Health and Safety......Shake hands with Danger!!..your stories?

[99call]

Love this old school H&S film.   Were were shown it as a sort of tongue in cheek joke on a job I did a few years back.   Always loved the tune, and this remix is ace.

Anyway, what are you best/worst H&S stories?.....near misses etc.  A couple of mine

Had a mate who worked in a restoration workshop, they were order to always polish silver and brass chain by hand.......anyway someone who new better and wanted to save time, went on the floor mounted buffing wheel.......the chain quickly looped up into the mechanism, and whipped the operative to the floor.   luckily he was able to press the red stopper button on the floor, but not before he'd been whipped about 50 times in 3seconds.

On a training day for cherrypicker licensing, me an 5 other fellas were unlucky enough to have a training instructor who was some sort of demented pervert.   After completing the training, he asked us:

 "do you want to to see what happens when things go wrong?"  (with and evil grin)   

"Erm?  NO!"  (we responded in perfect unison). 

 Without listening to us, he opens up the image on the projector.................."jesus!!!!   what is that!?"   We are met with what looks like a pair of mini aubergines or large caperberries covered in blood.   He tells up with glee.  "this is a guy who didn't do up his harness correctly and when falling out a cherry picker, tore his own scrotum off"............good lord...there are no words... 

 

[nKostyan]

I had a real case of building a bridge. Came a young safety-engineer. He was walking through the construction site and saw a working diesel compressor. The propeller of the radiator cooling the engine had a safety lattice (cell). "Are you know that the lattice need to have the size of a cell which protects the person from injuries? With these words, he inserted his finger into the cell and immediately left without a finger." In fact, the cell protects the working personal from accidental touches of the fan, but it does not protect the fool who sticks his finger.

[RDB]

A few months ago I was working in Uganda when my driver discovered that the expressway to the airport was closed in the direction we wanted. No problem, he just went round the roundabout, drove the wrong way up the exit, and drove us the wrong way down the road. For 20km into the oncoming traffic in the fast lane, with concrete barriers either side of the dual carriageway. At one point a military & VIP convoy was heading towards us. About seven vehicles with flashing lights and trucks full of soldiers at both ends. We were closing at a combined speed of say 200kph. At the last minute they all moved over.

[HiPower]

 One evening a press brake operator in the shop pinched his fingers between work piece and press bed while bending a joggle. Instead of having someone back the press up he cycled it. Snap went three fingers. Luckily they were just broken.

 Same shop, different brake, different operator, fingers on the floor.

 Plucked  a young kid out of a grinder one evening. He got his finger caught in a feed roller drive chain. That was pretty. He passed out when he saw it.

 Had to take an older woman (mid 60s) to the hospital one evening. She lost a bunch of finger bits to a centerless grinder. Tough old gal though, she cursed that damn machine the whole way! Then, weeks later when her finger nail was growing back in sideways and irritating her she groused a bit about it, grasped it with her teeth and proceeded to rip it clean off!!

 Saw a 500 gal tank of 1.1.1 trichloroethane come unzipped. That got all the alphabet agencies to the shop!!

 I could go on and on....

[99call]

9 minutes ago, RDB said:

At the last minute they all moved over.

wow, that just made my bottom wince. 

I was working in Jeddah a couple of years ago, and on Fridays, my mate was keen to see some of the country.  Anyway we decided to go up to the mountains of Taif.  The journey itself was harrowing, travelling up the road to Mecca, there were huge sculptures of AK47's.  then we missed the turn for the 'Christian road' and got real life AK47's pointed in our faces. 

On the way back, unusually it started to rain heavily, anyway it became obvious to use that none of the locals seem to change their driving or breaking distances. We were basically driving down this mountain road, desperately trying to avoid people driving like lunatics.    Right on the bend of the huge over hang, we see cars hammering on the breaks in front of us.  we put on the breaks, only to hear the sliding of tyres behind us.  We look in the rear view mirror, and see a car aqua planeing towards us.  last minute is alters course and plows into the barriers.       Mafi Mushkila!!

[Fuzz]

I accidentally stubbed my steel cap boot into a pallet this morning at the warehouse, and slightly bruised my little toe, when it banged on the inside of my boot. Does this count?

[nKostyan]

I accidentally stubbed my steel cap boot into a pallet this morning at the warehouse, and slightly bruised my little toe, when it banged on the inside of my boot. Does this count?

It counts if it was in a nuclear top warehouse

[Bucky McSwensen]

Well I have been informed that this is a myth.  I'm yelling at my old boss for putting BS in our mandatory training.  Leaving my original to shame me for being gullible

On the note of stubbing your steel toe, read about an incident where the steel toe got smashed, and pinched the foot in the shoe.  Like a bear trap inside the boot.  Guy lost a few toes and heavy damage to foot.  Now they recommend carbon fiber toed boots at my job.  Of course those cost a ton.  Always "funny" when the safety measures make the injury worse

Edited May 10, 2019 by Bucky McSwensen
Shame

[99call]

22 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

I accidentally stubbed my steel cap boot into a pallet this morning at the warehouse, and slightly bruised my little toe, when it banged on the inside of my boot. Does this count?

Only if you didn't spill a drop of your latte

[Fuzz]

7 hours ago, 99call said:

Only if you didn't spill a drop of your latte

A latte? I don't drink that! I drink real coffee.... a half double decaffeinated half-caf, with a twist of lemon!!

[Ken Gargett]

7 hours ago, Fuzz said:

I accidentally stubbed my steel cap boot into a pallet this morning at the warehouse, and slightly bruised my little toe, when it banged on the inside of my boot. Does this count?

fuzz, you wuss. that is nothing.

i can't think of the number of corked wines i have had to endure. or nasty acidic young sauv blancs. 

 

more seriously, nothing springs to mind worked related but for really stupid, dumb life-threatening things i have done outside work, that might take the entire internet. 

[Fuzz]

7 hours ago, Bucky McSwensen said:

On the note of stubbing your steel toe, read about an incident where the steel toe got smashed, and pinched the foot in the shoe.  Like a bear trap inside the boot.  Guy lost a few toes and heavy damage to foot.  Now they recommend carbon fiber toed boots at my job.  Of course those cost a ton.  Always "funny" when the safety measures make the injury worse

It's a myth. There was supposedly an incident where some Aussie lost his third toe when steel pipes fell from a forklift. I do have a pic of a dude's foot after a steel bolter rig fell on his safety boots. No amputated toes, but it did injure him.

There are some differences between steel and composite safety boots, but they both pretty much do the same thing. The major difference is, if a weight heavy enough to deform the steel cap, the cap will not spring back. A composite cap may spring back, but will be irrevocably damaged, without any outward signs of the structural defect. Composites are less resistant to cutting or penetration, but steel is heavier, poor insulation in hot/cold conditions (in comparison to composite), and are conductive.

Either way.... wear your safety boots, and don't skimp on the cost!!

[MD Puffer]

The most recent close call that happened to me was about three years ago (my life is fairly uneventful).  I had been looking forward to breaking in a new bullet mould and casting some .38 SWC all week long.  Unfortunately, that Friday was accompanied by a thunderstorm but I decided to back my truck into the garage, lower the tailgate and use it as a bench.  I hooked everything up and had nice pot full of 20 pounds of molten lead and started casting.  Getting into the repetitiveness of casting is meditative and that peacefulness was brought to an immediate halt as a green tree frog jumped from the garage door down onto my truck bed.  Four inches from a pot of molten lead.  I always were safety glasses when casting but had that frog landed in the pot of lead it wouldn't have been enough to protect the rest of my face and arms and likely neck and chest from the splattering lead.  

 

[99call]

8 minutes ago, MD Puffer said:

splattering lead

Scary stuff,  i've had a small bronze sand cast explode on me before (as there must of been a little moisture in the sand).  pour went fine,  but then as i was watching it to see if the runners and risers were working ok, it popped. flew up in the air, and headed my way.   freakily it went from liquidus to solidus in mid air, and as i was doing my best to shuffle back from it, it landed on the floor in little clumps.     

[MD Puffer]

You tend to learn things like that the hard way.  Whenever I melt down scrap for alloying I always melt it from anew vs. adding it to a pot of lead.  I learned the hard way that a chunk of scrap that appears dry might still have moisture on the inside somewhere.  The only thing I add to melted lead is ingots or poorly formed boolits.

[LordAnubis]

A maintenance guy was told to do some repair work to a cyanide dosing line. There’s two lines.  I had clearly marked which line was shit off, isolated and flushed ready for work. He chose to ignore my instructions. I’m doing my job on top of the plant and suddenly see waterfall of cyanide and caustic solution. I put my mask on, walk through the stream of cyanide manage to grab the guy, drag him back through the stream, get him to a safety shower and leave him under there. Raised the alarm and told them where he was and that I was a level below at the next safety shower. He made it. Just. Don’t think he ever returned to work there again though. The only thing that happened to me was a heap of my hair literally dissolved off. 

[Fuzz]

In my youth, I used to make my own nitroglycerin and gun cotton. As I value still having all my fingers and toes, I will never make any ever again.

[Fuzz]

1 hour ago, LordAnubis said:

A maintenance guy was told to do some repair work to a cyanide dosing line. There’s two lines.  I had clearly marked which line was shit off, isolated and flushed ready for work. He chose to ignore my instructions. I’m doing my job on top of the plant and suddenly see waterfall of cyanide and caustic solution. I put my mask on, walk through the stream of cyanide manage to grab the guy, drag him back through the stream, get him to a safety shower and leave him under there. Raised the alarm and told them where he was and that I was a level below at the next safety shower. He made it. Just. Don’t think he ever returned to work there again though. The only thing that happened to me was a heap of my hair literally dissolved off. 

Ah! So that's why! I thought it was just hereditary!!

[CaptainQuintero]

16 hours ago, 99call said:

Scary stuff,  i've had a small bronze sand cast explode on me before (as there must of been a little moisture in the sand).  pour went fine,  but then as i was watching it to see if the runners and risers were working ok, it popped. flew up in the air, and headed my way.   freakily it went from liquidus to solidus in mid air, and as i was doing my best to shuffle back from it, it landed on the floor in little clumps.     

 Had the same thing a few years back when game of thrones was first hitting TV, I decided to make a coin of the faceless man from pewter for my better half as a birthday gift. Did an original, made a copy, then the day I was going to smelt rained so I did it all on the kitchen stove and wooden chopping board.

  You know how difficult it is to hide the side of a chopping board that's burnt black and flecked with pewter for 6 weeks?!  

[99call]

1 hour ago, Fuzz said:

In my youth, I used to make my own nitroglycerin and gun cotton. As I value still having all my fingers and toes, I will never make any ever again.

Jesus!,  I'm imagining your childhood photographs looked a little like this?

[Fuzz]

31 minutes ago, 99call said:

Jesus!,  I'm imagining your childhood photographs looked a little like this?

Mid teens to early twenties was when I went through my mad scientist (or anarchist) phase. Fractured the occasional law.

[bpm32]

On 5/10/2019 at 10:35 AM, MD Puffer said:

You tend to learn things like that the hard way.  Whenever I melt down scrap for alloying I always melt it from anew vs. adding it to a pot of lead.  I learned the hard way that a chunk of scrap that appears dry might still have moisture on the inside somewhere.  The only thing I add to melted lead is ingots or poorly formed boolits.

Casting was one thing I always meant to get into but never did. I was already in a heavy metals medical surveillance program and was paranoid about lead levels.

[MD Puffer]

44 minutes ago, bpm32 said:

Casting was one thing I always meant to get into but never did. I was already in a heavy metals medical surveillance program and was paranoid about lead levels.

Use basic precautions (casting outdoors, or in a vented hood if indoors, and in the garage I used a fan) and wash your hands afterward and you're good to go.  You can always have your primary check your lead level if you have any concerns.  I'd personally be more concerned about lead exposure from shooting at an indoor range than from casting.