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The most important thing I did as a boss was to inform all employees that Safety is First in my repair shop. It did not matter to me if you were a wily veteran mechanic or a rookie mechanic. Other than bloated insurance premiums for injured employees, it was not cool if someone really got hurt in my shop. Happily I can say no-one ever needed to go to the hospital in 25 plus years as an employer.

A few stitches were needed periodically, and as all mechanics experience, back problems were the most common complaint.

Every employee I hired had to show me how to set a lift. I wanted to see every car set uo on a lift before it was lifted for a week before I trusted that they understood how to safely set lifts. It was not personal, injured employees can’t produce. Plain and simple, I did not want to see anyone injured on the job unnecessarily..

The same safety concerns should be brought up if you do your repairs at home. Make sure the jack stands are set properly. I know every one uses jackstands, it shows a lack of smarts to work underneath a car without stands.

A few months ago I read in our local paper about a man installing a replacement engine, when the jery-rig set-up colapsed and killed him. Squashed to death. There was no one aroud to yell at for help, so he died, he did not have to die either..

There are a ton of things to be safe about when dealing with a car. Some common sense ones might be: not to open the radiator cap on a hot engine. Use your parking brake, (I recommend using a parking brake so it does not freeze to from lack of use). Most important, call a mechanic if you are not sure.

One last item I want to tell you in this GotEngines.com blog post. About 15 years ago, a friend of mine who is a top grade mechanic had a lapse in safety. He was fixing a fuel system problem under the hood af a Chevy Camaro on the engine. He bumped the starter by mistake, and the spark from a spark plug wire ignited the gas that just shot on his face. Neil was in rehab for 2 years. He will always have some extermal cosmetic issues, but I’m happy to say he returned to work as a full time mechanic when rehab was finished.