1. A jack alone is not enough. Your life is worth more than the $0.005 gasket holding the hydraulic pressure. Always use 3 points of contact. Jack, jackstand and a wheel under the car. Once you’ve raised and secured jt, before you get under it, shake the whole car. Try to get it to fall. If it doesn’t, as it shouldn’t, check and recheck your jack and stands. Only then get under the car. And have a spotter that can call 911 within earshot. If they need to go inside for a bathroom break, get your ass out from under the car until they get back.
2. Downed power lines can kill you without you touching them. Don’t go close. If you are close, keep feet close together and take tiny shuffle steps to get away. If you are on a piece of equipment that has touched a power line, do not get off unless you MUST. If you must, jump off, and land as far away as you can and still Landon your feet without touching your hands to the ground. Never touch both the ground and the machine.
Don’t touch a person who’s touching live wiring and needs help to remove themselves. Use something non conductive to knock them away, lumber/broom handle/etc.
3. Do not pull objects (knife, glass, splinter etc) from a deep wound. They might be sealing or slowing flow from an artery or they might cut an artery when you pull them out.
Put pressure around such an object to slow bleeding till emergency responders take over.
4. Most amateur hobbyists know this already but… do NOT fuck with the electrical systems of microwaves unless you are 110% certain the capacitor has been discharged safely. Those things can hold enough energy to instantly kill the shit out of you.
5. If you find someone unconscious in a confined space don’t go in. I’m an instructional designer who creates OSHA trainings. We’re doing one on confined spaces and my SME just told me when it comes to confined spaces deaths, there’s almost always 2 deaths. The person the initially enters and then the person who tries to save them in a panic
6. Wear a helmet in cases you need one. If you ask “Should I be wearing one?” The answer is yes.
7. Don’t fucking doubt your gut, man. intuition is a life saver in and of itself. It’s a survival instinct. Your subconscious picks up on a lot more than you realize. You may not see the danger yourself but your brain does. Trust it.
8. If a tornado looks like it isn’t moving, that’s because it’s moving towards you.
9. Sleep with you door shut. Unlike Ghosts, fire Can’t go through doors. Been to a couple house fires where one room was totally burnt up, and on the other side of the door there was just some smoke marks. More importantly, smoke only goes through doors slowly. Your chances of having breathable air when the smoke alarm goes off are dramatically higher with the door shut.
10. If you fall into water, don’t panic. You don’t have to be able to swim; you just have to float. Hold your breath and let yourself bob to the surface.
If someone is in trouble in the water, they will absolutely kill you in mindless panic. Bring something with you – a float, a rope, a towel – and use that to bridge the gap between you so you can tow the person in.
If you must make direct contact, come up from behind and slip your arm across the victim’s chest. Pull the victim’s back to your chest and keep his/her arms facing away from you. I’ve been in the deathgrip of a fat little 8 year old and he nearly took me out.
If a panicked drowner does grab you, do everything in your power to go down toward the bottom. Most will let go; that’s the last place they want to go.
Recognize that even if you are both a strong swimmer and a trained rescuer, you are still risking your own life if you go to the aid of a swimmer in trouble. Take it very seriously.
11. A few survival tips for mainly the desert but also a lot of places.
If you are lost in the desert, or a lot of places for that mater, the number one thing you can carry to increase your chances of being found is a small reflective mirror. Anytime a plane flies overhead you can reflect light towards them and you greatly increase your chances of being found. This seriously is more important than carrying more water with you (not that water doesn’t help, its just not realistic to carry that much water on your back).
Furthermore, if you get stranded in the desert with a vehicle, do not leave your vehicle to find people. You are a lot harder to see than your vehicle and your car can provide shelter (your car has some good reflective mirrors to signal with, especially the rearview mirror). People die all the time doing this, often found only mere miles from their car.
Finally, the universal sign for needing to be rescued is waving two arms up and down. If you wave only one arm to a passing plane, you will not be helped, or at least are less likely to be helped. Also, because a few people have been wondering what to do if you can’t use both of your arms, there is another universal way to signal for help that is more versatile. The way I can best describe it is three of anything quick signal. Three gunshots, three whistle blows, three flashes of a flashlight, three flashes from a reflective mirror, etc. Just make sure they are spaced widely enough (at least one second) and that you spend a considerable time before making your next three signals.
There have been many deaths that could have been prevented had this advice been followed.
12. When you’re making a turn across oncoming traffic, keep your wheels pointing straight ahead until the opportunity comes for you to make the turn. If your wheels are facing into the turn and someone hits you from behind, they will push you into the oncoming traffic and dead you will go.
13. If you find yourself hurt in a public place, direct your pleas to one person, not to the crowd cause everyone will think ”somebody else will help you”. It is called the bystander effect
14. If you think you’re being followed turn right four times. Since you’ll get to the same place they shouldn’t be following you anymore. If they do, you might be in trouble.
Since it’s a common warning that you shouldn’t go home when you think someone is following you, the smartest is to go to a police station.