Greeting to all,
I am an instructor at a small college in MT. and I am looking for example/stories concerning jobsite/tool accidents to present to my class. I am thinking that it might help drive the point better if there is a story that they will talk about, and as hollywood knows horror/gross sells. So please, send me your stories asap, as this is the topic for next week’s class.
Thank you for all your help.
Kevin Marengo
Salish Kootenai Colllege
Pablo, MT
Replies
Did you see the article in the current JLC?
I have not looked at the current JLC but will run over to the library today, Thanks.KM
http://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/accidentsearch.html
While not as colorful as the presentaion here on Breaktime you can find all sorts of boo boos on the OSHA site.
Especially if you need them fast.
Bill,
Thanks for the reply, I had the students try to look up information on osha's site without much success, I guess i am going to have to see what I can dig up there.Thanks again,KM
I couldn't get the search to work (sounds like Prospero here at BT)
Click on the KEYWORD letters below the search fields. clicking "A" you can a list of keywords like "abdomen" click on it and you get a list of all reported incidents fatal and otherwise where someone took one in the gut. Click on one of those and you get the reported description of the incident.
TFB (Bill)
Find the recent thread, why women live longer than men. A good start and your class will be amused.
I tried to find the article about the guy who was standing under a ladder while a coworker with a nailgun descended and nailed his hat to his head when the nailer hit him. Didn't find it, but saw this
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Toothache man finds nail in skull
Posted: 01.17.2005
From an OSHA report:
Employee #1 was preparing to change blades on a skill saw. He did not unplug it. He was kneeling with the saw between his legs and using a wrench to rock the nut holding the blades. As he did so, the saw started climbing up his pants leg and lacerated his genitals.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
ouch
You thing you've had a bad day - in August the owner of a Kenosha, WI tree trimming service was pulled through - that's right, not INTO, THROUGH, a wood chipper. He got caught trying to kick a stuck log loose and the safety bar that's supposed to reverse the feed rollers didn't work. Here's a link to the newspaper report.http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=484801
Wow, almost unbelievable and tragically sad
Cliffy
I am the lead-off guy in that August '06 JLC article ("Four Foot Fall"), with the titanium and stainless sticking out of my broken arm.
I have some extra copies (free) of the mag if that would be useful, as well as more gore pix I could e-mail.
Forrest
Yeah - the kids called it "Daddy's Spring Break"!
Forrest - $26,000 to fix my arm; $175 for the article - I'll make it up on volume
i'm sure the price of arms is going up every day.my first finger accident cost me fiftyu bucks and a few days off workMy second finger cost me seventy five and a few days off workMy third finger cost me four hundred bucks and a week off workMy fourth finger - I was lucky on this one only taking a snip offf the end on the TS - only cost four fifty and I got right back to work.I don't play guitar any more but I can tyupe, sort of.For the OP, most of it boils down to be alert by getting enough sleep and taking breaks, and follow all the safety rules taught to you.
almost every single accident I have had or seen came from trying to do too much, too fast and working long hours that dulled the brain.A brain awake AND functioning is the best piece of safety equipment you can have.
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but I can tyupe
News flash to Piffin: No you can't.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
He didn't say he could type well.
And he definitely didn't say he could spell.
Ah kin so tiepe!
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Hey- I was defending you. LOL
FastEddie was the one questioning your typing abilities
Jeez Pif...you only have 6 more to go!!
two were the same finger, and the saw kerf the second time took out a lot of scar tissue from the first so it ended up in better shape than it had been for a few years once they sewed it back on and healed up
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I was wondering what the hell was wrong with yer typing! That explains it.
A. Had to take the rops/fops off dozer to change the clutch. 1974
Snowstorm, needed to pull over a couple of trees, had not yet replaced the rops/fops, figured I was using a long enough cable.
Cable was too short, git hit in head by tree which smashed face into dozer hyd controls
2 weeks in hospital, 37 skull fragments, you cna' probly tell i aint yet fully recoverd.
Moral - always use rops and fops on big machines
B. Cutting steel 2x2 cart apart with oxy/propane torch, no gloves
Cut edge fell, cantilevered backinto back of hand, 13 stitches.
Moral- be aware of where cut parts will fall and how they will fall.
A friend here was cutting a tree down, something he had done a good thousand times before, so no novice.As it fell, he killed the switch and stepped about three steps aside. The trunk fell across a small humock, enough to make it bounce up at his end and roll. Smacked him a good one in the thigh.
He hobbled into thehouse and called for a ride to the doc. nasty bruise but no break.But a week later, a blood clot gave him a minor stroke.he's up and walking again now though. talking is a little slow.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
A friend of mine was finishing some trim work at his father-in-law's house and was using a Paslode. A bad storm was rolling in and he started rushing. While he held the trim in place, he compensated for a little warpage by keeping his left hand behind the piece and shot a nail into the second joint of his index finger. The wood had split and the nail went right through. Separated the joint of the finger and since it was glue-coated, it didn't want to come out.
I narfed my left index finger with a new T&G bit on my router. Didn't hurt as much as I would have thought. Mashing my thumb with a hammer hurt a lot more.
This was posted here a while back. I liked it so much I saved it
http://www.break.com/movies/hadabadday.html
Hi, I'd din't have time to read all the posts in reply to you, but...
http://www.woodworking2.org/AccidentSurvey/search.htm
if no one suggetsed the woodworkers central page with the accident surveys your missing a good list of don't examples.
Oh let's see here....Had one guy cutting a shingled roof in pieces and the sawblade housing got clogged up with roofing tar and materials. He set it down while the guard was wedged up and it ran over his foot.
Had a framer recently locate a stud behind a sheet of plywood with his hand so he could nail it. He missed and shot his thumb. Isn't that what tape measures are for?
Had a helper nail in some outlooks for me so I could get the aluminum walk plank on it to frame a shed roof over a window. Plank falls out from underneath me and I am hanging from the window sill. The gun had 8d nails in it and no one checked.
Had another guy who decided it would be a good idea to hold the metal studs against the drywall from the back side of the wall with his hand. Seems the studs were deflecting because the drywall hanger was starting in the middle of the stud. Helper ended up with a 1 5/8" fine thread screw through his finger and the finger nail. Worse part is he instinctively ripped his hand away. Left a nice hole.
OK here are a couple that your students should all take heed and listen to.
I watched as I guy had his arm pulled into a radial arm saw. (loose long sleeve shirt)
blade just missed the bone so he got to keep his arm.
My buddy's wife asked if I could come over and clean up all the blood from when he cut off his ring finger and mangled his thumb, when his hand got pulled into the table saw. ( was wearing his wedding ring)
EDIT: oh yeah .. I also have a 9 fingered friend via the router.... I really never cared to ask him for the details.
Edited 10/6/2006 10:02 pm ET by alrightythen
tell your students that it helps to learn to read.I got hired onto a job and had my old saw with a sticking gaurd. I had been working alone for years so it was no problem for me, but when I got around others, I took my sharpie and wrote on it in three places "Gaurd Sticks".A plumber came on the job and picked it up to use. I was seventy five feet away when I happed to hear it running and looked over. He set it down with the gaurd up and it skipped acrtoss the deck and his boot toe, luckily not doing any serious damage. I went over hollering at him about fist using MY saw, and second about reading where it warned him that the gaurd sticks. He mumbled something about, "I thought that was somebodies name or something so I didn't pay attention to it."
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Hi tool safety
I teach part time at the college here as well. Yesterday I brought ti the August issue of JLC and had the students in my class read a couple of the horror stories in there.
Have a good day
Cliffy
I know they were impressed with my erudite writing!
Forrest
Hey I just dug out the mag to see which story was yours. You are the first one. I read it but it was the story about the guy who cuts on his knee I made a few guys read, but they passed it around the class and a few commented on the bionic device attatched to your arm.
I had a small fall on a ladder a few months ago with a different result. I had a sore shoulder form playing hockey last March and it was dragging on. I fell only about 2 feet or so. I slammed the shoulder on the way down and ever since that day it started getting much better.
Glad to read that you are almost back to 100 percent!
Have a good day
Cliffy
I added a two story addition to my house, alone. When it was time to tie the roofs together I hired a guy and his helper in order to hurry up the joining of the roofs. I didn't want any rain problems. They didn't bring any ladders, so they used mine. On the third day, while they were off work, I decided to clean up after them. I used my blower on the roof to clear off all the saw scraps and ashphalt shingle granules from their tear off. I only had the upper half of my extension ladder, the part with no rubber feet, just the flat aluminum square ended part. They had my other sections in various places and I didn't want to mess up their work area. Even though I had the proper angle on the ladder, when I put my foot on that first rung, on the second floor, my weight caused the bottom of the ladder to slide on those granules which now were all over the brick and concrete porch. I crashed to the bricked concrete porch and broke a bone in my back, broke my pelvis, broke my hip and crushed my left elbow, a compound fracture, sticking through the skin. I had a little pool of blood under me when the medics came. Neighbors called them after hearing me yelling for my not-at-home wife. I had two major arm surguries with damage to the radial nerve in my arm. Two weeks in the hospital, three months in a rented hospital bed and a wheel chair. A lot of cadaver bone put into my crushed elbow along with two six inch steel plates and sixteen screws. The ocupational therapist who came to my house regularly, tore my rotator cuff, which required a $1300 MRI and more rest. The total hospital bill was over $140,000.00. Thank God for insurance, even $5000 deductible insurance. This happened November 9, 2005. I still have limited use of that arm and lots of pain in it. Since then I've heard many, many ladder horror stories, three from very close friends and five ladder deaths! And I don't even do this for a living like most readers. I'm a cartoonist!
Man! You cartoonists break easy!Sorry for that pain, seriously. Has the lost feeling in arms given you rtrouble in your work?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Yeasterday was a great day for my company. I was running up and down the basement stairs, with about 6'6" head height. Last trip down the stairs I hit the top of my head it knocked me off my feet and onto my azz. Left a nice lump on me skull.
Then my helper Ron is running baseboard up to a bifold door, nailing on a return. He proceeds to shoot through the base, the return, his finger, and the bifold door. Luckily he had a little pry bar on hand to free himself.
His finger was a train wreck, the 2-1/2" nail went through the finger nail and into the door.
Maybe THIS cartoonist landed harder because he weighs 270 pounds! But it's mostly muscle!
Forunately the break was in my left arm and I'm right handed, so it only partially affected my artwork. I do have a lot numbness in that arm and have been told by the surgeon it will be permanent and that I'll undoubtedly get arthritis in that arm. But I'm back at work finishing my house, but no high work now. I can't hold on that well any more with my left arm.
work is good for younumbness goes well with arthritis, seems to me
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Someone leaned on the railings of a scissors lift wile it was in the down position. The platform was about 40" above the floor. The safety pins were not in properly and the railing gave way. Several hours later, the person died after falling to the ground.
Bob
Sorry to read about your mishap!
I was helping to do a resturant remodel one weekend and the new resturant had all there new help to do little jobs, fetch stuff, clean........
One of the young waiters to be crawed up a ladder that was missing its rubber feet, and was sitting on a tile floor. He got 2/3 the way up and the ladder kicked out on him. He landed with one elbow and one knee hitting first, it was not a pretty sight.
I heard some similar stories about his treatment/rehab that you told.
Never crawl up a ladder without the feet firmly planted, of course I dont need to tell you that though.
Doug
Here's one from a Habitat for Humanity build. Three pump jacks on the side of the house about 15' apart. One ladder goes across the left and center supports. The other ladder is a little short and goes from the right support to a bit short of the center support and lays on top of the left ladder. It works until all three guys decide to stand on the right ladder. Luckily it wasn't too high up when it happened.Steve.
True story.
Many years ago, I was working a job framing a barn. The owner, rich lady with more money than sense, was "helping" doing her thing. She owned all the best power tools, sometimes two of each but had no clue when it came to using them.
I was nervous working around her. She was not very big or stong but was there non the less.
It came time for her to move her Dewalt sliding compound mitre saw from one spot to another and she lifted it by the handle, pulling the trigger to start the saw. I look over and there she is carrying the saw across the slab, with the saw blade running under power. Holy shhiitt!! She could have cut her leg off!!!! I couldn't believe it.
Another story about ladder safety. Most of us are hurt when using ladders so ladder safety is very important. A comrade, who shall remain nameless, was painting facia board on a six foot stepladder. The ladder was on uneven ground and was not stable, but this painter decided to step on the very top of the ladder to finish the last of the painting, thinking that holding onto the roof for balance would be sufficient. Guess what? Yup, he fell, and very hard, right onto his shoulder (and covered with spilled paint). The result was one year lost to hamburger shoulder, 9 months of therapy and very painful surgery.
Let this be a lesson to those out there who think they are invincible. That's what I thought.
http://grungefm.com
I have two stories, first when I was 13 years old I was let loose in my grandfathers workshop. I jumped on the table saw and proceeded to reach over the blade not high enough and rip the end of my index finger off. Blood coated me and I ran in the house yelling "Mom, Dad I cut my finger off!". At that point I learned what a power tool could do. Second was a friend of mine who's father owned a masonry company. I worked for his father and " John" was home for the summer from college. We were up three flights of scaffolding and he fell off. He landed on his head. He was not hurt, but, he was always a quiet and mellow guy. Now he has an explosive temper. I've read that a brain truama can do that to a person. What I do now with a new employee, is show them how to use a power tool and what can happen when things go wrong. I always try to check my personal life at the door and tell my employees the same thing. If there's a problem in your life and your heads not in the game come talk to me. I have an old issue of Fine Homebuilding that outlines jobsite saftey and it teaches whatever you doing, clear your head and focus on the task at hand. Most important as a boss or supervisor create a calm work environment.
this happened on a job I worked on...
it's a dead short in a 4160 volt compartment .you can see the arcing fault in the first one....there were IIRC twelve more faults before things quieted down
The start-up senior EE was supervising a test of downstream equipment , and was in a hurry ( relatively speaking ) to test some hardware that had been out-of-service for emergency repairs.
when I asked him about the state of the dis-connected cables, he waved his hand and stated the cables "are not my problem....
since I had my camera with me ......once the explosoins started, I was able to snap a few of the faults...alas I have misplaced the whole series but these were placed on a CD
.
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.Wer ist jetzt der Idiot
?
Here are a couple of links to fairly extensive threads on accidents, first on falls,
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=9670.1 and on
and on electrical shock.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=77731.1 and more
PS: The top link only shows latter day replies "post Prospero" .. anybody know how to access the entire original thread?? .. recall a lot more stories there
Edited 10/7/2006 7:40 am ET by junkhound