We started down this line in another thread, but @bbbass thought a new thread might be in order, and I agree. Feel free to share your interesting, weird, funny and lessons-learned stories of on-the-job or even at home injuries.
Many here know I'm an electrician, though I put the tools down to work in the office some time ago. I had my share of injuries, thankfully none of them any more serious than some stitches or buddy splints couldn't fix. Here are a few:
I've got a lovely scar on my hand where I came into contact with a back-fed/live neutral at 277v, in my natural reflex to get away from that 'tingly sensation' I pulled my hand back and right into a ceiling wire, that went through my hand, then tore out the side leaving a nice wound. Not my best day, but I butterflied it and went back to work. That's just how we do
Another incident involved me running a scissor lift about 30' up into a ceiling in an industrial plant under construction. One of the rules is that you always clear the space above you to avoid pinch points. I thought I had cleared everything and was running the lift up when suddenly I hear a "pop", see a bright flash of white light and feel pain in my neck - I had run myself straight up into a 1/2" threaded rod, the flash of light was my spine getting a quick pinch. I felt that one for days, but kept working in the tradition of a good construction worker.
Last one for now was a large transformer I needed to do some terminations on. I had to remove the cover to get to the connections. This was a large transformer with a large sheet metal cover, about 5'x5', fairly heavy. As I would normally do, while removing all the screws that hold it on, I would keep a punch awl or two to stick in the screw holes to hold it in place while I remove the screws. Well, one of them slipped out on me and dropped that sheet metal on my foot - and I wasn't wearing steel toed boots at the time, broke my toe and created a huge hematoma under the nail. The ED had to drill a hole in the nail to let the building pool of blood out - quite painful. I was unable to wear regular work boots for about 2 weeks after that, though I did return to work the next day.
Let's hear some of your stories.
Many here know I'm an electrician, though I put the tools down to work in the office some time ago. I had my share of injuries, thankfully none of them any more serious than some stitches or buddy splints couldn't fix. Here are a few:
I've got a lovely scar on my hand where I came into contact with a back-fed/live neutral at 277v, in my natural reflex to get away from that 'tingly sensation' I pulled my hand back and right into a ceiling wire, that went through my hand, then tore out the side leaving a nice wound. Not my best day, but I butterflied it and went back to work. That's just how we do
Another incident involved me running a scissor lift about 30' up into a ceiling in an industrial plant under construction. One of the rules is that you always clear the space above you to avoid pinch points. I thought I had cleared everything and was running the lift up when suddenly I hear a "pop", see a bright flash of white light and feel pain in my neck - I had run myself straight up into a 1/2" threaded rod, the flash of light was my spine getting a quick pinch. I felt that one for days, but kept working in the tradition of a good construction worker.
Last one for now was a large transformer I needed to do some terminations on. I had to remove the cover to get to the connections. This was a large transformer with a large sheet metal cover, about 5'x5', fairly heavy. As I would normally do, while removing all the screws that hold it on, I would keep a punch awl or two to stick in the screw holes to hold it in place while I remove the screws. Well, one of them slipped out on me and dropped that sheet metal on my foot - and I wasn't wearing steel toed boots at the time, broke my toe and created a huge hematoma under the nail. The ED had to drill a hole in the nail to let the building pool of blood out - quite painful. I was unable to wear regular work boots for about 2 weeks after that, though I did return to work the next day.
Let's hear some of your stories.