Accidents

[petewood]

Following the post about power tool accidents, has anyone had any accidents while using tools (how many battle scars have we collectively earned?) and have any lessons been learned.
I have very little mobility in my left index finger following an accident and once nearly lost my right index finger. It has taught me two rules:

1. if using a bench tool and your hand slips, will it travel towards the blade/cutter?

2. If using a hand tool and the tool slips, will it travel towards your other hand?

 

[oilman]

This is why banging-in nails with a hammer is good practice, it teaches you (in a relatively safe way) that tools can hurt. It should be compulsory teaching at schools. These nail guns are bad news, no way of having a "safe" accident with them.

 

[JulieL]

Following the post about power tool accidents, has anyone had any accidents while using tools and have any lessons been learned.

Haven't lost any body parts etc but I did have an accident with my particular 'tools' of my trade when taking blood from a patient some years ago.......I accidently 'stabbed' myself with the needle as I was transferring the blood from the syringe into a blood bottle - hazard of the job I suppose!
Ended up having to take medication for a while though.......which made me feel unwell

I now never allow myself to be distracted by patients/other staff members whilst undertaking invasive procedures and keep sharps bins nearby for transferring discarded 'sharps' etc after use.

 

[AdamW]

I left my drill on the floor for a few days with a flat wood bit in the chuck. I managed to stab myself in the side of the foot with it, pretty deep puncture wound. It hurt, but there was no blood for a good 30 seconds or so. I looked away for a minute, then when I looked back again it was forming a small puddle on the floor (puddle... an inch across!)

I think that is my only tool-related injury.

 

[TexMex]

The only accident with a power tool that I can recall, was caused by forgetting to unplug my soldering iron. Couple of days later, while leaning across the bench to pick up a book (above the workbench), allowed the hot tip to burn straight through my cheap, synthetic, trousers in the fly region. I ended up with a blister that made nookie impossible for some time. Thank god I'm not Jewish

 

[Thermo]

ooooh i had a good one last year. i was cutting a hedge that belonged to the neighbour of my parents, as a quick favour jobbie and was using his electric hedge cutter as i had left my work one behind. While i was up there the crap thing got a large branch caught in the blades causing it to jamb. Just as i pulled the thing away to free the jamb (with the trigger released so no power going to it...or so i thought) another neighbour i knew distracted me. hedge trimmer gets free, moves across to my left hand, natural reaction is to grasp it, just as the last smidgen of power is enough to move the blades one little bit. Oh goody i now have a hedge trimmer embedded in the top of my fingers! (god i feel sick just thinking about this) I looked at my hand and thought...yep thats a hospital job!

ended up in casualty, where people kept saying oh youre lucky we had a guy who cut his hand in half on a table saw today. (didnt feel lucky)
after it was all sorted off work for two weeks, absolute agony, now let with one finger that has no feelings in it. oh and a few upset people, who decided to tell me how lucky i was as the day before a man had killed his wife when he droped a chainsaw. After a while i got a bit bored of that soi undiplomatically explained how lucky i didnt feel!

its really funny having no feeling in that finger, as i have drilled/screwed into it several times when holding a piece of timber in an awkward position on a job, and not felt it until its hit one of the deeper nerves, boy does that hurt!

morale of the story is i only do jobs with my equipment, there are no quick jobs, and all the protective gear gets worn, and i dont care who i upset by ignoring them while im using a power tool.

As an aside i did a chain saw curse this year and the guy taking it, had a bald head, with a rather large scar on it. He was talking about safety and protective clothing, and talking about the days when it wasnt required. he then pointed to the scar on his head straight down the middle from front to back. Thats where a chain snapped and whipped up over my head he informed us. AHhh another good reason to where all the kit i thought!

 

[nstreet]

Not a power tool or hand tool accident but one which taught me to always wear gloves. I was having a new kitchen fitted and was disposing of all the old stuff in a skip. The only thing left in the garden was the old stainless sink, it was raining and I thought I'll just get rid of that quickly. Went out side, no gloves lifted said sink to throw into the skip and it slipped, ouucchhh. Cut right through the flap of skin between fingers and thumb to the bone. Casualty job

 

[WoodYouLike]

Splinters.
Normal Oak or pine splinters aren't that bad, they have the habit of 'crawling back out of your skin, but tropical wood! They have the nasty habit of 'crawling' further into your skin.
(But as my partner always says: he now has a very high floating ability )

Other story about an accident (not sure if it's in the right category): ex-sister-in-law once went to the dentist to have a tooth removed. After the anaesthetic had worked out she was in a lot of pain and after one day she returned to the dentist. He looked into her mouth again and started laughing: turns out when he stitched the wound, hes stitched part of her tongue with it!
(She was more angry about him laughing than about the mistake).

 

[B.O.B DOLE]

Following the post about power tool accidents, has anyone had any accidents while using tools (how many battle scars have we collectively earned?) and have any lessons been learned.
I have very little mobility in my left index finger following an accident and once nearly lost my right index finger. It has taught me two rules:

1. if using a bench tool and your hand slips, will it travel towards the blade/cutter?

2. If using a hand tool and the tool slips, will it travel towards your other hand?

how boring

 

[securespark]

BOB : I can see how people get you confused with someone else here - you go all out to p*ss people off with your childish remarks. How old are you?

 

[AdamW]

Working with a lot of middle-aged and older engineers (proper engineers, old school types who like to tinker!), I have seen a few people who are missing the last segment of one finger.

On the occasions I have asked it is often because they were working on a running car engine, and they finger got carried through a pulley by a belt.

Ouch.

I think I'll relay that chainsaw story to my dad, he is somewhat blasé about safety whilst DIYing AND owns a chainsaw.

 

[Spark123]

Not a power tool or hand tool accident but one which taught me to always wear gloves.

Bad move, gloves are OK if worn in the correct circumstances. Gloves should not be worn when operating certain types of moving machinery. If they become caught up in the machine they can pull you in. I have seen the outcome of this, thankfully this time not a fatality. It is paramount that the risk of wearing gloves is taken into account when assessing a job (risk assessment etc) as wearing them can be more dangerous than not.

 

[breezer]

I think I'll relay that chainsaw story to my dad, he is somewhat blasé about safety whilst DIYing AND owns a chainsaw.

these may be of use, though i do not recomend testing them

 

[AdamW]

Anti-cut... doesn't protect against breaking your finger though!

Still, given the choice...