Prime Minister Scott Morrison diced with danger when he lifted the safety mask covering his eyes just as he unleashed a blinding flash from a welding torch
The PM wore a safety visor during a visit to a workshop in Alice Springs.
But he lifted the protective helmet moments before he touched the blazing arc of the welding torch to a metal beam.
His face was lit up with the intense white light from the searing flame which should only be viewed from behind the specially darkened screen.
Video showed a bystander desperately reaching out to try to bring down the mask but couldn't bring it down in time as the 6000C spark erupted in his face.
The Prime Minister donned PPE including a safety visor during a visit to a workshop in Alice Springs but lifted the mask as he touched the blazing arc of a welding torch to a metal beam
Seconds earlier Morrison had cheerfully assured the tradie with him 'I've done this before, up in the Hunter'
Seconds earlier Morrison had cheerfully assured the tradie with him 'I've done this before, up in the Hunter.'
'On the tools again!' he added.
Eye damage from burns is a huge risk in welding and precautions to prevent it are taken extremely seriously.
The blunder saw Morrison roasted on social media and earned comparisons with Donald Trump's defiant gazing at the eclipse without protective eyewear from the balcony of the White House in August 2017.
He looked three times, despite White House aids shouting 'don't look!'
After Morrison casually said he'd welded before, while pulling on PPE and a visor, he was asked, 'So you used to be a tradesman before?'
