Prob not for the squeamish

[Grae79]

What's the worst you've ever injured yourself at work? and what's the worst you've seen first-hand?

Personally have never had much; no bad shocks (touch wood), odd stanley injury when was a boy; but soon learn from that!, and - again when much younger - stuck a wood chisel in my arm. Was more of a glancing blow really; nice scar tho.

Worst that i've seen was a guy take his finger off with a bandsaw. Was for cutting steel/aluminium so wasn't that sharp. Think it was half cut/half tear. Just what u wanna see when you're at work! He got a nice payout anyway.

 

[EasyFox]

Injury to myself was the time I had a bow saw jump when cutting a lump of wood & it skinned the index finger of the hand that was holding the wood. Nasty at the time but only have a half inch scar now.

Nastyest I've seen actually happen......many years ago while on an exercise in the former West Germany the vehicle infront of us in the convoy, a stalwart (hmlc) 6 wheeled ammunition carrier rolled over, throwing the vehicle commander out of the capola that he was stood up in. He ended up with smashed/crushed knees & lower legs when the cab rolled over his legs......BARF....

 

[Cirrus]

Nice!
I haven't had any really bad injuries touch wood. A yesar ago I stood up from screwing back a low level Skt and the kitchen fitter had put a cupboard above my head whilst I was working at low level. I stood up and BANG - nice inch cut opened up on my head. The funniest part was I immediately started rubbing it cos it was sore and the chippy watching me fainted because he had seen the cut opoen up with blood going all down my face and shirt lol

 

[Grae79]

that ammo carrier story is naaaaaaaasty! worst/best electrical one have heard of was from a guy i worked with once, was workin on 3 ph DB....can't remember what he'd done....obviously something idiotic...was blown across the room by it...was hospitalised but survived...lucky bar steward!!

 

[Jamesy]

Been a sky engineer on and off for some time, never witnessed but i heard of grim story where an engineer drilling through a wall skewered a sleeping dog on the other side! eww

 

[a.e.s]

just after I started with my current firm, last year we started an industrial job. We requested a cherry picker, but told that it wont arrive for a couple of days and so crack on regardless, long story short, fell of the top step of a step ladder ( I now know why they tell you not to stand on the top step lol) shattered a bone in my hand and six weeks off. still dont know how it happened as I landed on my feet?? the foreign doctor at poole hospital asked me which finger it was that was hurting, bearing in mind one was blue and pointing 90 degrees to the rest of them. When I told my college lecturer I wouldnt be able to do my final practical exam he told me of a lad that the year before fell of the bottom step of a step ladder and broke both his legs!!! I dont really know what to make of that, is it funny, impressive, disturbing??? I really dont know!!!

 

[Oli]

Cut the old head open a few times whilst tiling under kitchen cupboards doing the splash backs, funny how you always seem to forget about them until you crack your head for the 3rd time, I should really learn to be more carefull but all the knocks to the head have made me forgetfull.

 

[lockhes]

sliced my hand open when i was younger while scraping a gasket off a sump

fell off ladders then a ratchet hit me smack on the forehead caused a bit of blood


that was in my mechanic days not done anything while been a sparky (yet touch wood)

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Ripped the top of my finger off in my younger mechanic days. Timing mark on the flywheel was dirty and I conld not see it properly, so I went to wipe it clean.................Using a strobe to illuminate!!!!!!!!!!!! DOH

 

[minivanman]

been lucky myself but worked on a building site during my apprenticeship, didn't actually see it myself but a guy lost the top of his head whist using a disc cutter when the disc shattered

 

[Graeme Harrold]

The best one I saw was a guy cleaning his gun in Iraq back in 1991. It was the SMG (Sub machine gun, weapon choice of Storm Troopers!!). Anyhow this thing has a fixed firing pin, said person dropped the working parts back in with a mag fitted, picked up a round, chambered and fired. Bullet went through his thigh and with Einstine's laws of physics (equal and opposite reactions and all that) the working parts (500g of metal atleast) popped back out of the weapon and smacked him between the eyes. Once he came round and mentioned the F word a few thousand times, realised his thigh was a little worse for wear, promptly fainted!!!! Fortunately 30 or so stitches and was up and walking in a couple of weeks. Only just missed the massive artery on his inner thigh.

 

[bonjovi]

about 20yrs ago my mate who was an apprentice at the same company was in a loft space metal joists school i think it was anyhow . he was told to connect submain up as there was a board up there the spark who was incharge had already connected feed end and pulled fuse , so it was supposidly safe for him to work on it there was an almighty screem then my mate fell through the ceiling onto the boards below he was dead . the plumber came to look what was happening saw him dead gave him cpr brought him back .
weeks in hospital result .scar around his neck where he had gold chain with cross that melted totally into his skin as it got hot ,massive star shaped scar on his back as this is where arc exited his body
and lots of scars all over his upper body where he touched the metal joists as it was only boarded where you needed to stand
findings were that the spark had connected incoming live and neutral wrong used 2xred tails and marked 1 with black tape got em wrong so neutral was live

 

[Jamesy]

about 20yrs ago my mate who was an apprentice at the same company was in a loft space metal joists school i think it was anyhow . he was told to connect submain up as there was a board up there the spark who was incharge had already connected feed end and pulled fuse , so it was supposidly safe for him to work on it there was an almighty screem then my mate fell through the ceiling onto the boards below he was dead . the plumber came to look what was happening saw him dead gave him cpr brought him back .
weeks in hospital result .scar around his neck where he had gold chain with cross that melted totally into his skin as it got hot ,massive star shaped scar on his back as this is where arc exited his body
and lots of scars all over his upper body where he touched the metal joists as it was only boarded where you needed to stand
findings were that the spark had connected incoming live and neutral wrong used 2xred tails and marked 1 with black tape got em wrong so neutral was live

If the fuse was pulled out wouldn't that of made it safe regardless of live terminals being reversed ?

 

[sparkydude]

Not if it was a normal MEM type switchfuse as they just break the live through the switc and fuse and the neutral is justy connected in a block. So if swapped, even with the switch off the neutral would be broken but the live would not be.

Nick

 

[Jamesy]

ohh i understand. There's no space for human error in any circumstance then.

 

[ashrow]

A few years back i employed a 50 (or so) year old x contracts manager who had been paid off due to a stroke and his then employer did not want to kill him with the stress of the job. He came to work for me on 'the tools' and with in a few months he drilled into a buried (in a wall, above ground) incoming supply to a house, his battery drill melted and the flash burns between his fingers required skin grafts etc Luckerly his heart took the jolt but he had second thoughts about being on the tools and soon left.( The HSE were a nightmare to deal with and although the electricity supply company admitted the cable should not have been buried in the wall they tried to bill him for the repair! )
Also on site a builder wanted a tiny bit of skirting and whilst chatting away he held the skirting by the short bit whilst using a circular saw to cut it, his finger hanging off was enough to make me go faint.
(He just got in his van and drove to the hospital over 15 miles away, it was 6 months before he could use that hand again. (It took me longer then that to stop remembering and feeling sick using my circular saw)

I am M.O.D first aid trained and a big pansy when it comes to someone elses blood (pratice dumbies dont bleed and thank god im not a registered/delegated first aider,fainting cant help the injured!!!)

 

[supasparxs]

Like most people for me cuts and bruses,
However when I was an apprentice
We were subbing for the main electrical contractor (some warehouses on the Thames) Installing the fire alarm system which was MICC

One morning the site was in darkness
The existing supply to the building was being used for site Tempories and the new head was being used for the perminant installation.
Over night the old head caught fire, so after the fire Birgade put the fire out both our sparks and the main contractors sparks relocated the supplies onto ther new head.

Everyone was happy as power was restored and the site was working again.

That afternoon I was dressing pyros in the basement when the LEB (London Electricity Board) jointers arrived.

A few minute later there was an explosion and and the jointer put a hacksaw throught the old incomer.

The guy went to hospital for 3 months.......


After the accident was investigated it turns out that the engineer was working off a photo-copy of a drawing and turned the building next door off.

The jointer tested the end of the cable and it showed dead, and according to the LEB rules he was allowed to cut the cable.

But unknown to all there was a fault on the blue phase, and rather than stripping the paper and lead off layer by layer and cutting each core indivually which was the safer but slower way to carryout the work.

Ther reason he wanted to finish quickly, was it was his birthday and he wanted to get down the pub

Richard

 

[tigerpaul]

In my 1st year at college, I was up on top of the cubicles and I fell down through the joists, one leg either side.. I fell hard, it was like coming off your bike when you're a kid.

When I'd finally climbed down the ladder I put my hand down my jeans to hold my balls (like you do) and felt a sting. I pulled my hand out and it was soaked in blood.

I'd ripped a hole the size of a 2p piece in my scrotum, had to go to A+E for stitches (all my classmates were in stitches). now I've got a nice Y shaped scar, which I've proudly shown my girlfriends over the years!

 

[Dannyg83]

What a romantic showing your torn sack off to your girlfriends ,quality

 

[tenheads]

I fell 4ft off a ladder and snapped my leg, leg went through the rung and i landed on the ladder my leg ended up wrapped round the ladder sort of shaped like the letter L below the knee, just goes to prove you dont need to fall far to have a injury......

 

[Notsosmart]

In the late 70's Two months into my apprenticeship I was shipped off to British Leyland longbridge, (yes I'm ancient)( I bet half of you havn't even heard of the long dead car co), & was told by the sparks to label all of the relays & contactors in the panel he was working on.

Half an hour into it I'm suddenly stuck on 415V; my hand having strayed across two phases of the energised open contacts of an overload relay (IP2X, in the seventies, that's unheard of!).

Seconds seemed like agonising hours & I thought this is it, all of my muscles were locked in place, I couldn't move (one reason I don't believe the stories about being thrown across the room by 240V), so just before i blacked out I shouted as loud as I could (I like to think in a ninja kind of way, & not the girly whimper that probably eminated from my rapidly bluing lips) & forced my arm & body away from the panel.

As I looked at my now smoking palm (the smell of burnt flesh; Mmm nice) the 'sparks' said nonchelantly "by the way the panels live" & went back to his mods! I was not happy

The two scars on my palm have all but faded but the valuable lesson will remain.

 

[Doomed]

Back in the 80's when I was still doing my electronics HND a bloke in the machine shop managed to rip 2 of his fingers off in a lathe. He calmly picked them up, walked through the factory to the reception office and politely asked them to call him an ambulance. He then sat down to wait and passed out.
Its amazing what you can do sometimes when in shock....
(they managed to re-attach his fingers, but he never had full mobility in them again)

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Had a guy in the early 90s whilst cleaning the breach of a challenger tank somehow managed to chop off the 2nd and 3rd fingers at the 2nd knuckle. How he did this is completely unknown as the two fingers either side are still complete. Again he managed to open the breach, retrieve the fingers and climb out of the turret, jump down before the shock hit him. Never seen anyone so white.............

Unfortunately the fingers were too contaminated to fix back on, and now he only takes 1 1/2 sugars in his tea!!!!!

 

[Doomed]

Still at the same factory as the lathe bloke they was a young chap well into his motors, he would spend most of the lunch break fiddling with it.
He also wore a watch with a metal watch strap, which was a good conductor when he somehow shorted out between the battery terminals.
Now, he screamed........

At the same place again there was a very clever electronics engineer in his early fortys who was a bit eccentric and a loner. After the christmas break one year he didn't come back to work. Turns out he had cooked himeslf a nice christmas lunch for one and choked to death on a turkey bone.
Something about that I find truely sad.....

 

[poppypiesdad]

Out in Bosnia in the mid 90's loads of Negligent Discharges,New rupert out of sandhurst arrives at Split airport with his new pistol and live ammo that he can't wait to play with shot his driver in the thigh , up in Donji Vakuf we were all in portacabins and someone was cleaning his rifle forgot to clear the chamber and shot someone 3 cabins down in the arm .

Felt for the poor Gurka's emptied an ambulance of med kit for them they had nothing not even shell dressings

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Out in Bosnia in the mid 90's loads of Negligent Discharges,New rupert out of sandhurst arrives at Split airport with his new pistol and live ammo that he can't wait to play with shot his driver in the thigh , up in Donji Vakuf we were all in portacabins and someone was cleaning his rifle forgot to clear the chamber and shot someone 3 cabins down in the arm .

Felt for the poor Gurka's emptied an ambulance of med kit for them they had nothing not even shell dressings

I was working on a wagon in the school carpark in Vitez when one of the infantry guys let off a Millan missile accidentaly, fortunately it hit a building (their own HQ) before it has passed its safety arming distance..............ooops

 

[poppypiesdad]

I was working on a wagon in the school carpark in Vitez when one of the infantry guys let off a Millan missile accidentaly, fortunately it hit a building (their own HQ) before it has passed its safety arming distance..............ooops

Lucky Lucky B*********ards

jamie


Like this

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WwNjKNWxMg]YouTube - Missile problems[/ame]

 

[Modernelectric]

Not had anything too bad from sparking but when i was a chef i saw a guy stick his hand in a deep fat fryer (2 to 300 hundred degrees) that was nasty.

My ex boss cut his hand open with his snips and tissue was hanging out, that was pretty nasty as well.

 

[kung]

Many years ago was messing about in a warehouse when everyone went to lunch so as you do at 16 i thought what a good idea irll have a go on the big red side sitting forklift thing so off i went it was great i was driving ! next thing i remember was i crashed into the 40ft steel racking and almost ripped my arm clean off lucky it was only badly bruised and the 2 tonne boxes on the racking almost toppled off lucky the rack didnt overturn ! dammmmmm lucky anyway i parked it up where i found it and went to lunch ! other time i was 10 running on long grass when i tripped and my knee landed on a ripped open beer can ! opened my knee up and sock was squelching with blood anyway lived to tell the tail and 7 stitches !
Regards
Kung.

 

[megaman83]

when i was a second year apprentice my firm was working on a army camp which had the corrigated steel walls around it, the brief in the morning was to put up 6 security perimeter lights and as it was a friday and the security risk was low we could go home without having to wait for an escort as soon as we got them done, so instead of the older guys taking there time building scaffolding they just got me to hold a 3 tier ladder for them and had rested it up against the top of the corrigated steel, an hour or so later we were getting on well when the guy at the top of the ladder dropped his screwdriver and asked me to throw it back up to him, he leaned over to much, put his hand on the corrigated steel, and fell. his thumb was being held on by a flap of skin, right through the bone. he also broke his arm in the fall, but in the state of shock he was in he just said to me ' i know its a friday mate but youll have to take me to the hospital i think, or the doctors at least' lol. i had to drive whilst lighting his feg and take it out of his mouth to flick it and put it back in whilst passing through the security gates at the barracks without stopping. i had passed my driving test two weeks earlier to make things worse