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Two other safety rules I observe.
1) After putting the car up on jack stands, (i.e. in the final position in which you will be working on it) always check to make sure your jack
stands aren't tipped and are resting squarely on the floor. The car often
settles and shifts as it is lowered onto the stands, and the setting of the
first stand you place can be affected by lowering the car onto the second
stand.
Since it can be hard to see under the car, I check this by placing the
trouble light on the other side of the stand, and checking to make sure I can't see any crack of light showing under any of the jack stand legs.
2) I also use a back up system of 2X12 planks, placed under the middle of each side of the car. Just go to Lowe's and get a couple 2X12 planks and have
them saw them into foot long sections. Then stack as many as will fit under
the side of the car (roughly 8) and slide them forward or back (depending if you
are working on the rear or front of car, respectively)so that they just touch
the underside of the car, with the blocks places so that the contact point of the underbody is in the center of the block as you look side to side. Also, make sure that the grain runs side to side, so that the sharp edge of the body sheet metal "tuck under" won't split the grain if the car settles.
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