Power Tool Accidents

[Fab1]

7 minutes ago, slothparade said:

In wood tech we watched our teachers finger get eaten by a ban saw, was a bit of an eye open. Ive also had drills go through my hand and come out the other side, wire brushes go into me. The one to top it all was my boss got a bar of metal go in one side of him and come out the other, part of the drilling rig. And yes he's ok, narrowly escaped. 

Sounds like scenes out of the Friday the 13th movies.

[fragmeister]

Thanks for all the stories!

I can think of how many close calls I have had over the years.

I guess that's just the deal when you work hands on with dangerous equipment. Careful as you may be, there will always be a few near misses, as it is just a function of how many times you do slightly dangerous things.

Here's a couple more (not all me).

1) Grinding metal near a charging forklift battery ... BOOM! One cell up through the roof.

2) Young apprentice with a framing nail gun who left his finger on the trigger and caught the tip of the gun in his trackies... FUDDUMP! ... nail in the femur! His carpenter boss pulled it out with pliers and took him to the hospital for a check.

3) Removing decking (nailed with timberlock nails) by cutting between the joist and then levering off the decking boards. Phone rings... gets distracted... Comes back and walks over the cut-off boards and falls through the deck. Twisted ankle.

4) Working in a client's roof installing network cables.. "Just walk on the boards in the roof space" says the client. I did... fell through the ceiling onto the receptionists desks... She didn't miss a beat... just moved to another desk to work.

5) Built an attic on my house. Had the largest and heaviest canvas tarp in the world covering the whole house. I was spreading it out again after working on a very hot day, and I asked my mate to tie off all the ropes down below while I was spreading it back out again. The tarp got caught about halfway along, and I crawled underneath to free it. Meanwhile, my mate secured the tarp with me stuck underneath it!  I wasn't under that long, but it was like an oven under the tarp on a tin roof in summer. Best beer I ever had when I got out though.

5) Was checking whether an apprentice had greased the steer axle of a huge container handler forklift. The forklift was running, no driver in the cabin, so I just stuck my head under one of the rear wheels to check... in the short time it took me to get around the back of the forklift, the driver had returned and was in gear and taking off. Got my head out just in time.

And that's about as much stupidity I am about to reveal. I can understand why you might think I am lucky to have all my fingers , toes, limbs and, let's face facts ... my life.

Stay safe guys and girls and don't take anything for granted.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by fragmeister

[noelm]

I have posted this before, but anyone who has been cut with roofing tin sheets will know exactly how this must feel! I was helping my brother in law fit some trimdeck sheets to his garage roof, it had gable ends (a triangle each end for those who don't know) and he was fitting the barge cover, about halfway down, the ladder on an angle because of the slope of the roof, and the ladder slipped, he grabbed the razor sharp edge of the capping, and his hands slid down the sharp edge, nearly all the way to the gutter, sliced all his fingers to the bone.......I am shivering just thinking about it!

[fragmeister]

2 hours ago, noelm said:

I have posted this before, but anyone who has been cut with roofing tin sheets will know exactly how this must feel! I was helping my brother in law fit some trimdeck sheets to his garage roof, it had gable ends (a triangle each end for those who don't know) and he was fitting the barge cover, about halfway down, the ladder on an angle because of the slope of the roof, and the ladder slipped, he grabbed the razor sharp edge of the capping, and his hands slid down the sharp edge, nearly all the way to the gutter, sliced all his fingers to the bone.......I am shivering just thinking about it!

OUCH! I can feel it now!.

[Fab1]

Just bought today.Fingers and toes crossed.

[noelm]

Just remembered another simple, yet painfully experience, back to the TV antenna days. My offsider and I were installing a 60' antenna (3 lengths of pipe, telescoped inside each other) on the roof of Port Kembla RSL club, we had the sections up, wires holding it plumb and sitting on the plate on the roof, we got our ladder and fitted our work "platform" at the first pipe height, climbed onto the platform to lift the first section of telescoped pipe out, I undid the lock bolt and we both heaved the pipe out, I held it while my mate moved his hands down to get the next lift, but it slipped and the smaller pipe slid inside the bigger pipe, taking the skin on my mates hands, down inside the pipe until it jammed tight.......I couldn't pull the pipe back up, his skin and flesh was jamming it so tight, he was screaming and carrying on, with one last heave, I got it up and out a bit and he pulled his hands out, most of the webbing between his thumb and pointer finger was gone....eeeyeeew. We had to get off the platform, on to the ladder 20' in the air, with him not using his hands!

Edited September 10, 2022 by noelm

[Little_Flatty]

It’s (not really) funny how often in many jobs where there is a safety manager involved, people often treat them like nagging parents, when the reality is that they are there to keep you and the company safe. I’ve learned a lot from them over the years and it’s proven beneficial for me even though I’m just a paper pusher in the office.

Sure, everyone should apply a degree of common sense at work or otherwise, but the reality is that common sense is not always common, or ubiquitous! Case I’m point, I once had a mandatory requirement to do a ‘working at heights’ course. From this course I learned to do as much as I can from ground level before going up higher. Something I never thought of prior and something I now think about every time I’ve been up a ladder since.