Friend of mine was working part time doing installlations for the phone company while he was in college. Goes to an office uptown to install phones and finds the electricians have left the wire a bit short when they roughed it in.

So he's sitting flat on his butt on the floor, trying to pull a bit more of the phone cable out with a pair of needle nose pliers so he can make the hookup. Pliers come loose from the cable. He's pulling with both hands, and manages to jam the business end of the pliers up one nostril.

Blood is pouring and he can't get it stopped, so he decides to drive to the ER since the hospital is on the same street a mile or so away. He said it really didn't hurt that much. Felt more like a dull ache like someone had smacked you on the nose.

By the time he gets to the ER he's got a shop rag soaked and dripping blood. They were able to stop the bleeding right away, and he had no permanent damage. He said the worst part of the whole ordeal was when this really fine looking nurse comes in to assess him and asks how he hurt himself. As he put it, If you really want to make an impression on a good looking woman, don't start by telling her you just jammed your own pliers up your nose.

Awe-some!

I stuck my finger in a grinding wheel in May. No stitches, as it was an "exvulsion" and nothing really to stitch up. I've been working in the shop since I was 10 and I'm 27 now. So, I guess if I can go 17 years between "ouches" I'm doing pretty well.

I consider myself lucky, never had a serious incident in a shop.

for years I thought I was wearing a pair of steel toe boots, as the toe was hard and all... until a 50 pound piece of metal fell off a table and told me they weren't. I was limping around for awhile, but it was just a bruise.

I had a boss "almost" kill me once. He used to drive around the factory with those fork lift blades right at heart level, and he'd be going full tilt while on his cell phone. I was working on repairing a meat smoker (in the restaurant appliance biz) down at the bottom next to the legs. Those units are like tall narrow dressers made out of stainless steel and weigh a few hundred pounds.

so here I was at the bottom of the smoker trying to adjust some things, and I get up to go grab a sheet metal hammer. Not 10 seconds later my boss whips around the corner with his forklift and knocks the smoker over where my head had just been. If I was down there I would of been crushed!

These 2 are truly scary, the first, the forklift operator (even though he's the boss)
should be fired, he's gonna cost the company plenty.

And the second accident, well complain if you must, but that's where the LOTO
(Lock Out Tag Out ) program should have been used.

The others I see are just slip-ups, every one has one or 2 of those.

I have been blessed and avoided any serious accidents or machine wrecks, but sure learned from the few I have witnessed:

Here is an "almost", where the proper safety equipment prevented somebody from being instantly blinded in one eye:
Mechanic working for me was using a 7-inch electric disc grinder with a thin fiber reinforced grinding disc. Disc broke and one piece piece flew off, lodging in the mechanics face shield, right in front of one eye. The company saved the face shield, with the dagger-like piece still lodged in it, and turned it into a safety poster.

How not to use a shop vac:
Back in my apprentice days working in the machine shop which supported a research lab, one of the researchers spilled a can of acetone or some such solvent in the lab. Instead of just waiting for it to evaporate, he grabbed a shop vac and proceeded to use it for liquid pick-up. After a minute or so, the concentration built up to explosive levels. A spark, presumably from the motor, must have set-off the solvent fumes. A loud explosion rocked our end of the building, followed by a loud clanging noise. I was running a lathe in the adjacent room. Ran into the lab and found the researcher still standing, only stunned, not killed or injured. The shop vac drum was smoking. The top of the shop vac had been blown off, hit the ceiling beam above, and was smashed almost beyond recognition.

No jewelery in the shop:
Boss was wearing his wedding band while running a belt-driven DP. For some reason, he attempted to reach around the spinning drill. Something on the drill or chuck snagged his ring and pulled his hand into the spinning works. Fortunately, it stalled and he escaped with his finger still attached, but in need of a bunch of stitches. After that he made sure nobody ever wore any jewelery in the shop.

about jaming things in ones nostrils..... I put up a tree house and had a bunch of those Z-bent screw in deer stand "steps" -a big wood screw you wind in and stand on.

I was trying to tear the safety warning label/price tag off, it was a really tough plasticised tag. pulling as hard as i could, then it tore and I ramed the screw up my nose. coulda easily been my eye.

all I could think about was Schwartzenegger in Total Recal.

I was standing around talking to a group of retired machinists and I noticed that I was the only one that had all of my fingers these guys all worked on big machines in maintenance shops for the mines and I jokingly said hey guys I am not part of the nub club yet. Another one I have not forgotten is this shop up the road from us has an old machinist who makes dies for them and he has no fingers they are all gone he lost them in a stamping press all at once. He still runs all manual ewuipment though with no problem.

Both hands?!!

We had an operator load a 1000# casting into a HMC. He hit the pallet ready button and it changed pallets. The first op uses a big 2" roughing endmill on the 180* face. I get called over to the machine with an 'alarm issue'. I get to the machine and see the casting hanging off the endmill with just a corner left sitting on the pallet . The operator forgot to bolt the part down. When it indexed, the part spun off the pallet and luckily managed to catch on the endmill. Somehow the endmill didn't break and the Y axis brake held. Otherwise it would have wiped out the Z and Y axis way covers and lots of sheet metal. As it was I had to take half the machine apart so I could get the part removed with the forklift and jib. Thankfully, nobody got hurt, including the spindle.

A few weeks later I get called to a machine for a coolant leak. One of the hoses that runs to the spindle had abraded a hole in it from rubbing against adjacent hoses. I patched it up to get through the night and told my boss when he arrived in the morning. For some unknown reason, he stepped inside of the machine to look at the hose (you can see it fine from outside the machine). When he was inside, the machine Z'd back for a tool change, crushing his thigh between the rear of the column and the rear structure of the machine - about a 2" space! To make matters worse, it took about 10 minutes before anybody realized he was hurt. It had shattered his femur right below the 'family jewel' level. He was off work for about a year then terminated upon return because he failed to follow lockout/tagout procedures prior to entering the machine.

Another time I was back in the maintenance office when I heard and felt a large thud. I went running out to the shop to make sure everybody was OK. Turned out the robot dropped a 650# casting from about 8' up. We were having an open house the following day so the company had the programmer come in and write a demo routine to show off the robot for the visitors. Somehow he screwed up the regular program which caused it to drop the part. Again we were fortunate that nobody was injured, and missed the robot's 'vitals' by a few inches, though it did scrap the part.

Then just last week an operator was unloading a 120# part from a machine using an electric hoist. Just as he started to pull it out of the machine, the hoist failed and it started to freefall. He jumped back to get away and tripped backwards over a skid of parts on the floor, falling flat on his back. The part bounced off the fixture, off the machine, off the operators platform, and landed on the skid the operator tripped over, ending up only a few inches away from him. When I pulled the hoist apart I found an intermediate pinion gear worn down to nothing. My guess was it somehow missed getting heat treated, but don't know for sure. So now I'm pulling down all the other hoists one by one and completely disassembling them to inspect the internals for wear.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. When this stuff happens I shift into 'recovery mode' and don't even think about taking pictures until later.

We can call it a shop accident, was servicing my bicycle at the age of ten, despite many warnings not to do the following from my mother I as usual turned it upside down, spun it at high revs and by mistake put my right thumb in the cog. It went halfway through, got mashed with oil adding to the problem.

Many operations later it was saved but still till today has two nails and looks like a big toe.

Then two years back I was using a small angle grinder, blade got stuck which pulled grinder out my hand, it bounced on a workshop table, flew up into my shirt and cut me open from my right nipple to my rear side of my hip.Could post the photos but then they will find their way to rottendotcom.

Phoned the wife, asked her where she was as I needed a lift to the hospital as the medical services in rural RSA are wanting.

Wont repeat the lecture I got.

yep accidents happen, FAST.

Good point, I deleted my post so as not to have my finger spread all over the net.. Having it spread over a piece of timber was enough...

Friend of mine is a walking accident. Was in a tree trimming limbs with his chainsaw. Cut his leg from crotch to knee. Sorta falls out of tree, hobbles to the house and asks wife to take him to hospital. On the way there she pulls into Walgreens, jumps out and runs in and grabs a throwaway camera, runs to cashier and throws a fifty dollar bill on the counter. Cashier says she doesn't have enough change, could you wait a minute? "No, my dumbass husband is sitting in the truck bleeding to death and I need to take pictures to remind him daily how friggin' stupid he is." and runs out to the truck and drives to the hospital.

400+ stitches. 20 pictures of mangled leg are posted on the refrigerator door and 8X10 blow ups on the wall of their bedroom on his side of the bed.

Have too many to list here, but would like to say I'm a member of the "ten fingered machinist club" for a reason.

Ever seen the little symbol on a MAZAK? The one with a stick-man being pummeled by a rod sticking out of the back of a lathe?

During our certification class we got the scoop from MAZAK on why that was on every machine.
Apparently someone was being used as a "steadyrest" while seated on a stool. The operator mistyped an extra zero on the RPM's.......and the rest is history.
Saw a similar mistake made by my boss once.
After the loud noises stopped and the little Cincinnati came back down to rest on the concrete, that 3 in. rod had taken out a whole bunch of sheet metal and electronics, but thank God, no one was hurt.

The lock out/tag out is another lifesaver.

Forgot to mention wearing seatbelt on forklifts. I know, I hate seatbelts too, but there's a good reason.


Hope everyone reads this thread. We can all look back and laugh (if we survived, that is) but I thank all the ones that went before me and drilled safety into my thick skull.

In a racecar shop I was watching a guy polishing a seat mold in preparation for applying PVA mold release. Using something like a 10" polisher with a beefy motor. An old Black and Decker, I think.

The guy running the polisher was wearing a t-shirt, but it was tucked in and he was wearing a belt. He leans over to get a different angle on the mold and his t-shirt gets caught in the polisher. One second he is standing there working away. The next second he is standing there without his shirt on and a really confused look on his face. It tore the shirt clean off him. Seemed like it should have been on a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Last year I was at work and I had just welded this big steel casting and I was running an 8 inch grinder I had a full face sheild and ear protection, I tend to wipe my hands on my shirt when they are dirty so my shirt was covered in oil and it went up like a match from the sparks of the grinder. The ground was covered in oil and solvent so I didnt stop drop and roll I ran around screaming I am on fire while tearing my shirt off. I only singed my back hair a bit no big deal but I had to go home and get a new shirt mine was gone.

I forgot one. Back when I was 12 maybe14 I was helping my dad mini tub his drag car. He cut the inside part of the wheel wells out and I was out in the driveway cleaning the undercoat out. I had wheel well bolted to a tripod pipe vise and was using a 4 1/2" grinder with a wire wheel to clean it.

The undercoat was real stringy and messy as it came off so I had the grinder turned to shoot it away from me. The wheel caught the edge and tore the grinder out of my hands. And of course I had the trigger locked so the grinder was still on as it was flying through the air and heading for my personal bits with alarming accuracy.

Thankfully I had nice heavy jeans on and the action of shredding through those and wrapping the shreds around the wheel slowed the grinder to the point it was unable to tear through my boxers. But those little wires sure did hurt as they were stabbing me in a rather sensitive area.

Do farm accidents count?

I grew up on a farm & we didn't have the newest or biggest or best equipment out there, but we danm sure had all the safety devices on the machines.

A kid I knew from another school stepped over a PTO shaft running an auger, it was late fall & cold, he was wearing coveralls that were a bit too big for him.

A few hours later they had his scrotum & testicles stitched back on and iced. Years later he & his gal had a lil boy, now have grandkids.

This actually happened to me. Dad had bought a new combine & with where the farmland is located, we have to road the equipment about 6 miles. Usually take back roads except for going through town. Well, I had been cutting wheat at the "poor farm" & was taking the combine home. Combine only had about 150 hours on it.

Going down the hill from the schoolhouse, header all the way up to clear a couple culvert stakes, the dang left front drive wheel falls off. Seems I had been leaving broken studs for about a mile, but with the noise of the engine, transmission, variable speed whine & such, I just didn't hear them snapping off.

Dumped that combine right down on it's header & spun it blocking the main road in/out of town. Jammed the ladder/platform up into the door of the cab & I had to crawl out the side window. Dad was a bit upset, but we got out the jacks, blocks & got the combine back up, wheel mounted back on & then dad drove it home.

Later that night dad found out "in the owner's manual" it said the wheel studs needed re-torqued after 10, 10, 40 hours of operation...... or else wheels could come loose & cause damage/injury....

I still got a whuppin for that one.

Power station so it is industrial / engineering related. (long story but stick with it)

30 years ago but I still remember this vividly & invariably chuckle each time it springs to mind.

I was running the turbine stage in one of I.C.I's power stations which served the ammonia soda process plant with electrical power, steam, gas compression etc etc. Immediately behind the turbine hall through a door were 8 gas scrubber towers which were essentialy 25 foot diameter 80 foot high vessels through which the gas was drawn to scrub out impurities before going through the huge steam turbine driven centrifugal compressors.
The water level was critical in these towers as any significant carry over would damage the compressor thrust bearings & in extremis had on one occasion resulted in the steam turbine tearing itself from the pedestal. These things were a huge pain in the arse for the turbine stage men as the automatic level control valves were old & unreliable pneumatic actuated such that visual water level checks had to be made every half hour. During winter they would set up coal braziers next to each valve to stop the condensate in the air controls freezing which added to the nuisance factor considerably as these had to be raked & topped up with coal frequently.
One winters afternoon I had a big DC generator warming & scheduled to go on the board within the hour, an operation which required all turbine stage hands to achieve. At this point the man who's duties included the gas scrubbers called me over as one of the gas scrubber control valves had stuck & water level was rising rapidly, I took control manualy & sent him to bar the generator & watch temperatures, meanwhile calling system control on the radio to get an instrument articifer over here quickly or else the generator would not be going on the board.
Within ten minutes a red faced tiffy (having sprinted half way across the works) staggered up the stairs towards me pursued by his young apprentice, he was a rather odd shaped tubby little bloke wearing a long dust coat under an equally long donkey jacket his short legs had these finishing just below his knees. He then proceeds to fiddle with the valve opening drain valves etc to try to bring it back to life, the valve being a large mushroom shaped diphragm type from which two steel bars connected to the controller, his hand was under the diaphragm feeling for movement but nothing was happening so he sent the young apprentice down the stairs to the level below where the main air supply valves were located telling him to close & open the valve a few times sharply.
Well this obviously did the trick as I heard a desperate scream & as I ran over to the tiffy I could see that the valve had moved trapping his fingers between the steel bars & the casing, his performance was oscar winning as he danced up & down screaming in pain, opening the drain valves did not release him so I tried to get a valve key shaft between the bars to lever it down but I could not get to it with his dancing body in the way........I paused for a brief second to think up "plan B" his wide tearful eyes imploring me to release him when his voice suddenly shoots up a few octaves screaming "ohh f*%$*#g hell".......looking down I then realised that during his gyrations his arse had come into contact with the glowing brazier & the long dust coat & donkey jacket were now well ablaze with flames dancing up between his legs across his crotch............AT WHICH POINT.......the young apprentice (having heard the hubub above the noisy plant) appears at the top of the stairs & seeing his mentor with bollocks ablaze dashes over grabbing the small coal shovel & begins whacking the, by now nearly fainting, articifers arse to beat out the flames..........fortunately the "added stimulus" saw the articifer wrench his hand free from the valve & then begin desperately removing smouldering jackets followed by melted terylene trousers.............by which point I was completely beyond giving any further assistance as I held onto the adjacent hand rail in tears of laughter barely able to stand.

I remember that I could not stop myself breaking into fits of laughter for the rest of the shift, trying to put the big DC switchboard breakers in through tear filled eyes was quite perilous.

Fortunately the articifers fingers were only bruised & sprained along with some moderate scorching of his nether regions, there was no permanent damage.

regards

Brian (who could still not stop himself chuckling as he typed this)

I got alot of them. When I was about 16 my father and I were cutting up a bunch of 1/4 inch masonite on a radial arm saw in the garage. the blade grabbed a 8 inch square piece and flung it the length of the garage at waist height and the masonite penetrated a solid wood door. My father said something like don't tell your mother about this and sawed the masonite flush with the door and repainted it. That has always made me very leary of radial arm saws.
When I was in art school we had a really nice wood shop. Brand new Unisaw, band saws, etc. Anyways there was a fellow student who was not to bright and one evening I was working something and was half watching her out of the corner of my eye. I first noticed that she had the table saw running and that she was about to rip from the wrong direction, then I noticed that he material was clear, then I noticed that it was a sheet of 1/4 inch thick GLASS! I was able to jump over and stop her, but you have to wonder what would of happened.