Worst workplace incident/accident?
Discussion
Recent incidents on the railway,
Running cable out, a length of steel conduit was being utilised to run the cable off the drum, once the cable was run the drum is placed on its side to prevent it running away, guy securing the cable falls off his ladder and on to the drum which as its sideways on has the conduit sticking upright, the guy gets skewered and bleeds to death - he was 21.
Another guy climbed a signal ladder, fell off on to the top of a palisade security fence, skewered and died.
Running cable out, a length of steel conduit was being utilised to run the cable off the drum, once the cable was run the drum is placed on its side to prevent it running away, guy securing the cable falls off his ladder and on to the drum which as its sideways on has the conduit sticking upright, the guy gets skewered and bleeds to death - he was 21.
Another guy climbed a signal ladder, fell off on to the top of a palisade security fence, skewered and died.
Once saw a colleague try to “walk” a dishwasher back into it’s space under the kitchen work unit holding it either side and pushing using his upper thighs and groin.
In doing so he got too close and pinched the tip of his penis between the dishwasher and underside of the work-top.
A horrible incident, shocking to all that witnessed it. As bystanders we could only cope with the immediate emotional impact by laughing uncontrollably. Then doing the same as I shared the unusually detailed incident form before sending it on to HQ for H&S monitoring.
In doing so he got too close and pinched the tip of his penis between the dishwasher and underside of the work-top.
A horrible incident, shocking to all that witnessed it. As bystanders we could only cope with the immediate emotional impact by laughing uncontrollably. Then doing the same as I shared the unusually detailed incident form before sending it on to HQ for H&S monitoring.
ALawson said:
I met a chap on Terminal 5 (Matt Gilbert) on virtually his first day in construction, gave him is project briefing, he eventually moved teams 2 or 3 years later. He was fatality killed when some SGB temporary works failed whilst supporting a couple of tonnes of precast concrete up in the air. I think they (him and a chainman) fell about 10-15m into the West Rail box basement.
I think an ex colleague of mine was on the scene at that one. The whole team I used to work with had been at T5. Worst I've seen is a telehandler toppling over. Suspended load of scaffold tubes held up above a line of heras fence that was adjacent to the uneven/rutted track he was driving along. Pendulum motion got going and sent it over. No injuries more by fluke.
On a large job I worked on:
A couple of plumbers dropped a pump set whilst trying to get it stood on a plinth in a plant room. Fell on one of them but he got away with a broken leg an bruising as the plinths stopped it completely crushing him. He was lucky. For some reason they had opted not to get all the proper lifting kit and personnel in to do the job......
Labourer lost a finger when a stack of plasterboard shifted on a trolley coming out of hoist and crushed it against the trolley.
Window cleaner was bringing a cherry picker on to site, driving it off the public road operating it from the basket. There was no space on site to unload the low loader that delivered it. This was on a fairly busy road in central London. As the cherry picker drove up the dropped curb a truck came down the road and struck the basket of the cherry picker with the corner of its cab. There was no banksman/traffic marshals in the road to stop the traffic, and I think truck driver thought he could drive under the boom/basket as it was higher a second before the cherry picker drove up the ramp of the dropped curb! No injuries amazingly as it was a fair hit apart from the truck cab was knackered.
ALawson said:
echazfraz said:
I've just gone cross-eyed trying to read this on a computer at work - where's the accident book and who do I claim from?!
Quite, I think the planning for T5 was 6.5 deaths or something over the project. I think they worked something like 50 or 60 million man hours with several 1-4m periods "incident" free. I suppose when you work on major projects i.e. £1Bn plus, then there will always be more accidents. Edited by echazfraz on Tuesday 25th September 12:36
Over my almost 20 years the construction industry has gone from killing 60-70 per year in the late 90's to low 40's now. Not great but an improvement, most companies AFR are now all around 0.1 where they used to be much higher (I think when I started joined LOR in 2002/3 it was about 1.2 or something).
The two T5 fatalities can be found on the web easily. From memory Crossrail has killed two so far, 1 utility strike and another SCL adit / tunnel concrete operator, would be interesting to see how many man hours that project has done to date. I know there have been several significant incidents on that project that could have killed people.
Vaud said:
Zarco said:
Didn't follow any of those except 'pinky'.
What happened at induction and the eggs?
My guess...What happened at induction and the eggs?
Induction - HF = Hydrofluoric acid at a guess, which is a horrible way to go.
The eggs one- big trolley, someone had the floor drain covers up for cleaning - trolley catches on drain and covers pusher in eggs and (his) blood.
Other cases, near 4000A electrocution, though they say "it is the volts that jolt" sometimes, so perhaps with low dV but a big amps perhaps just a brush off bang propelling the body away from the machine. And a death head cracked open. Just shows, a few seconds is all we have before there but for the Grace of God we go.
J4CKO said:
Things have moved on for sure in terms of H and S, I was a YTS aged seventeen at a Freight company near Manchester Airport, I wasnt that keen on the office side but I bloody loved the Fork lift, my training consisted of the van driver saying, this turns it on, this makes it go, this makes it stop, this makes the blades go up and down etc..
So, 17 year old halfwit let loose in a 2 tonne powered vehicle with huge skewers on the front, I used to take all sorts of liberties going too fast, drifting it on a wet floor and generally doing stupid stuff to get objects down off lorries that were a bit over its capacity, like four of us standing on the back to add ballast.
I put the blades through the wall, but the worst was when I hit a block of wood, the bits that separate two sides of a pallet and as they have no suspension it didnt half go flying up in the air, not sure how near it was tipping over but not too far. A warehouseman at another place impaled an Orion Ghia by not being careful, so dangerous if used without care.
He didn't even tell you the two long bits on the front are called the forks So, 17 year old halfwit let loose in a 2 tonne powered vehicle with huge skewers on the front, I used to take all sorts of liberties going too fast, drifting it on a wet floor and generally doing stupid stuff to get objects down off lorries that were a bit over its capacity, like four of us standing on the back to add ballast.
I put the blades through the wall, but the worst was when I hit a block of wood, the bits that separate two sides of a pallet and as they have no suspension it didnt half go flying up in the air, not sure how near it was tipping over but not too far. A warehouseman at another place impaled an Orion Ghia by not being careful, so dangerous if used without care.
captainzep said:
Once saw a colleague try to “walk” a dishwasher back into it’s space under the kitchen work unit holding it either side and pushing using his upper thighs and groin.
In doing so he got too close and pinched the tip of his penis between the dishwasher and underside of the work-top.
Was he not... wearing... anything?In doing so he got too close and pinched the tip of his penis between the dishwasher and underside of the work-top.
ALawson said:
I met a chap on Terminal 5 (Matt Gilbert) on virtually his first day in construction, gave him is project briefing, he eventually moved teams 2 or 3 years later. He was fatality killed when some SGB temporary works failed whilst supporting a couple of tonnes of precast concrete up in the air. I think they (him and a chainman) fell about 10-15m into the West Rail box basement.
Terrible story. However is their another way to be killed than 'fatally'??Sorry, yes, too much, I agree.
Davey Blueeyes said:
ALawson said:
I met a chap on Terminal 5 (Matt Gilbert) on virtually his first day in construction, gave him is project briefing, he eventually moved teams 2 or 3 years later. He was fatality killed when some SGB temporary works failed whilst supporting a couple of tonnes of precast concrete up in the air. I think they (him and a chainman) fell about 10-15m into the West Rail box basement.
Terrible story. However is their another way to be killed than 'fatally'??Sorry, yes, too much, I agree.
One day we were talking about workplace accidents and he told us about one place he worked where somebody was working at height from a cage on a forklift truck. The driver went to move him from one bay to another, without lowering the forks, and failing to take into account the low opening of the doorway. He had no time to duck into the cage and was pretty much sheered in two, as his legs were trapped in the cage and his upper body hit the wall above.
As he told the story, we all looked at each other and winced at the thought of this gruesome sight. "I take it he was killed?", one lad said. "Yeah...", Barry replied, "there were a funeral and everything...".
Lazermilk said:
TonyRPH said:
The scaffolding story reminded me of the Malaysian scaffolder in this video.
Screenshot from said video in case you've seen it.
Screenshot from said video in case you've seen it.
I like how he still has a hard hat on though... that will keep him safe...
Reading this thread has made me realise I'm fairly lucky to have been in a mostly office based role. Jesus Christ, some poor b
ds in these stories.
Not particularly gory, but my old man ran a garage/repair place and when welding a car once, a bit of metal shot off and went into his eye. This was in the 80s and he probably wasn't wearing protective eyegear like he should have. He reckoned it wasn't hugely sore going in, but when he went to hospital the metal had moved round to the side of his eyeball and they had to use a magnet to slowly work it out - and that was very sore. Thankfully his eyesight was unaffected.
ds in these stories.Not particularly gory, but my old man ran a garage/repair place and when welding a car once, a bit of metal shot off and went into his eye. This was in the 80s and he probably wasn't wearing protective eyegear like he should have. He reckoned it wasn't hugely sore going in, but when he went to hospital the metal had moved round to the side of his eyeball and they had to use a magnet to slowly work it out - and that was very sore. Thankfully his eyesight was unaffected.
The post about welding above reminded me of something that happened to a mate a few years back.
Said mate was wearing safety gloves, however his overall sleeves had ridden up his arm because he was reaching up.....
He was laid on his back in a pipe welding, and a splash of hot metal ran down his sleeve.
Instinctively he shook his arm down, at which point the hot metal blob then went down into his glove....
So not only did he have nasty burns up his arm, but down his (protected) hand as well!!!
Said mate was wearing safety gloves, however his overall sleeves had ridden up his arm because he was reaching up.....
He was laid on his back in a pipe welding, and a splash of hot metal ran down his sleeve.
Instinctively he shook his arm down, at which point the hot metal blob then went down into his glove....
So not only did he have nasty burns up his arm, but down his (protected) hand as well!!!
Zarco said:
J4CKO said:
Things have moved on for sure in terms of H and S, I was a YTS aged seventeen at a Freight company near Manchester Airport, I wasnt that keen on the office side but I bloody loved the Fork lift, my training consisted of the van driver saying, this turns it on, this makes it go, this makes it stop, this makes the blades go up and down etc..
So, 17 year old halfwit let loose in a 2 tonne powered vehicle with huge skewers on the front, I used to take all sorts of liberties going too fast, drifting it on a wet floor and generally doing stupid stuff to get objects down off lorries that were a bit over its capacity, like four of us standing on the back to add ballast.
I put the blades through the wall, but the worst was when I hit a block of wood, the bits that separate two sides of a pallet and as they have no suspension it didnt half go flying up in the air, not sure how near it was tipping over but not too far. A warehouseman at another place impaled an Orion Ghia by not being careful, so dangerous if used without care.
He didn't even tell you the two long bits on the front are called the forks So, 17 year old halfwit let loose in a 2 tonne powered vehicle with huge skewers on the front, I used to take all sorts of liberties going too fast, drifting it on a wet floor and generally doing stupid stuff to get objects down off lorries that were a bit over its capacity, like four of us standing on the back to add ballast.
I put the blades through the wall, but the worst was when I hit a block of wood, the bits that separate two sides of a pallet and as they have no suspension it didnt half go flying up in the air, not sure how near it was tipping over but not too far. A warehouseman at another place impaled an Orion Ghia by not being careful, so dangerous if used without care.
I trained in a plastics factory / tool room.
Plastic injection story told earlier on, where the operator had to open the safety guard, reach in, pull the new formed bit of plastic out, close the guard, repeat. In my case it was an unusual mold for making the plastic shower heads, so you could not fit the safety guard. You set up a cordon around the machine, only one operator, two switches far apart, so his hands have to be well out of the danger zone.
Except. It is easier to just hold one switch on by hanging a large lump of metal off it. Then find it is easier to activate the other switch with a bit of string tied around your shoe. He still worked for the company, as the one handed sweeper.
Another mold - this time for making plastic bottle tops. Opening the safety guard causes the machine to stop, you have to take about 5 seconds to get it going again. Quicker solution is to reach up under the guard and pull the half formed plastic lid out. His hand did not like being forced into the shape of a plastic lid.
Not an injury, but someone serviced all of the air compressors one day, and forgot to put fresh oil in. The silence for 2 weeks as they were re-built was deafening. The mess that supercharger like screws make if they do not have any oil is impressive!
Plastic injection story told earlier on, where the operator had to open the safety guard, reach in, pull the new formed bit of plastic out, close the guard, repeat. In my case it was an unusual mold for making the plastic shower heads, so you could not fit the safety guard. You set up a cordon around the machine, only one operator, two switches far apart, so his hands have to be well out of the danger zone.
Except. It is easier to just hold one switch on by hanging a large lump of metal off it. Then find it is easier to activate the other switch with a bit of string tied around your shoe. He still worked for the company, as the one handed sweeper.
Another mold - this time for making plastic bottle tops. Opening the safety guard causes the machine to stop, you have to take about 5 seconds to get it going again. Quicker solution is to reach up under the guard and pull the half formed plastic lid out. His hand did not like being forced into the shape of a plastic lid.
Not an injury, but someone serviced all of the air compressors one day, and forgot to put fresh oil in. The silence for 2 weeks as they were re-built was deafening. The mess that supercharger like screws make if they do not have any oil is impressive!
One I remember from my time in the motor trade.
We used to build race engines for Mini's so the cranks were lightened and balanced, not sure how the guy managed it but drilled straight into his hand, he walked into my office with the drill bit still in his hand.
I sat him down and called for first aid, he took one look at it and fainted so great I now have 2 people to sort out.
Call ambulance and let them sort.
We used to build race engines for Mini's so the cranks were lightened and balanced, not sure how the guy managed it but drilled straight into his hand, he walked into my office with the drill bit still in his hand.
I sat him down and called for first aid, he took one look at it and fainted so great I now have 2 people to sort out.
Call ambulance and let them sort.
echazfraz said:
Here's one from me:
Me and my C7, you know, a couple of skelps more senior than an X3, were carrying out some smecking in a threshbar. Couldn' believe our FFFFFFFFb9 had actually asked us to go ahead without any fuzzcocks or resetting the gruff.
Anyway, my C7 obvioulsy gets banjaxed by a fraggin right in the gear as soon as we started. Took him PDQ to A&E, past B&Q, H&M, B&M, C&A, M&S and MFI in the JCB (no ABS, PAS, ESP, DPF FFS).
We had to shut the site until 1666 when it all burned down anyway!
Couldn't make it up...
Me and my C7, you know, a couple of skelps more senior than an X3, were carrying out some smecking in a threshbar. Couldn' believe our FFFFFFFFb9 had actually asked us to go ahead without any fuzzcocks or resetting the gruff.
Anyway, my C7 obvioulsy gets banjaxed by a fraggin right in the gear as soon as we started. Took him PDQ to A&E, past B&Q, H&M, B&M, C&A, M&S and MFI in the JCB (no ABS, PAS, ESP, DPF FFS).
We had to shut the site until 1666 when it all burned down anyway!
Couldn't make it up...
shep1001 said:
I have seen a few over the last 20 years, none of them good.
working in a confined space setting up to do some welding. Gas detector not switched on because it had a faulty LEL sensor, tank was leaking. Went to light the torch and that was that. They were scraping him off the walls & ceiling for quite some time.
Several asphyxiated with H2S in buildings & tanks classed as confined spaces with no gas meter or meter disabled so the work could be completed. Better odds here currently at 50% survival rate
Somebody clearing a hot ash chute leaning into it - blockage cleared suddenly and buried them head to waste. He was pulled/dug out in about 1 minute but now looks like Freddie Kruger
Somebody 'guiding' a several tonne lifting hoist into position. Work mates wondering why he had gone quiet...... The unit had trapped his head which had damaged his speech centre so he was unable to call out he was being crushed. Catastrophic brain injury, now a cabbage.
The two that haunt me the most is the contractor that fell through a roof as he was not clipped onto the safety rail. landed about 2ft away from me head first so I was treated to a ring side seat of his head shattering.
Working in some third word st hole in the water industry, a young boy got trapped in the water lifting screw & mashed to pieces. He was screening the water at the bottom with a net. The supervisor just found a willing replacement & they carried on!
You have a beautiful way with words working in a confined space setting up to do some welding. Gas detector not switched on because it had a faulty LEL sensor, tank was leaking. Went to light the torch and that was that. They were scraping him off the walls & ceiling for quite some time.
Several asphyxiated with H2S in buildings & tanks classed as confined spaces with no gas meter or meter disabled so the work could be completed. Better odds here currently at 50% survival rate
Somebody clearing a hot ash chute leaning into it - blockage cleared suddenly and buried them head to waste. He was pulled/dug out in about 1 minute but now looks like Freddie Kruger
Somebody 'guiding' a several tonne lifting hoist into position. Work mates wondering why he had gone quiet...... The unit had trapped his head which had damaged his speech centre so he was unable to call out he was being crushed. Catastrophic brain injury, now a cabbage.
The two that haunt me the most is the contractor that fell through a roof as he was not clipped onto the safety rail. landed about 2ft away from me head first so I was treated to a ring side seat of his head shattering.
Working in some third word s
t hole in the water industry, a young boy got trapped in the water lifting screw & mashed to pieces. He was screening the water at the bottom with a net. The supervisor just found a willing replacement & they carried on! Edited by shep1001 on Tuesday 25th September 18:19
We take H&S for granted sometimes, to the point where it's a hindrance almost.
Go into a European aluminium melter, splashproof fireproof clothing, safety boots, gloves, helmets and face protection.
Indian aluminium melting shop, shorts and flip flops.
Then in Sweden, some Chinese consortium bought a motorway service area on the E4, Just south of Gävle, wanted to refurbish it into a proper complex, hotel etc. Chinese scaffolders rolled up, bamboo scaffolding. Swedish HSE equivalent nearly exploded, job stopped for long time.
Go into a European aluminium melter, splashproof fireproof clothing, safety boots, gloves, helmets and face protection.
Indian aluminium melting shop, shorts and flip flops.
Then in Sweden, some Chinese consortium bought a motorway service area on the E4, Just south of Gävle, wanted to refurbish it into a proper complex, hotel etc. Chinese scaffolders rolled up, bamboo scaffolding. Swedish HSE equivalent nearly exploded, job stopped for long time.
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