Junkyard Safety

Another important aspect to yard safety is dealing with stacked cars. In this case, we've got a nice 49, 50 Ford on top of a nice 59 Oldsmobile. There could be parts and stuff that you need in here or that you want. But before you climb in, before you consider working around this, make sure the car is on there securely. And I almost never say when the cars are stacked three high that's when things started getting real sketchy. You've got 8,000 pounds on top of the roof of the car on the bottom and things can go real bad, real quick. So I usually avoid cars that are stacked three high. When they're just stacked two high like this. A lot of times you can get in get an opportunity to get some parts that you need. And actually it makes getting some of the undercarriage parts easier but use common sense when you're around it. If you have any question about it whatsoever, talk to the guys at the yard, they'll often come out and they'll take the car down for you or put it on a forklift and actually take the parts off that you need. If you need them. Whenever you're out in a salvage yard there's a lot of hidden dangers. Case where like this and in this yard in particular because we're in a not real active section of the yard. So the weeds and the burrs and all that stuff, doesn't get stamped down. So things hide in the weeds. Bumpers, axles, a whole litany of stuff is out there for you to trip on. And so be careful whenever you're walking around inside a yard like this. A lot of hidden dangers. Things you got to keep in mind is there's a lot of different lines and trees and sticks and things that also can hurt you just as badly. Also, these cars sit basically untouched for months at a time. They become the perfect habitat for rodents and small animals and insects and spiders. So you got to keep your wits about you when you're going into some of these vehicles. You don't want to just haphazardly walk in. Fortunately, we're in Minnesota. There's not a lot of poisonous creatures but we still want to be aware of them. And we don't want to confront a raccoon who's been nesting in the back seat of a 58 Chevy. There are a few rules in the salvage yard that kind of go without saying. One of those is that to never jack up a car. Basically the shop owner, the landowners don't want the liability of you putting jacks down on soft and uneven ground and then crawling underneath it. Under no circumstance should you be using a jack on any car in a salvage yard without permission of the owner? Another thing they'll never allow is usually open flames. In a salvage yard there's lots of things that can catch fire whether it be remnants of fuel in the fuel system. Usually the gas tanks are removed but there can still be a number of things that'll ignite. Upholstery, plastic parts, and a whole list of parts that could ignite with an open flame. So generally no yard will let you in with a torch to cut anything off. If you do need something cut off, go to the shop owner, the junk yard owner and they'll send somebody out and actually go through the process to cut it off with a gas ax. There's a host of hazardous materials in any salvage yard. Gasoline, antifreeze, brake fluids, all oils, all can present their own unique problems. Be very aware of any situation where you might get that stuff splashed on you or dumped on you. There's a lot of cases where somebody may empty oil into something and then leave it on top of something and you just grab it assuming it's just empty and you end up covered with oil. So think about stuff that before you touch it and be aware that there's a lot of hazardous materials inside the salvage yard No matter how safe you are in the yard. There's other people out here and as well as a yard employees. And they're doing stuff, rolling stuff over welding, cutting stuff off. Be aware of what's going on around you. Sometimes there can be a danger that presents itself that's not caused by you. So it's important to stay aware of your surroundings all the time when you're in the yard.