Wednesday Worsts… Workplace accidents

CDGator

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Any work place accidents you can speak about?

Daughter started a new summer job today. She went in for training for an hour before they all had to leave because of a gas leak under the building. Not sure when she will be able to go back to work. Grrr, I’m a bit suspicious that she sabotaged the building.


IMG_1772.jpeg
 

AlexDaGator

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iu


Something like this in a restaurant I was working in.

Pot of hot water just a smidge under boiling.

Employee mishandled the glass carafe and spilled near-boiling water on his hand, wrist, and forearm.

The skin went yellowish-white and immediately started to slough off.

It was sickening.

If you've worked in a restaurant kitchen, you know contact burns, grease burns, steam burns, you know silvadene.

This was the worst burn I've ever seen.

At UF, I read Harry Crews' (Gator Alum) childhood account of falling into a vat of hot water for scalding hogs, and my mind immediately went back to that incident. One of our posters had this picture of Crews as an avatar.

iu



Alex.
 

Detroitgator

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I have been involved in several, but this one... that actually happened on THIS day in 1987. I will never forget the moment this happened and the rest of that day. Had it not been for 3 Blackhawks sitting right there that were able to fly the 12 wounded straight to the main hospital in Nuremberg, there would have been a lot more dead.
 

B52G8rAC

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I have been involved in several, but this one... that actually happened on THIS day in 1987. I will never forget the moment this happened and the rest of that day. Had it not been for 3 Blackhawks sitting right there that were able to fly the 12 wounded straight to the main hospital in Nuremberg, there would have been a lot more dead.
The "peacetime military" is inherently a dangerous profession.
 

GatorCatsi

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While roughnecking in Wyoming to make money for school, the mudman and I had to release a chain boomer to open a mud gate.

The mudman was experienced. I was what was known as the "worm" - the greenest member of the crew. Or, as the driller, my uncle, in his thick Greek accent called me "you fcking worm!"

Anyway, the boomer was so tight we had to slide a six-foot piece of pipe over it to get more leverage. (I later learned that to close it, three deckhands had stood on it with a nine-foot pipe.)

The mudman, not being an idiot, was pushing while I stood pulling from the other side. He stopped us for a moment and suggested I reposition myself so that we were both pushing, "just in case."

I assured him that by keeping my arms stiff and straight, I would just spring back when the boomer released.

Next thing I knew, I was standing about 6 feet back from where had just been, with the mudman looking at me in horror, and a stream of something wet and sticky (my own blood) pouring down my face from my fractured frontal bone and caved in sinuses from getting smacked by that piece of pipe..

I looked like Frankenstein for a couple weeks. Probably a good thing I was wearing my hardhat.
 
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soflagator

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While roughnecking in Wyoming to make money for school, the mudman and I had to release a chain boomer to open a mud gate.

The mudman was experienced. I was what was known as the "worm" - the greenest member of the crew. Or, as the driller, my uncle, in his thick Greek accent called me "you fcking worm!"

Anyway, the boomer was so tight we had to slide a six-foot piece of pipe over it to get more leverage. (I later learned that to close it, three deckhands had stood on it with a nine-foot pipe.)

The mudman, not being an idiot, was pushing while I stood pulling from the other side. He stopped us for a moment and suggested I reposition myself so that we were both pushing, "just in case."

I assured him that by keeping my arms stiff and straight, I would just spring back when the boomer released.

Next thing I knew, I was standing about 6 feet back from where had just been, with the mudman looking at me in horror, and a stream of something wet and sticky (my own blood) pouring down my face from my fractured frontal bone and caved in sinuses from getting smacked by that piece of pipe..

I looked like Frankenstein for a couple weeks. Probably a good thing I was wearing my hardhat.

Ton of respect for roughnecks from my O&G days. And I just got a broad strokes view.
 

CDGator

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Reading your stories brought back a similar memory. At least it's on the same epic workplace fail scale as what some of you describe. :lol:

A customer was a baker and brought in two dozen doughnuts in one large box for all of us. I took it off the counter holding the ends, not supporting the center, and the box caved inward. All the doughnuts go crashing to the ground.

All my co-workers hated me. I know you all can relate with your similar workplace accident stories.



Season 3 Wall GIF by The Simpsons
 

CDGator

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At UF, I read Harry Crews' (Gator Alum) childhood account of falling into a vat of hot water for scalding hogs, and my mind immediately went back to that incident. One of our posters had this picture of Crews as an avatar
When I was at UF my boyfriend at the time got 3rd degree burns from hot grease. He was in Shands for a week and I went into the burn unit to learn how to debris the wounds. While his were bad, he healed, I'll never forget the sights and sounds of the little kids in the unit. HORRIBLE
 
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Nalt

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Jul 23, 2020
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Reading your stories brought back a similar memory. At least it's on the same epic workplace fail scale as what some of you describe. :lol:

A customer was a baker and brought in two dozen doughnuts in one large box for all of us. I took it off the counter holding the ends, not supporting the center, and the box caved inward. All the doughnuts go crashing to the ground.

All my co-workers hated me. I know you all can relate with your similar workplace accident stories.



Season 3 Wall GIF by The Simpsons
giphy.gif


Wasting doughnuts is "the" unforgivable sin... :shakehead:
 

jeeping8r

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Got steamed on left leg when a severely overheating tractor blew a freeze plug.. I've got pics.
As I was getting cooked the tractor was still moving so had to push clutch in then pull fuel shutoff.
The pics from a week later look a lot worse than the day of pics.
I was expecting major pain but the worst it felt was like a a mild sunburn.
I'll post if you sickos (I use that term lovingly) want to see them
 

cover2

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My last month before retiring I was directing students at graduation practice in the gym. Standing next to the bleachers, I turned to follow the students and got my foot caught, sending me sprawling. I caught myself, but my right wrist was pretty painful. I tried icing it then just tried to shake it off like I’d done a thousand times playing ball, coaching, etc. wound up going to the ortho clinic where an X-ray revealed a fracture of the Scaphoid. Six weeks in a cast followed by 6 weeks PT.

First broken bone ever. To make matters worse, the fracture occurred on a bone lesion which is a potential problem that goes along with Multiple Myeloma. That led to an MRI that also revealed another lesion in the left femur. The result was a shot of radiation at each site. Luckily I’m all healed up. The downer was another reminder of my mortality. But I was also reminded that “it could always be worse!” Thank goodness Workers Comp took care of everything.
 

jeeping8r

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Forgot..... My WORST workplace accident was putting a bungy cord into my right eye. My niece the nurse shuddered when she saw it.
3 surgeries later I'm legally blind in that eye. Close up depth perception sucks.
 

gingerlover

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Working around construction sites me and my coworkers have been lucky to only have a smashed finger or nail through a boot.

That being said we have worked on sites with fatalities. Two that come to mind. The one in Orlando was an apartment off Orange Ave. a guy got off the train, walked on site to the top of the garage and jumped. Our webcam caught it. The other was a dorm at FSU. A young kid on the elevator crew caught caught and ripped in half.
 

Nalt

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My last month before retiring I was directing students at graduation practice in the gym. Standing next to the bleachers, I turned to follow the students and got my foot caught, sending me sprawling. I caught myself, but my right wrist was pretty painful. I tried icing it then just tried to shake it off like I’d done a thousand times playing ball, coaching, etc. wound up going to the ortho clinic where an X-ray revealed a fracture of the Scaphoid. Six weeks in a cast followed by 6 weeks PT.

First broken bone ever. To make matters worse, the fracture occurred on a bone lesion which is a potential problem that goes along with Multiple Myeloma. That led to an MRI that also revealed another lesion in the left femur. The result was a shot of radiation at each site. Luckily I’m all healed up. The downer was another reminder of my mortality. But I was also reminded that “it could always be worse!” Thank goodness Workers Comp took care of everything.
Not sure that I would call that an accident. More of a "Devine intervention" type situation. A guy that I used to work with was an avid cyclist. He was riding around town one day years ago and a careless driver hit him. His injuries sent him to the hospital where many tests were done to make sure he was ok. A blood test revealed that he had some weird type of blood disease that he would likely have never known about until it was too late so he was able to get that treated.

And you are right, it can always be worse. Thankful that yours wasn't...
 

Nalt

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Jul 23, 2020
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My personal "worst workplace accident" happened back in the early 90's. I was working at a manufacturer that made the tire cord fabric for various tire companies. I worked in the "twisting" department where the fibers were twisted into yarn before it was woven into cloth. I had an overhead carriage that had roughly 300+ spools of unspun yarn that would be twisted into the cords to be woven. As I was pulling it down the monorail I had to go through a turn-table to turn it around so that it would go over the twister machine properly. When the last wheel was about to leave the turn-table another worker turned it on me. That resulted in the entire carriage, three sections, springing backwards as I was pulling it forwards. This caused my shoulder to pop out of place momentarily. My boss was standing there watching the whole time and I looked at him and asked what happened. His response was, "He pulled the rope on the turn-table on you." I didn't think much of it because the pain went away for the most part but over the next few days/weeks the pain returned and was increasing in intensity. I went to report it to my boss and he asked me, "What happened?" to which I reminded him that he was watching when it happened. Duh! Had to take anti-inflammatory meds for the next 2 or 3 years... That is also the shoulder that I had surgery on back in December of last year...
 

g8r.tom

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My last month before retiring I was directing students at graduation practice in the gym. Standing next to the bleachers, I turned to follow the students and got my foot caught, sending me sprawling. I caught myself, but my right wrist was pretty painful. I tried icing it then just tried to shake it off like I’d done a thousand times playing ball, coaching, etc. wound up going to the ortho clinic where an X-ray revealed a fracture of the Scaphoid. Six weeks in a cast followed by 6 weeks PT.

First broken bone ever. To make matters worse, the fracture occurred on a bone lesion which is a potential problem that goes along with Multiple Myeloma. That led to an MRI that also revealed another lesion in the left femur. The result was a shot of radiation at each site. Luckily I’m all healed up. The downer was another reminder of my mortality. But I was also reminded that “it could always be worse!” Thank goodness Workers Comp took care of everything.


The poor kids. All they remember now about the great Cover2 is that he fell in the end. They will say "Good thing he retired when he did."


:grin:
 

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