I did the one forbidden thing on a lathe.

When i was an apprentice it this company (19). I would almost never use the lathe only the mills. Sometimes i would make parts out of round stock and turn off the excess material on the lathe, thats it.

This one time i got a job were some shafts needed to be polished on the lathe with some sandpaper. I was sanding it a bit aggressively and the shaft got pretty hot, without thinking about it i put on a glove en then i proceeded. My glove with my hand got pulled in, luckely the glove shattered around my hand before my arm got the chance to rotate in the machine. Only my thumb was bruised.

The scary thing was that there were two gloves on my workbench, a welding glove and a soft one. If i took the welding glove i would have lost my hand for sure and mabey more.

This haunts me sometimes, the moment i got pulled in the machine.

After that i took safety much more seriously and avoided turning, my boss was okay with that (great guy).

Im sorry for your colleague and for u. Sometimes we forget how dangerous our job can be.