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Posted by Dennis on August 9, 2007, 6:57 pm
Several years ago I was doing an inspection in a plant where premanufactured
construction was being done. In the area where they were building floors, a
young Amish kid was framing with a hammer and 20d spikes. He and a friend
were showing off by seeing if they could drive the spike in a single blow
(they were able to do it by the way.) Anyway, he hit one of the spikes and
it flew. No harm and they both laughed. He set up the next one and took
swing. He hit it slightly off and it flew directly back towards him. He
screamed and grabbed his face. Some type of milky liquid came running out
between his fingers and I could then see the nail sticking out of his eye
socket. The eye itself was gone. They rushed him to the nearest hospital and
he was then airlifted to a better hospital a few hundred miles away (forget
which one, either Indianapolis or Cleveland). Wasn't able to save it. They
did rebuild the eyeball, but after that he was only able to see light and
dark out of it; nothing else.
Over the years I've seen inexperienced framers cut off fingers, get blown
off roof while carrying decking (he was killed), and other stuff. All it
takes is a moment of carelessness to cripple or maim.
>
> I wanted to urge people to use protective eye gear with my quick story of
> a near-miss. Then I figured that what I really wanted was to read of
> other's mishaps and close-calls to know what is dangerous. Maybe this
> thread dies with 1 post, I hope not. Perhaps it's been done 100 times or
> more?
>
> Mine: I was using a Dremel Tool (high speed rotary) for sharpening my lawn
> mower blade. I was wearing the safety goggles, but it was hot out and I
> was sweating into them. When I was done I checked the balance of the
> blade and thought I could use a smidgeon off the very end of the blade to
> make it balance perfectly.
>
> The goggles were at the other end of the room. I figured it was a sec or
> two of grinding. I got possitioned over the blade too close with no eye
> protection. I *knew* the spin direction would throw the shards downward,
> I've been doing it for nearly 20 minutes. But I figured that I might as
> well get used to a no-exceptions rule, so I walked across the room,
> cleaned them out, wiped my face with a towel, and put them on, all the
> while cursing myself for being so safe.
>
> I had lost track of the position of the dremel tool and the side of the
> blade I was using. It actually was spinning up toward me in that position
> I would have used. Shards of metal struck my eye goggles, and peppered
> much of my face, at a very high rate of speed.
>
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