# Accident at work got me wondering



## headrec

Guy at work today (concrete guy) was grinding some all thread and said he "dropped the grinder"  onto his foot and dug into it pretty good and had a decent amount of blood. Had to be lifted off the deck we were working on and taken to the hospital.

Anyway just wondering what everyones worst injury has been while working?

Personally I haven't had anything worth mentioning...yet. *knocks on wood*


----------



## gilbequick

Dislocated shoulder. Out for 2 months.


----------



## sparky970

Open dislocation on middle and ring finger and dislocated pinky.


----------



## nap

a small metal sliver in my finger.

well, almost. 

I was hit with 277 across the chest. Hurt like hell and made thinking a real problem until the next day.

other than that, it was the sliver.


----------



## MechanicalDVR

I guess it would have to be riding a CH 53 into the ocean and the subsequent injuries that involved.


----------



## nap

MechanicalDVR said:


> I guess it would have to be riding a CH 53 into the ocean and the subsequent injuries that involved.


 
I was looking at some pics of ch 53's. They don't look like they are amphibious. Maybe somebody should have told the pilot.


----------



## brian john

Had a dock light fixture that had been mounted for weeks fall and the lens hood cut my wrist blood like I have never seen before.

Accidentally hit a wire and wire nut fell off I was held for a long time (maybe 1/2 second????) pushed off with both feet and somehow ended up with a massive hole in my arm.

Battery blew up and burnt both hands.


Unfortunatly there are a few more but that's enough for now....


----------



## the_full_monty

1" tech head screw threw the palm of my hand.


----------



## MechanicalDVR

nap said:


> I was looking at some pics of ch 53's. They don't look like they are amphibious. Maybe somebody should have told the pilot.


 
That was what the guy who shot up the hydraulics was trying to show us.


----------



## Charlie K

Some bright light decided to dump large stone on a mirror finished concrete floor. Told my guys to stay away from it because GC would not clean it up. Supply truck came in and I decided to unload it myself. Carried a bundle of 1"emt across the area and it was like walking on marbles. Broken knee cap and out of work 4 months. Four years later and I still have a lot of pain and problems.

Charlie


----------



## bobelectric

Logger in area had chain saw kick back into his face,died before hospital.


----------



## nap

bobelectric said:


> Logger in area had chain saw kick back into his face,died before hospital.


you win


----------



## Ecopat

Drove a 6" nail through back of hand & out through front whilst using a Hilti nailer.
My own fault, was looking at a nice young chick when I should have been watching & concentrating on what I was supposed to be doing.


----------



## JohnJ0906

Ecopat said:


> My own fault, was looking at a nice young chick when I should have been watching & concentrating on what I was supposed to be doing.


Ah, yes. The downfall of many of us........ :whistling2:


----------



## Ecopat

I dont even bother to look up when the guys whistle or I hear other guys make BANG noises anymore for this very reason.

If something is a distraction I ALWAYS stop what I am doing.
I never want to have an incident like that ever again.


----------



## cdnelectrician

Had a journeyman I worked under as an apprentice drop a buss kit across all 3 phases in an energized 600 volt 1200 amp switchgear we were standing right in front of...never been so scared in my life! Was in the hospital for a night and left with two eyepatches for 3 days and no eyebrows! We were both VERY lucky to be alive after that incident. Since that day I have a lot more respect for electricity. Also had an aluminum extension ladder (to get to an RTU) BREAK on me and I fell 20 feet...almost got a screwdriver into my stomach when I hit the ground. For that reason I will NOT use aluminum ladders anymore! Also got hit from an open neutral while working on a pylon sign at a gas station, some idiot used the neutral for the post plug to run the 347volt ballasts in the sign because the neutral from the 347 V system had gone bad. And I was an idiot for not checking it before pulling the neutral apart! Felt like someone kicked me in the chest with a pair of steel toes...BE SAFE OUT THERE!


----------



## teamtriton

My best one is I got sprayed in the eyes by caustic soda while rewiring a 110 outlet. For those that dont know about caustic you have to flush that stuff with water but at the same time when water hit caustic it causes a burning feeling. Eyes still aint right.


----------



## Jono

I got a piece of metal in my eye, had to get it pulled out with tweezers - not fun. ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES lol

I also got hit in the head with a rotary hammer drill when it got caught drilling through a wall.

Been zapped by 240 pretty good, had to jump of a ladder once which hurt a bit. 

No broken bones ever though, and i haven't had any 415v incidents.


----------



## Harbinger

*Close Calls*

I was a young apprenti and a fella on our job had used to long of a screw to mount a breaker to the bus bar and it shorted out on the tub. He got flashed pretty good so we took him to the clinic.
It was just about lunch time when I got back and I asked the foreman if we were going to have lunch. He said he wanted to "fix" the panel in question and told me to give him a hand. The panel was in a small closet with only one exit and I was on the opposite side of the panel with him between me and the door. 
He decides that he is going to remove the bus bar (I'm talking about the tab that the breakers mount to) from the bus while it is energized.
"Shouldn't we deenergize it?" I says. "Naw, all the computers are running off this panel and it would be to inconvenient for them." He then pulled out his needle nose pliers (the shorted out screw had blown the end of the bus bar off. He had his needle nose in the remaining screw hole and over the end) and nut driver and tells me how he had done all kinds of live work as a line man etc etc. 
I musta said we should shut it off half a dozen times but he refused saying it was no problem. THe whole time in the back of my mind I am thinking, "if something happens the fuse will blow and it will be no big deal if he screws up." Boy was I wrong.
I climbed myself into the corner of the room on a wooden ladder holding the flash light with him between me and the door. There he was in all his glory, standing on a spool of BX with one hand on his needle nose and the other on his nut driver unscrewing the bar. He looked at me and said "now this is where you have to be really careful."
Instantly, everything went white and I was blind. The heat was un bearable and the god awful sound of a short BVVVZVVVVVT (you guys now the sound) was all I could hear. I was pressing myself against the ladder trying to get away but there was no where to go. I was cowering there for what seemed like forever waiting for the fuse to go. Finally I was like "I gotta get the hell out of here" and I peered under my arm and all I could see was the silloutte of my foreman still standing in front of the panel. I remembered from school as a last resort if you have to get some one off of something to kick them. Well I had no choice but to give him a boot to get out, so I gave him the hardest back kick from off of my ladder as I could and he went flying out the door. I hit the deck and belly crawled under the blue arcing fireball out the door.
I picked him up and we stumbled blind down the hallway and stumbled out into a public area. There was a huge line up of people waiting to get on a gondola(this was at a ski resort) and I remember a lady screaming "oh my god look at his face!" I turned him around and his face was burned BAD, nose black, lips hanging in shreds. 
Well long story short he had third degree burns to his face, neck, chest, arms, and a broken knee from when I kicked him and he fell off the spool. He had gklasses on at the time and they saved his eyes, the were completely black and the nose peice and both arms had melted to his head!
I lost all the hair on the back of my head and had a hole burned in the back of my jacket. I had arc flash and it took a while for my vision to return. 
I was told that what happened was that the panel shorted phase to phase and that it was called cascading as all the molten metal melts down and continues to short. The bus bars melted about two feet each. Apparently, they had the wrong type of fuse installed and that was why it did not trip. THis was when I was a first year apprentice so all the details of what kind of fuse it was was over my head at the time.
Needless to say, who cares how inconvenient it is for anyone, shut it off!


----------



## Ecopat

Harbinger said:


> I was a young apprenti and a fella on our job had used to long of a screw to mount a breaker to the bus bar and it shorted out on the tub. He got flashed pretty good so we took him to the clinic.
> It was just about lunch time when I got back and I asked the foreman if we were going to have lunch. He said he wanted to "fix" the panel in question and told me to give him a hand. The panel was in a small closet with only one exit and I was on the opposite side of the panel with him between me and the door.
> He decides that he is going to remove the bus bar (I'm talking about the tab that the breakers mount to) from the bus while it is energized.
> "Shouldn't we deenergize it?" I says. "Naw, all the computers are running off this panel and it would be to inconvenient for them." He then pulled out his needle nose pliers (the shorted out screw had blown the end of the bus bar off. He had his needle nose in the remaining screw hole and over the end) and nut driver and tells me how he had done all kinds of live work as a line man etc etc.
> I musta said we should shut it off half a dozen times but he refused saying it was no problem. THe whole time in the back of my mind I am thinking, "if something happens the fuse will blow and it will be no big deal if he screws up." Boy was I wrong.
> I climbed myself into the corner of the room on a wooden ladder holding the flash light with him between me and the door. There he was in all his glory, standing on a spool of BX with one hand on his needle nose and the other on his nut driver unscrewing the bar. He looked at me and said "now this is where you have to be really careful."
> Instantly, everything went white and I was blind. The heat was un bearable and the god awful sound of a short BVVVZVVVVVT (you guys now the sound) was all I could hear. I was pressing myself against the ladder trying to get away but there was no where to go. I was cowering there for what seemed like forever waiting for the fuse to go. Finally I was like "I gotta get the hell out of here" and I peered under my arm and all I could see was the silloutte of my foreman still standing in front of the panel. I remembered from school as a last resort if you have to get some one off of something to kick them. Well I had no choice but to give him a boot to get out, so I gave him the hardest back kick from off of my ladder as I could and he went flying out the door. I hit the deck and belly crawled under the blue arcing fireball out the door.
> I picked him up and we stumbled blind down the hallway and stumbled out into a public area. There was a huge line up of people waiting to get on a gondola(this was at a ski resort) and I remember a lady screaming "oh my god look at his face!" I turned him around and his face was burned BAD, nose black, lips hanging in shreds.
> Well long story short he had third degree burns to his face, neck, chest, arms, and a broken knee from when I kicked him and he fell off the spool. He had gklasses on at the time and they saved his eyes, the were completely black and the nose peice and both arms had melted to his head!
> I lost all the hair on the back of my head and had a hole burned in the back of my jacket. I had arc flash and it took a while for my vision to return.
> I was told that what happened was that the panel shorted phase to phase and that it was called cascading as all the molten metal melts down and continues to short. The bus bars melted about two feet each. Apparently, they had the wrong type of fuse installed and that was why it did not trip. THis was when I was a first year apprentice so all the details of what kind of fuse it was was over my head at the time.
> Needless to say, *who cares how inconvenient it is for anyone, shut it off*!


Damn right, thank god you both survived.


----------



## headrec

Damn! That's quite the story.


----------



## Harbinger

That happened 15 years ago and I remember it vividly. The contractor still has the panel in his shop. There was an outline of a person surrounded by molten "shrapnel" on the wall behind where this happened. His nut diver was never found and his needle nose were blown to pieces. I cringe everytime I hear the sound of electricity shorting!


----------



## TheRick

Harbinger said:


> That happened 15 years ago and I remember it vividly. The contractor still has the panel in his shop. There was an outline of a person surrounded by molten "shrapnel" on the wall behind where this happened. His nut diver was never found and his needle nose were blown to pieces. I cringe everytime I hear the sound of electricity shorting!


 
I am sure it is something that will stay with you forever. 

When an error of a fraction of an inch can cause so much pain, it really drives home the fact that we all need to be responsible for our own safety. I am sure in hindsight that foreman doesn't think shutting those computers down would have been all that inconveinent now.

Be SAFE out there:thumbsup:


----------



## patrick35205

A few months ago a guy got ran over by track hoe crushing one leg to the hip. About two months ago our main 4000a panel blew up. It is a prebuilt pcx room. The roof of the loading dock where it is located was not dried in as was believed to be the case and water was getting onto the roof of the PCX room and following the conduits into the panel. A few weeks ago an elevator guy got his hand between a raising cab and the steel structure breaking a couple fingers and pulling the end of his thumb off. Yesterday afternoon a 19 year old carpenter cut off two of his fingers and the rest were hanging on by flesh. It is an odd sight seeing a man run across the sight with two fingers in his hand to give them to the parametics. All of this is on one job. I am starting to wonder if we are building on an indian burrial ground.


----------



## sparky970

cdnelectrician said:


> Had a journeyman I worked under as an apprentice drop a buss kit across all 3 phases in an energized 600 volt 1200 amp switchgear we were standing right in front of...never been so scared in my life! Was in the hospital for a night and left with two eyepatches for 3 days and no eyebrows! We were both VERY lucky to be alive after that incident. Since that day I have a lot more respect for electricity. Also had an aluminum extension ladder (to get to an RTU) BREAK on me and I fell 20 feet...almost got a screwdriver into my stomach when I hit the ground. For that reason I will NOT use aluminum ladders anymore! Also got hit from an open neutral while working on a pylon sign at a gas station, some idiot used the neutral for the post plug to run the 347volt ballasts in the sign because the neutral from the 347 V system had gone bad. And I was an idiot for not checking it before pulling the neutral apart! Felt like someone kicked me in the chest with a pair of steel toes...BE SAFE OUT THERE!


 
Were you wearing any PPE? Why is an electrician using an aluminum ladder?


----------



## sparky970

teamtriton said:


> My best one is I got sprayed in the eyes by caustic soda while rewiring a 110 outlet. For those that dont know about caustic you have to flush that stuff with water but at the same time when water hit caustic it causes a burning feeling. Eyes still aint right.


 
I work around caustic, hydrochloric acid, 98% sulfuric, chlorine, and 76% sulfuric daily. It's all bad especially the 76% H2SO4. Make sure you at least wear goggles, even add a faceshield, gloves, and chem gear. By the way, a little dilute vinegar will neutralize the caustic.


----------



## Roger123

gilbequick said:


> Dislocated shoulder. Out for 2 months.


Well it might help your shoulder if you put that missile down!


----------



## Bkessler

I have been real lucky, I think my worst is following through to much when cuttin emt with a hacksaw and basically punching the fresh cut end of emt across my knuckles. Lots of blood, my foreman instantly asked me a question I have repeated many times, "are you gonna stand there and bleed all day or get back to work.", At a highschool in socal a carpenter lost his balance and fell back on a piece of rebar sticking out of a footing. He was impaled up his you know what. I never heard how bad it really was but I do know that there was no safty caps on the rebar at the time.


----------



## randomkiller

Bkessler said:


> I have been real lucky, I think my worst is following through to much when cuttin emt with a hacksaw and basically punching the fresh cut end of emt across my knuckles. Lots of blood, my foreman instantly asked me a question I have repeated many times, "are you gonna stand there and bleed all day or get back to work.", At a highschool in socal a carpenter lost his balance and fell back on a piece of rebar sticking out of a footing. He was impaled up his you know what. I never heard how bad it really was but I do know that there was no safty caps on the rebar at the time.


 
Just one word: OUCH!


----------



## sparky970

Did have a laborer working on a 36" wooden effluent pipe, he slipped and impaled his bag on one of the allthread clamps


----------



## gilbequick

sparky970 said:


> Did have a laborer working on a 36" wooden effluent pipe, he slipped and *impaled his bag* on one of the allthread clamps


Does that mean what I think it does!??!


----------



## gilbequick

Roger123 said:


> Well it might help your shoulder if you put that missile down!


I'll put it down when the guacamolians stop playing that circus music!


----------



## mattsilkwood

i lost my balance and put my hand up to catch myself just so happened i caught a piece of sheet metal, cut to the bone got the tendon in my first knuckle index finger, still wont bend right. but it never bled never hurt at all till the doc got through. go figure


----------



## Speedy Petey

mattsilkwood said:


> i lost my balance and put my hand up to catch myself just so happened i caught a piece of sheet metal, cut to the bone got the tendon in my first knuckle index finger, still wont bend right. but it never bled never hurt at all till the doc got through. go figure


I had this happen to a co-worker a long time ago. Happened right in front of me. I thought I was going to lose my lunch.

I am VERY aware around metal framing for this reason, especially if there are live parts around as well.


----------



## bobelectric

I stepped on a nail,once.


----------



## chefsparky

Cut my hand one time on metal studs rushing to open up something for the inspector. I now wear gloves around all metal studs.


----------



## Kevin J

Thought I was going to speed up production on a job where we had a lot of wood blocking to put in for some fixtures, and decided to go buy a paslode nail gun. (Plus, I've always wanted one of those things!) Well, first day out of the box, I ricocheted a nail right through my right thumb just below the cuticle and above the first joint. It looked just like in the cartoons. Half in one side, half out the other side. Needless to say, it was a little inconvenient for about a week, and a little embarrassing. Guys on the job called me Bullseye for about a month after that. Sold the paslode to a carpenter the very next week. Now, if it cant be screwed together or a regular hammer and nail wont do it, I get someone else to do it.


----------



## pudge565

Remeber never do anything you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics.


----------



## electricalperson

Bkessler said:


> I "are you gonna stand there and bleed all day or get back to work."


that was pretty funny. im going to start to use that


----------



## Frasbee

bobelectric said:


> I stepped on a nail,once.


I think I cut myself a few times.

And've gotten a few splinters.

Man, I just don't feel as cool until I have a life threatening injury.


----------



## Jeff000

Bkessler said:


> I never heard how bad it really was but I do know that there was no safty caps on the rebar at the time.


Those caps will NOT prevent impaling injury, they are to make them more visible and prevent snagging. 

On a site I was working at years ago as a heavy equipment operator there was a structural steel worker that miss stepped on a shed and jumped the 15 feet down to the ground rather then falling, and landed on a 7' piece of rebar sticking straight up. He just skinned it. rebar went up the inside of his carrharts inside of his boxers, inside his shirt and took his safety glasses and hard hat off. Had a tiny scratch/cut up the side of his leg and side of his back just missed his armpit and cut the side of his head just behind his ear. 
He didnt even sh*t his pants. I was the first one there and he was white as a ghost and shaking. Broke his ankle and bled just enough that the paramedics had to wipe him down a couple times but no stitches. 
We didnt know what to do so we let the paramedics cut him from the bar and just kept him warm and supported him. 
He took his harness off about 15 minutes before this happened. 


My worst is I cut my elbow open on a sharp edge of a piece of readyrod, didnt hit it or anything, just a casual brush up against it, but it bled for like 15 minutes. 
Oh and I was using a hole saw in a crappy position, it caught something and the drill smashed me in the side of my face, that sucked. 

Sounds like some of you need to wear your PPE more often.


----------



## JohnJ0906

bobelectric said:


> I stepped on a nail,once.


So have I. I swear, that tetanus shot hurt worse than the nail - my foot felt OK the next day, but my arm was sore for a week!

Besides that, I've needed stitches from sloppy sheet metal work a couple of times.


----------



## sparky970

I was working at a pulp mill where they had an old wooden pipeline about 36" dia., it was banded together everywhere, mostly with allthread. A laborer for our company was walking on the line and slipped, thus impaling his bag on a piece of allthread. He took a few day off work after that.


----------



## heel600

sparky970 said:


> I was working at a pulp mill where they had an old wooden pipeline about 36" dia., it was banded together everywhere, mostly with allthread. A laborer for our company was walking on the line and slipped, thus impaling his bag on a piece of allthread. He took a few day off work after that.


I hope you mean the tool bag he was wearing, right?


----------



## gilbequick

heel600 said:


> I hope you mean the tool bag he was wearing, right?


As much as I hate to think about it....I don't think he means his tool bag


----------



## randomkiller

gilbequick said:


> As much as I hate to think about it....I don't think he means his tool bag


 
I'd say you might think of it as a tool accessory pouch.


----------



## r_merc

Harbinger said:


> I was a young apprenti and a fella on our job had used to long of a screw to mount a breaker to the bus bar and it shorted out on the tub. He got flashed pretty good so we took him to the clinic.
> It was just about lunch time when I got back and I asked the foreman if we were going to have lunch. He said he wanted to "fix" the panel in question and told me to give him a hand. The panel was in a small closet with only one exit and I was on the opposite side of the panel with him between me and the door.
> He decides that he is going to remove the bus bar (I'm talking about the tab that the breakers mount to) from the bus while it is energized.
> "Shouldn't we deenergize it?" I says. "Naw, all the computers are running off this panel and it would be to inconvenient for them." He then pulled out his needle nose pliers (the shorted out screw had blown the end of the bus bar off. He had his needle nose in the remaining screw hole and over the end) and nut driver and tells me how he had done all kinds of live work as a line man etc etc.
> I musta said we should shut it off half a dozen times but he refused saying it was no problem. THe whole time in the back of my mind I am thinking, "if something happens the fuse will blow and it will be no big deal if he screws up." Boy was I wrong.
> I climbed myself into the corner of the room on a wooden ladder holding the flash light with him between me and the door. There he was in all his glory, standing on a spool of BX with one hand on his needle nose and the other on his nut driver unscrewing the bar. He looked at me and said "now this is where you have to be really careful."
> Instantly, everything went white and I was blind. The heat was un bearable and the god awful sound of a short BVVVZVVVVVT (you guys now the sound) was all I could hear. I was pressing myself against the ladder trying to get away but there was no where to go. I was cowering there for what seemed like forever waiting for the fuse to go. Finally I was like "I gotta get the hell out of here" and I peered under my arm and all I could see was the silloutte of my foreman still standing in front of the panel. I remembered from school as a last resort if you have to get some one off of something to kick them. Well I had no choice but to give him a boot to get out, so I gave him the hardest back kick from off of my ladder as I could and he went flying out the door. I hit the deck and belly crawled under the blue arcing fireball out the door.
> I picked him up and we stumbled blind down the hallway and stumbled out into a public area. There was a huge line up of people waiting to get on a gondola(this was at a ski resort) and I remember a lady screaming "oh my god look at his face!" I turned him around and his face was burned BAD, nose black, lips hanging in shreds.
> Well long story short he had third degree burns to his face, neck, chest, arms, and a broken knee from when I kicked him and he fell off the spool. He had gklasses on at the time and they saved his eyes, the were completely black and the nose peice and both arms had melted to his head!
> I lost all the hair on the back of my head and had a hole burned in the back of my jacket. I had arc flash and it took a while for my vision to return.
> I was told that what happened was that the panel shorted phase to phase and that it was called cascading as all the molten metal melts down and continues to short. The bus bars melted about two feet each. Apparently, they had the wrong type of fuse installed and that was why it did not trip. THis was when I was a first year apprentice so all the details of what kind of fuse it was was over my head at the time.
> Needless to say, who cares how inconvenient it is for anyone, shut it off!


OK My Razor knife story never mind its just blood.....

Arc Flash/Blast stories scare the hell out of me. All I can say is that your foreman was being and idiot and the both of you almost paid the ultimate price for that. He should have realized that with that original incident that better care needed to be taken with that piece of equipment. 

I have my own Arc Flash story where I was blind for about 30 seconds. I didn't use the right probes on my meter and shorted out 277V to a 120V Circuit and took out a 500A Main Breaker and a 1/4 of a big box store. I should have used my insulated probes (The one where the tip does come out until depressed) instead of the standard probe (The one with 1" of exposed metal). I was taking readings on Lighting contactor coils with the lighting circuits energized. (Damn Idiot Me). 

I got off easy. My sight returned quickly although it was painful for a day or so (Like looking at a welders Arc) I replaced the contactor and got the store back up.


----------



## gardiner

Aside from having a ladder break and falling 28 feet on a concrete block (which looked like crushed stone afterwards) needless to say I couldn't sit down for a few days I have been lucky.


----------



## blueheels2

1st incident- Installing safety rail over a window opening that had been cut in. There was metal studs to the side for wall framing. Kind of 1/2 done and there was a piece of stud with a jagged edge. Rammed my elbow into it and I got 5 staples. Bled on the wall downstair. Came back the next day and someone had made a big sign with an arrow pointing to my blood that said Lee's DNA. Thought that was pretty funny!
2nd incident- SHould probably be dead from this one. WOrking on 1 story building doing RTU changeouts. I was in the building working on the conduit tying into the pitch pocket. Crane operator had pulled in counterweights and outriggers but left crane fully extended. He saw the HVAC guys pulling something onto the roof with ropes and volunteered to crane it on for them. Moved crane as it was and it tipped over onto the building. Caved the bar joists in 2' feet directly above my head. When the ceiling dropped the pipes in the pitch pocket hit me in the head. Split it open but only got 5 staples. Had a small concussion which gave me post concussive headaches for 2 years following. Also got a 3% disability rating on my neck. It still gives me problems with stiffness and pain but what are you going to do? Building sustained 500,000$ in damage. The crane landed on a perimeter support column which took a lot of the weight. If not for the column I would be in 3 pieces.
3rd incident- Working with a auger (the one man kind that are 7 to 8 feet long). Myself and 2 other guys were moving it when one guy dropped the auger. When it swung back down it pinched the tip of my finger between the steel. It snapped it off pretty much except for the nail still holding it on. Had my nail ripped off at the hospital and the y stitched it back together across the nail bed then sewed the nail back on. Broke the bone in the end of my finger. THis was the worst as far as pain was concerned.


----------



## william1978

JohnJ0906 said:


> So have I. I swear, that tetanus shot hurt worse than the nail - my foot felt OK the next day, but my arm was sore for a week!


 I've had that happen also.


----------



## mikeh32

not so much work. i think the worst was i had a transmission dropped on my foot. but i bmx and skateboard... a list of the injuries

fractured skull 4 times
broken lower 6 ribs 3 times
both ankles 3 times each
both wrists
all fingers either broken, or dislocated
tore left arm out of socket
dislocated both ankles
detached my left ear
broken jaw 4 times


i think that is it. i forget some times.... though that shouldn't be shocking


----------



## manchestersparky

Lets see where to start ?!
5-Stitches in my left hand
6 -stitches in my right thumb
hit in the head with a pair of kleins left on top of a 8' ladder
Hit with 277 a few different times
Hit with 120 many times
Had the finger nail ripped off a finger on my right hand
Fell off the top of a 4' ladder ruined my left ankle ( it bothers me to this day 19 years later) When I landed I heard a loud Popping noise from my ankle. I was "tough" I tied my boots as tight as I could and stood up on my right foot.
Then I put my left foot down flat on the floor and put some weight on it. I heard a sound worse then the first one, I felt a terrible pain shooting up my leg, I saw stars, got light headed, started sweating, then I fell down again.
I'm not sure if I passed out before I hit the floor or after, but I blacked out for a few moments. I went to the hospital and they put it in an air cast and sent me to a specialist. I didn't break it ! What I did was start to pull it apart when I fell of the ladder. When I stood up and put weight on it I jammed it back together! I was told it was a good thing I stood up straight on it. I limped for about 6 or 7 months.

I jumped down a set of steps years later and landed on my right foot wrong and down I went. I thought I broke my Right ankle this time. Didn't.
Started to rip the tendons and such off the bone above the ankle.
Limped for another 6 or 7 months

Was Making sleeves on a job using 8" long pieces of 3" rigid and pieces of rebar. I was getting the rebar welded to the sides of the rigid. Needed two more in a hurry to complete the deck rough in. I held the rebar aganist the rigid, lined it up, closed my eyes and the welder did a quick tack. Was lining up the last one and the welder got a little carried away. I ended up with welders flash in both eyes at the same time.

These are just the highlights of my injuries at work. I'm sure there are plenty more that will come to mind. Not to mention the ones outside of work. I had about 75 stitches between the ages or 7 and 13.


----------



## drsparky

Got a owie once and a boo boo twice.


----------



## user4818

I was stripping some of that really old petrified UF cable with a razor knife. Of course the knife slipped. Really deep cut. Lots of blood. It probably needed stitches but I didn't get them.


----------



## mikeh32

Peter D said:


> I was stripping some of that really old petrified UF cable with a razor knife. Of course the knife slipped. Really deep cut. Lots of blood. It probably needed stitches but I didn't get them.


no need for stitches when you have super glue


----------



## user4818

mikeh32 said:


> no need for stitches when you have super glue


I used the "electricians bandage" - electrical tape. Guaranteed sterile. :jester:


----------



## Speedy Petey

mikeh32 said:


> no need for stitches when you have super glue


That's what Crazy glue was invented for, wasn't it?


----------



## mikeh32

Speedy Petey said:


> That's what Crazy glue was invented for, wasn't it?


yup. for the military


----------



## Faultfinder1

Alright, here I go peein' on everyone's Cheerios again - but this thread seems to me to be heavily leaning towards bragging about getting hurt, or almost getting killed at work. Which basically turns into a game of "Who is the biggest idiot". Especially the arc flash guy - you knew it wasn't safe, you expressed to your boss that the situation wasn't safe, you knew the potential of serious and injury, _but you went ahead and did it anyway? _People with that kind of attitude don't deserve to be working around other people, or at all. 
I mean, I fully appreciate some of the stories that are being related and _hopefully_ others are learning something here - let's just not brag about how many injuries we've gotten over the years. 
There are very few, if any real accidents - the rest are caused by 2 things. Those who are ignorant of safety (don't know better), and those who don't care about safety (choose to hurt themselves and others). That's the bottom line.

If you caught an electric shock - you are not wearing PPE, didn't deenergize, and there's no reason that you are still alive, explain that to your family.
If you got hit in the head with something, you probably should have worn a hard hat - simple basic PPE
Cut your hand, bled all over the place, got stitches? I hope that felt good and I hope you had to pay for it - next time wear your gloves. Again, basic rules of PPE.

Personally, I don't like getting hurt and I really hate paying for the medical care and missing days of work. I get just as much done as everyone else and am just as productive. In 20+ years of doing outside underground electrical work I cut myself once and got a groin hernia, which wasn't caused by anything except working too hard. 

Think safety, teach safety, and preach safety so we can all go home every evening with all of our fingers and toes. 

(rant complete!)

www.faultlocating.com


----------



## LGLS

I agree with Faultfinder. Most of the posts have focused on the blood & gore. Now let's talk about the really debilitating injuries that are not nearly as theatric but are far more common, back, neck and knees...

I know more sparkys that cannot bend to pick up a screwdriver, or cannot stand for more than a couple of hours at a time. 

Watch you back gentlemen. Lift with your legs and never embrace the attitude that "you can do it" just to prove something.


----------



## lectricboy

Got into a 277 volt lighting circuit about 20 years ago. Gravity saved me, My arms were constricting I thought it was time for me to go.


----------



## 220/221

Dehydration last summer. Overnight in the hospital...$9500.


----------



## user4818

220/221 said:


> Dehydration last summer. Overnight in the hospital...$9500.


No health insurance?


----------



## steelersman

220/221 said:


> Dehydration last summer. Overnight in the hospital...$9500.


$9500 is cheap! I spent the night one time and the bill just from the hospital providing me with a bed for the night and I guess to watch me was $12000 and that was 10 years ago!


----------



## user4818

steelersman said:


> $9500 is cheap! I spent the night one time and the bill just from the hospital providing me with a bed for the night and I guess to watch me was $12000 and that was 10 years ago!


Well, someone's got to pay for all the illegal aliens who get free health care.


----------



## 220/221

$5k deductible :jester:


----------



## paul d.

i thought most ins. plans covered 100% on emergency. ?????? maybe we all need to check our coverage. :blink:


----------



## sparkyboys

does a broken fingernail count as an accident?


----------



## 220/221

No but a broken condom does.


----------



## RePhase277

Don't you have a right to brag if you come out of it alive and not really hurt too badly? Sure something may have been a stupid thing to do, but you lived to not do it again. Now you can make new stupid mistakes.


----------



## 220/221

When I relate stories of my stupidity, it is to educate rather than brag.

It is a wise man that can learn from* other people's* mistakes.


----------



## erics37

I saw a guy die less than a year ago on the job  It was pretty rough.

He was an iron worker; they had a flatbed come in with some more steel I-beams and such. He was up on the bed rigging each beam so the crane could pick it off. Apparently he lost his footing and fell off the end, and his pantleg or foot or something caught on the end of the beam and unbalanced it enough so that it toppled off the edge of the bed.  It crunched him directly on the head.

It was really really brutal and I hope to never have to witness something like that again.

There was a huge pool of blood - someone called 911. My journeyman ran to the van and grabbed the first aid kit with the CPR mask and gloves and all that... fortunately there was a county sheriff right up the street and the two of them did CPR on the guy until the ambulance showed up. He died pretty much from drowning in his own blood.

Everyone went home early that day and I was shaken up for a couple of days.


----------



## steelersman

erics37 said:


> I saw a guy die less than a year ago on the job  It was pretty rough.
> 
> He was an iron worker; they had a flatbed come in with some more steel I-beams and such. He was up on the bed rigging each beam so the crane could pick it off. Apparently he lost his footing and fell off the end, and his pantleg or foot or something caught on the end of the beam and unbalanced it enough so that it toppled off the edge of the bed. It crunched him directly on the head.
> 
> It was really really brutal and I hope to never have to witness something like that again.
> 
> There was a huge pool of blood - someone called 911. My journeyman ran to the van and grabbed the first aid kit with the CPR mask and gloves and all that... fortunately there was a county sheriff right up the street and the two of them did CPR on the guy until the ambulance showed up. He died pretty much from drowning in his own blood.
> 
> Everyone went home early that day and I was shaken up for a couple of days.


so a steel beam fell on his head but it didn't crush it? Just made him bleed real bad? Enough for him to drown in? Makes no sense. I'd say he most likely died from the blow or crush to the head, rather than drowning.


----------



## Buddha In Babylon

reading all these stories makes me feel something...something very disturbing. The double standard that is in our trade/industry when it comes to safety and doing things right, is unbearable sometimes. My JW always does stupid **** hot, when constantly in school they are telling me there is no room, reason, or circumstance when things should be done hot unless it's life support. They want you to do your job right, but they want it down NOW, with no noise, out of sight, and with no hassle at all, they don't want to see you, hear you, talk to you, but by god that job has to be done yesterday. I HATE this schit....I am cool as a clam when i have to be when we open up a panel and start poking and prodding, and i do everything i can to assist in the most efficient and safe manner, and anticipate my foremans every move, so that he doesn't get distracted from what he is doing, but to me it's ridiculous that we even do the job to begin with, just to save us having to come back another day. Reading my mans story about working at the ski resort and experiencing the arc of the covenant first hand like that makes me swallow a little harder and breathe a little deeper...that's a terrible thing to happen and i am so happy your are around to tell us about it man. that could have been the end of you and your foreman. I pray to all cosmos that doesn't happen to me someday, cause i'm in that situation all the time these days....phuk....


----------



## erics37

steelersman said:


> so a steel beam fell on his head but it didn't crush it? Just made him bleed real bad? Enough for him to drown in? Makes no sense. I'd say he most likely died from the blow or crush to the head, rather than drowning.


I didn't see the actual fall; I was around a corner when I heard people start yelling.

It didn't crush his head flat or anything. I think it was a corner or edge that got his head and opened it up. The beam wasn't still on him, it was right next to him and probably got him as it was bouncing end-to-end from the bed. Either way, he had stopped breathing pretty quick (probably from the head injury) and there was quite a bit of blood going everywhere, including into his mouth and nose and whatnot. Once or twice he would gag or retch or something, involuntarily. All in all it was maybe 60 seconds till CPR was started, and probably about five minutes till the ambulance got there. But he had a heartbeat for a couple minutes after it happened, and then nothing.

There were several dozen workers on the jobsite... but out of all those people, only two reacted: the foreman who called 911 immediately, and my journeyman who ran for the CPR gear right away. Everyone else (myself included) was just paralyzed and shocked. It's just like they say in the CPR/First Aid training videos... when an accident happens, more often than not people just stand there, afraid to react. It is very true. I even take my CPR training every year, and my first aid every two (or three).. but even then, I was frozen. First time I had ever seen something like that in person.


----------



## Toronto Sparky

Fell off a 5 foot aluminum ladder hitting a oak desk then the floor.. got up cursed and fell down again (or so they told me).
Ended up with a double brain hemorrhage (front and back). 
That was in 2001.. off for 6 months . sence of smell and taste have never completely returned. 
Now I have a terminal Illness that was probably caused my that fall. (ALS) But seems there is no conclusive proof of that. Rumors also claim it may be caused by heavy metal exposure and/or Electrical shock. We are all exposed to them almost daily.

Be Careful out there.


----------



## iaov

Cut an artery in my thumb once and watched it squirt with every heartbeat. Got bit by 277 arm to arm. That sucked alot. Last year I fell off a ladder(first time in 30 years on ladders) Only fell 3 feet. Body blow was enough to nock me goofy(goofier?) for a few seconds. Got a black eye out of the deal. Everyone assumed that A> Blondie punched me and B>I deserved it!!


----------



## bobelectric

Peter D said:


> I was stripping some of that really old petrified UF cable with a razor knife. Of course the knife slipped. Really deep cut. Lots of blood. It probably needed stitches but I didn't get them.


 Me and my x Kitty had a big beef.The next morning I was up to my knees in mud,still steaming,stripping an a/c cable,Sliced my finger with a razor knife,big time.Needed stiches. We parted company.Then I changed companies.


----------



## Faultfinder1

1)No - you shouldn't be bragging about your stupidity, your next stupid move might get someone else injured instead of just you. Stupid is as stupid does.

2) Isn't anyone safe _before_ they get hurt? You got hurt because you didn't listen and you thought it couldn't happen to you. You got dehydrated because you weren't smart enough to drink water on a hot day. Your ladder broke and you fell because you didn't inspect it - or you were on the top of it. 

It seems practically endless, the tales of those who got hurt simply because they didn't pay attention to the rules. It doesn't have to happen, you know - none of us ever need to get hurt. Getting hurt sucks!


www.faultlocating.com


----------



## Toronto Sparky

But being too safe makes one unemployed .. Sad but very true.


----------



## Faultfinder1

Toronto Sparky said:


> But being too safe makes one unemployed .. Sad but very true.


I'd rather be unemployed than laid up in a Burn Center for months on end. 

We shouldn't have to be afraid to do our jobs safely just because we assume that some clown will come along behind us and do the job that we turned down for safety reasons. Personally, I could care less what the customer/client or other electricians think - I'm the one going home at the end of the day. With or without a job, I'm still going home.


www.faultlocating.com


----------



## 220/221

> You got dehydrated because you weren't smart enough to drink water on a hot day.


Hey, if I was smart I *certainly* wouldn't be doing this schit for a living.

And, I thought 3/4 gallon between 7AM and 11AM was enough.

And, If I was smart I would have just gone home when I started to feel really bad and told them they had to wait one more day. I felt obligated to stick it out rill 2PM when the job was inspected/passed/reenergized. BIG mistake.:jester:

And, if I was smart, I wouldn't have been married and divorced twice.

See where I'm going with this?


----------



## TexasSuper

I am a project supt. for a general contractor and I get so tired of sending people home for standing on top of ladders risking their lives and a lot of the time its because their company didnt train them the right way or they wouldnt provide them with a tall enough ladder. I usually write a safety notice to their immediate supervisor as well because he is also responsible for your safety. In fact if you read the OSHA rules you will see that its illegal to work from the step below the top as well. Ladders should have labels on them telling you how much weight they were designed for and how high you can work on them. If you cant read the manufacturers instruction label then the ladder is illegal. Work safe people and when you get sent home for doing something you knew better than to do, dont bitch about it, you got caught and realize that someone just helped to protect you from yourself.


----------



## steelersman

Non-sense! I can't stand safety heads.


----------



## TexasSuper

steelersman said:


> Non-sense! I can't stand safety heads.


I use to wish that OSHA would have a SPECIAL form for people like you to sign that would relieve your supervisor of any responsibility for your careless actions and that would also allow you to disregard the federal laws and work as unsafe as youd like but then again no one wants be on a job site and have to work around dangerous, careless, and hazardous coworkers who obviously dont care about there own safety much less the safety of anyone around them.


----------



## steelersman

Blather I say!


----------



## Faultfinder1

Another statistic just waiting to happen. What can you expect from a Steelers fan, though? Just kidding - seriously. I don't want to talk football. 

I agree somewhat, from the worker's point of view an overdone safety program seems burdensome. "Safetyheads" are nothing short of annoying and safety rules slow the job down or increase costs. PPE is uncomfortable and gets in the way. In the real world none of this true. It is a matter of perception, and the hard heads out here refuse to change anything about the way that they have been working their entire career. 

True, some safetyheads are only interested in writing you up for violations - but most are concerned with getting you home in one piece at the end of the day. Doing your job safely does not slow you down, its all in your head. The bottom line here is - if you want to go home in a box then keep working unsafely. If you want to see your family again you only need to change your attitude towards safety a little bit. wear the dern PPE and follow the rules - its not that difficult!


www.faultlocating.com


----------



## drsparky

Safety first.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – An AIDS advocacy group filed complaints against 16 adult-film studios in California on Thursday, accusing them of violating state workplace safety rules by failing to require **** actors to wear condoms.
The complaints, submitted along with five dozen DVD copies of pornographic films produced by the companies as evidence, formally call on the state's Division of Occupational Safety and Health to conduct an inquiry.
A former **** actress joined the filing with a complaint of her own against three additional production companies.
The agency swiftly vowed to investigate the complaints.
"We take it seriously, and it will be addressed," Cal-OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer said of the situation.
The filing marks the latest effort by the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a group that works to prevent the spread of HIV infection and treat patients around the world, to safeguard adult-film performers.
The $12 billion-a-year U.S. **** movie business is largely centered in the San Fernando Valley surburbs of Los Angeles.
Last month, the foundation sued Los Angeles County, accusing public health officials there of failing to enforce laws aimed at curbing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases within the adult entertainment industry.
The suit was filed after the disclosure that a **** actress had tested positive for HIV in June, leading health officials to reveal 16 more previously unpublicized cases among adult-film performers since a 2004 outbreak that prompted tougher testing and reporting rules.
California health and safety authorities are still investigating an industry-based clinic that tests performers and issues work certificates for those deemed healthy.
The latest complaints say the films demonstrate that they were made without performers wearing condoms, in violation of state regulations requiring workers be protected from blood-borne pathogens in the exchange of bodily fluids.
"They have a valid point here," Fyer said of the filings. "The blood-borne pathogens standard is designed to protect workers where there is the risk of transmission of diseases through bodily excretions that occur as part of adult film activity."
Public health figures show that more than 2,800 sexually transmitted disease cases were diagnosed among 1,884 **** performers in Los Angeles County, many suffering multiple infections, from April 2004 to March 2008.
**** executives insist the industry has successfully policed itself with voluntary guidelines that call for monthly testing and quarantines of actors found to be infected.
"If Los Angeles County chooses to enforce mandatory condoms, what you'll see is all adult production leave California," Vivid Entertainment founder Steve Hirsch told the Los Angeles Times.


----------



## steelersman

I understand certain safety measures are common sense. Such as arc flash protection and fall protection when working at dangerous heights. But certain things irritate me like wearing a reflective vest inside of a building. I'm not working around moving vehicles. I don't need to stick out like a sore thumb. And wearing a hardhat when there is no work being done overhead or even more irritating wearing a hardhat in a finished space. And glasses too. Ignorant. I'm not a little kid. I don't need to be protected by some moron who just got out of college and has never even swung a hammer in his coddled life.


----------



## Faultfinder1

I understand your points completely. For years I worked on underground electric utilities and was required to wear a hard hat - as if the cables were going to jump right out of the ground and smack me squarely in the head! 

The safety vest inside I would have to question, I cannot think of a single regulation that would require that - unless it is just a company policy, and a ridiculous one at that. I still hold firm on safety glasses, though. It doesn't take much an accident at all to mess up your eyes, and those little buggers can't be fixed. 

I also agree with your point on the new breed of safety inspectors. I don't think that anyone should be allowed to be a safety guy unless they have experience actually doing the work that they are inspecting. Like that will ever happen!


www.faultlocating.com


----------



## mpoulton

steelersman said:


> I understand certain safety measures are common sense. Such as arc flash protection and fall protection when working at dangerous heights. But certain things irritate me like wearing a reflective vest inside of a building. I'm not working around moving vehicles.


If we don't require them full-time, nobody puts them back on when they go to areas on the site that are subject to vehicle and equipment traffic. So full-time vests it is. Our company left the vest rule up to site superintendents, with the guideline that they should be required on sites with significant equipment traffic, but that if vests are required then they must be worn at all times. This seemed to work.



> I don't need to stick out like a sore thumb.


Really? You trust every 18 year old dropout hot-rodding around that site in a SkyTrak? Making equipment operators drive responsibly is yet another battle for superintendents, and it's one we just can't win completely. Hence the vests.



> And wearing a hardhat when there is no work being done overhead or even more irritating wearing a hardhat in a finished space. And glasses too. Ignorant.


Hardhats protect from two general classes of accidents: dropped objects and bumped heads. Dropped objects can kill you, but that hazard is only present when there is overhead work. However, whacking your head on something hard or, worse, sharp can result in a lost-time injury. Workers do this all the time in finished spaces. They ram their heads into pipe hangers above the grid, stand up with their heads under cabinets, etc. Usually nothing bad happens, but every now and then someone gets a rather serious cut or concussion as a result, or falls off a ladder. On a big site, it happens with some regularity.

How can you say eye protection in a finished space is ignorant? Most eye injuries do not result from "heavy construction" activities - they result from the work the individual worker is doing, or the worker's immediate surroundings. Drill chips, concrete dust, bits of metal, flying clipped-off wire bits, dangling grid ties, falling bits of crap from above the grid - these are the causes of eye injuries. They occur just as much in "finished" spaces as unfinished. Full-time eye protection is more effective at reducing jobsite injuries than any other safety policy.



> I'm not a little kid. I don't need to be protected by some moron who just got out of college and has never even swung a hammer in his coddled life.


Research indicates otherwise. Collectively, construction workers DO need to be protected from themselves. Anyone who has supervised a large group of them certainly knows this. The general demographic on a jobsite is skewed towards young men with aggressive, tough personalities and a propensity for stereotypically masculine behavior - risk-taking, thrill-seeking, showing off, and proving their invincibility. Some will do things unsafely simply because they like danger. Certainly there are plenty of responsible workers on any jobsite who respect safety and understand their own limitations. They are usually the ones who end up in leadership. The problem is that the dangerous ones make the project unsafe for everyone else, not just themselves. These are the workers who give rise to the need for enforcement of safety policies site-wide.

In my experience, it doesn't matter whether a superintendent worked his way up from the trades or came straight out of college - anyone who is experienced in supervising jobsites has observed the need for universal safety enforcement. These issues have been thoroughly researched and analyzed by us no-hammer-swingin' coddled-life-livin' just-outta-college punks, and the conclusion is that these safety policies are a good business decision. You think contractors LIKE to implement policies that slow production and cost huge amounts of money? Hell no! Big contractors are serious businesses! The only way these rules come into effect is when the negative impact of the safety program is proven to be less than the impact of the injuries it actually prevents.


----------



## Toronto Sparky

"fall protection when working at dangerous heights?"

Dangerous heights.. 
I learned the hard way all heights are dangerous.
Seems one pays more attention the higher one gets.
Wearing a harness up a ladder seems to be more of a hazard than not wearing one.
Normally there is no where to attach it anyway.
As for falling.. I fell off a 5ft step ladder and ended up with a double brain hemorrhage that put me out of work for 6 months and screwed up my sense of taste forever. 
It's all about how you land not how far you fell.

Could never really understand wearing a harness on a lift?
You are surrounded by a guard rail and if the lift is gonna tip I think one would stand a better chance not being attached to it. 

Anyway.. Work safe.. and legal .. you will get more done.


----------



## steelersman

mpoulton said:


> Really? You trust every 18 year old dropout hot-rodding around that site in a SkyTrak?


I have yet to see an 18 year old operating any equipment which requires a morsel of skill.




mpoulton said:


> Hardhats protect from two general classes of accidents: dropped objects and bumped heads.


This is why I'd rather wear a bump hat, but the safety clowns say it's no good since it doesn't have a harness.



mpoulton said:


> Dropped objects can kill you


Wow. I never went to college, but somehow I was clearly aware of that.



mpoulton said:


> but that hazard is only present when there is overhead work.


Tell that to the still wet behind the ears, college chumps who can't seem to grasp that concept.



mpoulton said:


> Workers do this all the time in finished spaces.


I don't know what jobsites you've been on, but I'd say they aren't very good ones if guys are constantly injuring themselves around you. 





mpoulton said:


> How can you say eye protection in a finished space is ignorant?


I'd gladly sign a waver on every job stating that I'm ON the hook and responsible for myself and anything that I do to myself.





mpoulton said:


> In my experience


What exactly is your experience?



mpoulton said:


> it doesn't matter whether a superintendent worked his way up from the trades or came straight out of college


I couldn't disagree with you more. I know that a veteran is much more respected than a boy or girl fresh out of college who has no intention of staying in the consruction field, but simply can't find a job to put that college education into action, so for the meantime they are passing the time on a jobsite not knowing "****" about it.


----------



## RePhase277

If they removed the step below the top of the ladder, one would think it would alleviate the rash of "do not stand on or above this step" violations. But in reality, they'd just put the sticker on the next lowest.


----------



## Toronto Sparky

InPhase277 said:


> If they removed the step below the top of the ladder, one would think it would alleviate the rash of "do not stand on or above this step" violations. But in reality, they'd just put the sticker on the next lowest.



Never thought of that... Why do they put the step in there if you can't use it?


----------



## drsparky

Toronto Sparky said:


> Never thought of that... Why do they put the step in there if you can't use it?


The top two steps can kill. :jester:








This ladder can do nothing than kill.:jester:


----------



## Kevin J

:laughing::laughing::laughing:


----------

