situation as well. Life is too short to be resentful, angry or sad. It's fun-time now!
Scott
Wow, Pheryn. Thanks for posting that.
How stressful waiting for the news and what a close call.
What a miraculous ending. Hugs to you and your family.![]()
I think you're right. We asked my brother if anyone other than his boss was in the shop with him at the time and he said no. The guys who would normally have been in there had gone and were working on something in another area. The boss quickly ushered him out to try and rinse the wound and care for it as best as he could while calling 911 and all that. So, his co-workers weren't even aware anything had happened until they re-entered the shop and found it empty with just a pool of blood. It all just happened so fast. The shock of it all is obviously still very fresh and I don't think any of us have fully processed what happened. I think my brother went in today to have that normalcy and also, I think he wanted to show his co-workers that he was alright. They had even less information than we did. I can't imagine the scene they must have walked into and then had to clean up, not knowing what happened to him or if he was even alive. These kinds of things just really scramble the brain.Yeh, I agree - it was the worst. Maybe the person on the phone was too shocked to think straight, either though.
We've all had our share of real bad news on the phone. You didn't need the shock.
You're probably having a bit of a WTF about your brother going straight back to work, but on the other hand, he's here and healthy and you probably won't even get the hugging and I love you's out of your system for a very long time.
I'm so glad he's whole and well. Very happy for him, for you and your whole family. x x x o o o
Sheila
You're brother sounds like a sweetheart - concerned about others' feelings and reactions.
Like you.
What a beautiful family you have. Both of you have a lot of heart.
Sometimes it's sort of good to be scared - so we really appreciate what we have while we still have it, ay?
Life is too, too short.
I think this is the first time I'm posting in this thread and boy do I have a doozy to start off with!
My family is neither religious or particularly spiritual, but, blessings from somewhere were surely shining down on us yesterday and I am thankful to whatever/whoever made it possible. You see, my big brother --who I'm very close with, is an industrial welder. This is a profession that has kept us up nights worried about him as its very dangerous and there are always horrendous accidents/incidents. My brother has always been very lucky and never suffered any serious injury. Few minor burns here and there, which is just par for the course. Yesterday, however, our worst fears were realized.
Late afternoon (just as his shift was to be ending) we received a phone call that simply said he'd been hurt, there was a lot of blood, and he'd been taken to the hospital. This is ALL they told us. I just have to stop and wonder how a person could make such a phone call. I know they probably didn't have all of the information, but, to tell us something so vague and awful was just heart wrenching --and worse, to not even tell us what hospital he'd been taken to. Some of the most dreadful few hours of my life as we called everyone we knew to call and desperately tried to get some information on his condition. I should mention, he only works about 30 minutes from our home, so it's not like he was out of state and we couldn't get to him or something. Finally someone got back to us explaining that he was 'okay' and all they knew is that the accident involved a grinder. Honestly, this didn't really help much. A few more hours of worrying and phone tag and we were able to speak with my brother. 'I'm okay, it didn't hurt. Don't worry, I'll be home soon' is what he said. We relaxed abit, but, were honestly still very on edge. By all accounts something very serious had happened and he just didn't sound right. Sure enough, he walked through the door another hour or so later. His left arm heavily bandaged and his shirt torn to shreds.
Apparently, he had been standing with his boss while smoothing the edges of some metal he was working with when the grinder 'bucked'. The force of the buck forced it into his stomach and his shirt got caught in it. My brother says he didnt feel any pain, just the impact and he frantically tried to free his shirt/himself ; which he did. He lifted up his shirt and was relieved to find just some minor scrapes, however, his boss was white as a ghost and on the verge of passing out. This is when my brother noticed all the blood coming from his arm. I will try not to be too graphic, but, the grinder essentially went through his forearm about half-way. It cut through the muscle, tendons, and just BARELY missed an artery. Thankfully, the tendons were not severed and the cut was clean, so the doctor says it should heal up just fine. He has full range of motion and sensation--much to his dismay, I might add. Amusingly enough, the doctor was actually concerned she wouldn't be able to line up his tattoo again. My brother figures thats the least of his problems and kindly asked she just put his arm back together. xD
So today, we are happy. We are SO HAPPY that my brother is okay. He's alive, healthy, and still has all of his limbs. We know that this exact type of accident doesn't always have such good results and we are so thankful it turned out the way it did. He even went to work today. I suppose nearly losing your life or arm/hand is no reason to call in sick, the man is unstoppable and a huge pain in the ass. But, damn glad to still have him!
Heya Phez!
That is part of my trade as well and these kind of accidents are not too uncommon unfortunately.
Sounds like he was using a 5" grinder and was using the leading edge of the disc instead of the trailing edge. Naughty, naughty. And highly risky. He is a lucky guy to get away with it so lightly. Worse if you're using it one handed too, or take the handle off. Those things have enormous power.
The other common grinder is the 9", which is a massive machine to handle and when things go wrong with those ones, the results can be quite catastrophic. Have met a few guys with what I call the "9 inch smile, which is where they've been hit in the face with one and the resulting scar runs from the corner of the mouth across the cheek to the neck. Lucky survivors. I think the 9" is pretty much banned in NZ now, but not here.
We once had a young 17 year old drug addled apprentice in our shop. He was usually given a 1st year job of using the 5" and a cup brush (wire brush attachment which is shaped like a cup) to clean up raw steel before painting. 5 times he got that grinder wrapped up in his shirt and a few resultant bruises on his belly. Each time it happened, he got bigger bruises.
He had been a big drug user since 14 and was a troubled boy. His father was our supervisor and he was really too stupid to be using machinery. He never tucked his shirt in and wouldn't wear a leather apron for protection until we all threatened to bury our collective boots up his *ahem* if we caught him not doing it. He eventually quit much to our relief, none of us wanted to be sweeping up his internals off the floor eventually.
I hope your brother got a big enough fright to respect the machine's power and use it safely, no matter what. I am so glad to hear he will be OK though. But to be fair, we all get a little inattentive and tired at times and will cut corners without thinking. It takes some willpower to follow all the safety rules without fail. Especially if you're working up to 18 hour days, like I was on the Drilling Rigs...
I can just imagine the fright you guys got though. Great outcome considering though. Someone was watching over him.
Of course he went back to work. We are steel workers and a bunch of tough guys... *hawk* *spittooie*.![]()
That's exactly what he was using. Also, much to our horror, it did not have a handle. Apparently, his boss has been petitioning for awhile over the grinders as they do not have handles and safety guards have been removed. My brother agrees that he's at fault for using it, but, unfortunately..that's all that has been provided. Everyone is at fault and stupid in this situation. My brother is new at this particular place and has only been there for a few weeks. This accident wasn't the first, his boss had a similar accident just a few months ago. I guess the safety of their employees isn't a top priority. To be perfectly honest, it doesn't seem to be at a lot of the places he's worked. Ugh. Just a nightmare. Thank goodness it wasn't worse. Such a stupid and awful situation.
Edit to add.. I completely forgot to mention that I definitely think he was tired and probably not paying as close attention as he should have been. He's been working his usual hours +a lot of overtime for awhile now and to make things even worse is that a bunch of guys quit (hard to imagine why) or were fired recently and my brother has had to pick up their slack. Even having to do things that he doesn't normally. So I think a lot of things played into the why/how of his accident. Even someone with as much experience as he has (about 16 years) is bound to have a total derp moment under such conditions. He's just so very lucky to escape with the injuries he got. I think it shook him up pretty good. He's seen a lot of accidents happen over the years (including death) and I think it's a big wake-up call for him to actually have experienced it himself.
It has been my experience that when professionals have an accident that both complacency and fatigue are usually the primary factors. One without the other is bad enough. Both together is a disaster waiting to happen.
There was a whole show I watched on this on the series "Why Planes Crash" . It related to pilot fatigue and small talk in the cock pit. The crashes outlined in the show resulted in new rules on rest and when a "sterile cockpit must be maintained.
2) Drunk Russian pilots. Never fly a Russian airline, he says, they are often drunk, and even though they are required to know the English instructions, they often don't.