be quite heavy. Consider using safety shoes to reduce risks involving heavy things falling onto your toes.

Finally, make sure you don’t have anything hanging loose that could get caught in machines. This includes chains, necklaces, rings, long hair, too loose clothes, etc.

At Fellesverkstedet we also have working/welding jackets available if you’d like to use them.

Personal Protection Equipment

Safety glasses

A big chunk of metal processing machines and tools create shavings and particles which can be extremely hard and sharp. You don’t want to get these in your eyes, neither directly from the machines or by accidentally rubbing it in your eyes. Always wear safety glasses tight to your head to minimize the risks. Fellesverkstedet provides these for all users at the workshop.

Safety glasses

Hearing protection

Some machines at the metal workshop produce noise which can cause hearing loss (+85db) over longer periods of exposure. It’s recommended to use proper hearing protection available at Fellesverkstedet to prevent hearing loss: ear plugs and ear mufflers can reduce the amount of decibels up to 28db.

Ear plugs

Ear mufflers

⚠️ Important to know: Noise canceling head sets or ear plugs you would normally use for listening to music will not protect your hearing from noises unless specifically designed for it. Use dedicated hearing protection to stay safe.

Face shield

If you want to protect yourself more from potential sparks flying in your face and bouncing below your safety glasses, or if you have corrective glasses, you can consider using a face shield. Especially when using angle grinders it’s recommended to use the face shield to protect your face and eyes from sparks or in a worst case secnarion a grinding disk exploding.

Face shield

Gloves

⚠️ WARNING: Using gloves at the metal workshop is a bit of a debated topic, make sure you know when and especially when NOT to use gloves before wearing them.

Gloves can protect you from risks in certain situations while they can expose you to other, potentially bigger dangers in others. Below is a summary of the purpose of two types of gloves commonly used at the metal workshop.