Hi rangerod,

I think that depends on whether you could make it to the phone to dial 911 before you pass out and bleed to death. It would also depend on how far you would have to walk or crawl to the phone. Here's a couple of other things to consider. If you're right handed, and your right hand is torn off, you would not be able to dial the number. On the other hand (no pun intended), if your leg is torn off, you may bleed to death before you can crawl to the phone, so, you might want to keep a cell phone handy, and hope that it works inside the shop. Seriously, I don't think you'd be instigating anything if you ask the question to your superiors. You're only trying to protect yourself, and you have a very legitimate concern. Some companies don't want to pay for an extra man to be on the clock while the other one works, for the sake of having him there just in case. I know our company policy is that no one works alone in the shop, regardless of whether it is a one man job or not. I don't know at the moment whether there is an actual OSHA regulation for this or not. I'm having our safety director look into it. I will post it if he finds it. Lastly, I apologize for the opening remarks, but hey, it's Friday, we're shutting down at noon, and the boss is out.....................

Have you checked the OSHA web-site? If not they have a nice site and you can ask questions on just about any subject, go to www.osha.gov. Also I don't know what state you are in but the state of Indiana has an office called Buset which is really helpful, their web-site is www.in.gov/labor/buset.
They help and train on OSHA so maybe you can ask them.

It is our shop policy too that no one works alone. This is for the reasons you are concerned with. I know of a shop that left a man working under a truck replacing a clutch, they all left at quitting time and they came in the next morning to find him under the 18 speed transmission. Ugly site to have to find a man like this. We have the immediate supervisor stay on duty, if a man has to work over.
As for your question...I think OSHA wants your employer to perform a risk assessment and look at these possible senarios and adopt safety policies that would prevent an event like I told you about. Very likely from all the evidence (scraping marks on the concrete floor from the tools in his hands) this could have been just an injury rather than a suffication, had someone been left on duty to help this man when his transmission jack rolled over on him.
Possibly your employer just hasn't thought about your situation and you could talk to them about your concerns about working alone.

Thanks to all

I have been on the OSHA site but did not ask the question I am inquiring to, did not know they had that capability on their web site but will ask ASAP. I am in the state of California & have asked on some other boards the same question I posted here. Needless to say peoples concern was not with my safety but instead the overwhelming input from the board was "I do not want Uncle Sam telling me how many people I must have in the MY shop". This is a federal government facility so I am in a slightly different dilema. I can not belive this situation is correct due to the hazardous nature of the equipment I must work with on a daily basis. I really like what I do & where I work but I would like to get some information in case things get froggy around here.

common sense dictates never work with or around machinery alone. even if the work environment is safe and no accident happens, you could become ill or pass out for a host of other reasons. Talk to your supervisor first.Call your local osha or state reps if someone threatens your job over this.
Again I would not operate machinery alone in a shop environment. This includes welding without a fire watch or other employees around.

I ALSO WOKE ALONE I WELD AND USE A BAND SAW. I AM HERE BY MY SELF FOR 6 OUT OF EIGHT HOURS. I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU FIND OUT AND HOW IT WORKED OUT FOR YOU.