Hello all
This is my first post here in the forum, and I wanted to tell you that I very much appreciate the work you do and the experiences you share.
On the past I have done some little work on pianos trying to keep safe behaviors, but since I have had no formal education on the trade I think I may be missing some injury preventive measures.
Can you please share what experiences have you had with injuries at work and the way to prevent them? The most intriguing failure to me would be what would happen if the plate has an abrupt breakage of the worst case while you are working at it, and how much whipe would you get from a broken string. It will be also interesting to hear how you manage ergonomic type of injuries given the long hours on odd positions, and weigtht lifting. And finally how do you manage paint, lead, ivory, wood dust inhalation, and fire risk.
Best Regards
Krikorik

Whoa!

My job is THAT dangerous?

I gotta get me real career. Perhaps I'll start a hazardous waste removal service.

I do mostly in-home service, so the hazards are minimal. Here are a few bits gleaned through the years.

ALWAYS wear protective eyewear when stringing.

Try not to breathe hazardous chemicals or powdered mouse droppings. Wearing a dust mask is a good practice when cleaning out older pianos.

Avoid skin contact with hazardous chemicals. Surgical gloves help, but I find that they get in the way and can tear pretty easily.

To train for long hours spent adjusting various points of regulation, I ride a road bicycle, which keeps me bent over the bars... Get up and stretch from time to time.

To train for hours underneath a grand piano, I lay on my OWN floor and let MY dogs slobber me up. That way, I'm not surprised when I'm under my client's grand piano and their dog attempts to climb on board.

RPD

I find one hand cat flinging is a good skill to develop. You must aquire lighting speed to evict the offending critter from the fallboard, toolcase, bench, etc., without getting caught.

Tuning or in the shop - ear plugs.

The worst thing that happened to me was lifting a grand lid with no hinge pins, and then trying to keep it from going out the plate glass window.

Second worst was almost dropping a plate on my hand, but it missed. I did have an upright fall over on me, but that did no damage, except to my pride.

I once had an upright piano lying on its back in my shop....a great way to change the casters.
As the old casters had seized, it didn't roll away as I lowered it down.
Unfortunately, I hadn't bargained for the fact that the new casters would be very free moving, and as I lifted...OK, you guys are waaay ahead of me here....I got it to about waist height, the casters rolled a little, I lost my grip and the piano landed on my left foot.....it only hit the big toe....sounded like I was squeezing a bag of pebbles as I checked out my newly numb digit...not a pretty sight....produced a fair degree of hilarity at the hospital as I recounted the tale, ashen faced, pulling my foot out of a bucket of ice water.
This happened about 20 years ago...when I was an inch taller at 6'4" and about 225 pounds...so lifting was easy....but I never did it again...
Maybe the subconscious reason why I never work on upright pianos these days.
Just wanted to share....I can still feel it....

But seriously, we can cause ourselves injury in our daily tasks....the younger ones out there will maybe dismiss this as an 'old git' being sentimental...WARNING...
Please look after your hearing and use ear protection of a professional nature....and never change casters on your own!!

I wear safety goggles (not glasses) when working with pressurized air, bench grinders, dremel tools. I carry CA glue debonder with my glues. A good pair of tweazers for slivers, a dust mask when carding hammers and ear plugs for any loud power equipment.

Years ago I was working on the pedals of an upright with my head under the keybed and the customers 10 y/o boy and a couple of his friends snuck up behind me and gave a blast on an air horn. I usually make sure their are no comedians behind the car horn if I'm working under the hood but I never saw this one coming. I hit my head so hard that I wasn't sure if my ears or the piano was ringing (probably both). Needless to say the boys father took him out back and must have beat him like a red headed step child because the boy came up to me after, teary eyed, and apologized profusely.
I noticed the check was made out with 20 bucks extra on it for my troubles.

If you ever do work out in the country, give a few short blasts of your car horn before you get out of your car. If there are any big dogs around, it's best they come running before you get out of your car and overtake you half way to the house.

I don't know how easy they are to find, but I've used (nor for piano work of course) some really tough latex gloves that are commonly used in chemistry labs before. They are thick and tough...perfect for working with your hands. And they will protect your hands from much more dangerous stuff than ordinary tradesmen typically encounter (i.e. 9 M sulfuric acid; VERY nasty stuff).

When stringing new bass strings, we lay a sacrificial board across the plate above them as they are pulled up to tension.

Always check the leg locks BEFORE climbing under a piano. Also check for lid pins before raising.(mentioned above). Check bench bolts for tightness before sitting down. I have never experineced any of these myself..

Surgical gloves can be found in almost any pharmacy section of a larger store as can masks. Can't vouch for this particular web site because I just Googled it in and found it. http://www.surgicalglove.net/

Someone once asked me why I was wearing eye goggles while I was changing a string. As soon as they finished the question the string popped out of my hand and hit me right in the goggles. Need I say more?, I asked.

I find that my nose is plugged up at night more often after tuning old pianos. The hammers belch out dust while tuning. Who knows what is in that stuff.

I almost always get a bloody finger or thumb while hammer- voicing. Nothing major just a deep pin-prick.

Thank you all for your piece of advice. As a summary, these are the preventive measures captured from what you all have posted so far:
Wear hearing protection for tuning or when working with any loud power equipment.
ALWAYS wear protective eyewear when stringing or when working with pressurized air, bench grinders, dremel tools.
Use surgical/latex gloves for handling hazardous material.
Wear a dust mask when cleaning an old piano or making dust.
Get up and stretch from time to time during regulation
Carry CA glue debonder.
Carry a good pair of tweazers for slivers.
Make sure dogs are aware you are coming well in advance.
When stringing new bass strings lay a sacrificial board across the plate above them as they are pulled up to tension.
Check the leg locks BEFORE climbing under a piano.
Check for lid pins before raising lid.
Check bench bolts for tightness before sitting down.

I'll do my best to follow them during work
Regards
Krikorik

I find it useful to let the dogs get a good sniff. They identify others by smell more than by sight, and that is how they get to know you.