- Joined
- Jan 28, 2007
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- 1,236
This isn't directly wilderness related, but it's definitely survival related. I was thinking about how the information I'm about to write down might apply to everyone here and I think the lesson you can take from it is that the times you need to be the most careful are the times when you feel like nothing could possibly go wrong!
It's sort of like how people slip in the bathtub and die all the time, and are the victims of home invasions with statistical rarity, and yet I've got about five thousand times as much money and effort and training into my guns as I do my bathtub, which has some suction-cuppy things in it for grip, but which always migrate to the low end.
Anyway, let me tell you what happened at my work last week.
Our first aid person at work asked me to give her a quick hand the other day. I was not very busy and more importantly wasn't enjoying the task I was on, so I happily went along. We've been friends for the last two years, since she was just a flag girl (well, flag woman, she's about forty) when I was doing the pile driving at the beginning of the job. We used to rib her endlessly, but she never took offense. At first, I didn't really like her much, but she was such a good sport about the constant verbal abuse she took from the guys (pretty rough bunch on the pile driving crews) that I developed a real respect for her. Then, when she got her level 3 first aid certification and they promoted her, I was really happy for her. She was always a lot of fun to have around.
So she asked me to help her take a sign down on the site. Our site is about 20 km long, so it was a good drive down to the sign. When we got there, I was surprised at how sturdy the frame they'd built for it was. It was made of three-inch angle iron, just to hold up a sign. Anyway, it was a big 8'x8' square, bolted together and braced to some horizontal sections that were attached to the ground with 5/8" stainless anchors. A big mass of steel! Still, it was tiny compared to everything we'd done pile driving, of course. We decided to just unbolt it and let it tip over, and send a boom truck for it later.
I undid all the bolts except one at the base on one side. We still couldn't push it over, so I said, "I'll slack that last bolt off a little, and it'll go." There was a slight lean developing to the south, so I thought it would fall that way. I checked out the north side as well, just in case. There was nothing in either direction, so I backed off the bolt a tiny bit, ready to step aside when it started to go.
It didn't tip right away, though, I guess because of the shape of the frame. It was about 6" wide at the bottom, being back-to-back 3" angle iron. I kept loosening off the bolt. Then I realized it was tipping a bit to the north. I wasn't worried, though, because I'd already had a look to make sure there was nothing to fall on. I started to pull my tools out, and while I was picking them up, the first aid person started to push it back to the south. I couldn't see her because of my hard hat's brim. All of a sudden I just heard her say, "I can't hold it up."
I looked up and realized she stepped into the path of the frame which was tipping north and starting to move. I shouted "get back, just drop it!" but she wasn't fast enough. She got 90% out of the way, and then it came down on her leg.
I grabbed the frame and picked it up. She pulled her leg out and I could see that it was just dangling, mid calf. "Just lie down," I said. "I'll call for an ambulance." I called 911 and they were pretty quick, although of course it felt like forever. I took off my coat and covered her up so she wouldn't get too cold, and just crouched there, talking to her, and trying to keep her distracted. It was very frustrating to not be able to do anything. She tried to sit up and take a look at it, but I told her to just stay in position. "Remember how I broke my ankle?" I said. "If you move around, all that will happen is that it will ache more. There's nothing to see anyway. It's just a garden variety break. I know it hurts, but just stay calm. You're not in any danger and the ambulance is on the way."
Unfortunately it was a severe compound fracture and her pants were slowly turning red, but of course I didn't want her to know that. The bleeding wasn't fast enough to worry about and the hospital was six blocks away, so I knew that wasn't a serious concern. I just wanted to keep her still and distracted. So I argued with her about her details for the 911 people. "You aren't forty," I said. "Why did you make me tell them that?" (I had said she was thirty, which I knew wasn't true. I also guessed she would correct me on the spot.) "You just don't want anyone to know you had a kid at fifteen," I said.
I felt terrible, though. She was clearly in pain (although handling it incredibly well) and about all I could do was hold her hand.
About the only bright side was the fact that the roads were empty and the hospital was totally empty of patients as well. There were for doctors standing around waiting for her to arrive (I beat the ambulance and waited around for a minute with them telling them everything I could.)
That was last tuesday. She is still in the hospital (although she is stable and the main surgery was done on the first day). They said she will be fine but might need skin grafts to close everything up. The section where the steel hit was pretty mangled.
So, what did I learn? A lot of things, most of them pretty unpleasant.
I'm used to working with guys who would NEVER, EVER get in the way of falling ANYTHING. We were all pile drivers and ANYTHING that falls is an automatic RUN.
but
Not everyone has that training and experience. In fact, as the Worker's Comp investigator told me, he has seen countless accidents where people ran to stop a falling object or rolling vehicle, and were crushed.
and
I should have taken the time to think about who I was working with, instead of just treating her like the guys. OF COURSE she doesn't have the same responses as us, as I should have known and thought about.
I should have thought about the risks inherent to the job more. It seemed so minor compared to the big stuff we're used to...just a humdrum, mundane task. Pull the bolts, step aside. Let it go. Have coffee. But NOTHING can be considered safe just because it is routine. If that frame had fallen on her back, she would be paralyzed or dead. I just did not think carefully enough about the task. I felt about how I'd feel about backing up a truck - obviously there is SOME inherent risk, but what are the odds? But that attitude cost her, in a big way. I wish I had given it more thought, but I just didn't.
When we went back later to pick up the frame, we found it weighed about five hundred pounds. In fact the welder who was going to cut it up couldn't move it at all, and I could lift it a bit at one end, but barely. But man, when it was on her leg, I picked it up so easily I hardly noticed it. The next day, my hamstrings were torn to bits, my back hurt, and my biceps as well. But at the time I didn't even realize I was lifting a heavy object on account of the adrenaline.
So be careful out there, guys. You could be doing something that seems very routine and dull, but it may be more dangerous than you think, by far. And the worst part is, you might not get hurt yourself, you might just have to watch someone else get hurt, and then think about why you didn't take the extra precautions that would have protected them.
It's sort of like how people slip in the bathtub and die all the time, and are the victims of home invasions with statistical rarity, and yet I've got about five thousand times as much money and effort and training into my guns as I do my bathtub, which has some suction-cuppy things in it for grip, but which always migrate to the low end.
Anyway, let me tell you what happened at my work last week.
Our first aid person at work asked me to give her a quick hand the other day. I was not very busy and more importantly wasn't enjoying the task I was on, so I happily went along. We've been friends for the last two years, since she was just a flag girl (well, flag woman, she's about forty) when I was doing the pile driving at the beginning of the job. We used to rib her endlessly, but she never took offense. At first, I didn't really like her much, but she was such a good sport about the constant verbal abuse she took from the guys (pretty rough bunch on the pile driving crews) that I developed a real respect for her. Then, when she got her level 3 first aid certification and they promoted her, I was really happy for her. She was always a lot of fun to have around.
So she asked me to help her take a sign down on the site. Our site is about 20 km long, so it was a good drive down to the sign. When we got there, I was surprised at how sturdy the frame they'd built for it was. It was made of three-inch angle iron, just to hold up a sign. Anyway, it was a big 8'x8' square, bolted together and braced to some horizontal sections that were attached to the ground with 5/8" stainless anchors. A big mass of steel! Still, it was tiny compared to everything we'd done pile driving, of course. We decided to just unbolt it and let it tip over, and send a boom truck for it later.
I undid all the bolts except one at the base on one side. We still couldn't push it over, so I said, "I'll slack that last bolt off a little, and it'll go." There was a slight lean developing to the south, so I thought it would fall that way. I checked out the north side as well, just in case. There was nothing in either direction, so I backed off the bolt a tiny bit, ready to step aside when it started to go.
It didn't tip right away, though, I guess because of the shape of the frame. It was about 6" wide at the bottom, being back-to-back 3" angle iron. I kept loosening off the bolt. Then I realized it was tipping a bit to the north. I wasn't worried, though, because I'd already had a look to make sure there was nothing to fall on. I started to pull my tools out, and while I was picking them up, the first aid person started to push it back to the south. I couldn't see her because of my hard hat's brim. All of a sudden I just heard her say, "I can't hold it up."
I looked up and realized she stepped into the path of the frame which was tipping north and starting to move. I shouted "get back, just drop it!" but she wasn't fast enough. She got 90% out of the way, and then it came down on her leg.
I grabbed the frame and picked it up. She pulled her leg out and I could see that it was just dangling, mid calf. "Just lie down," I said. "I'll call for an ambulance." I called 911 and they were pretty quick, although of course it felt like forever. I took off my coat and covered her up so she wouldn't get too cold, and just crouched there, talking to her, and trying to keep her distracted. It was very frustrating to not be able to do anything. She tried to sit up and take a look at it, but I told her to just stay in position. "Remember how I broke my ankle?" I said. "If you move around, all that will happen is that it will ache more. There's nothing to see anyway. It's just a garden variety break. I know it hurts, but just stay calm. You're not in any danger and the ambulance is on the way."
Unfortunately it was a severe compound fracture and her pants were slowly turning red, but of course I didn't want her to know that. The bleeding wasn't fast enough to worry about and the hospital was six blocks away, so I knew that wasn't a serious concern. I just wanted to keep her still and distracted. So I argued with her about her details for the 911 people. "You aren't forty," I said. "Why did you make me tell them that?" (I had said she was thirty, which I knew wasn't true. I also guessed she would correct me on the spot.) "You just don't want anyone to know you had a kid at fifteen," I said.
I felt terrible, though. She was clearly in pain (although handling it incredibly well) and about all I could do was hold her hand.
About the only bright side was the fact that the roads were empty and the hospital was totally empty of patients as well. There were for doctors standing around waiting for her to arrive (I beat the ambulance and waited around for a minute with them telling them everything I could.)
That was last tuesday. She is still in the hospital (although she is stable and the main surgery was done on the first day). They said she will be fine but might need skin grafts to close everything up. The section where the steel hit was pretty mangled.
So, what did I learn? A lot of things, most of them pretty unpleasant.
I'm used to working with guys who would NEVER, EVER get in the way of falling ANYTHING. We were all pile drivers and ANYTHING that falls is an automatic RUN.
but
Not everyone has that training and experience. In fact, as the Worker's Comp investigator told me, he has seen countless accidents where people ran to stop a falling object or rolling vehicle, and were crushed.
and
I should have taken the time to think about who I was working with, instead of just treating her like the guys. OF COURSE she doesn't have the same responses as us, as I should have known and thought about.
I should have thought about the risks inherent to the job more. It seemed so minor compared to the big stuff we're used to...just a humdrum, mundane task. Pull the bolts, step aside. Let it go. Have coffee. But NOTHING can be considered safe just because it is routine. If that frame had fallen on her back, she would be paralyzed or dead. I just did not think carefully enough about the task. I felt about how I'd feel about backing up a truck - obviously there is SOME inherent risk, but what are the odds? But that attitude cost her, in a big way. I wish I had given it more thought, but I just didn't.
When we went back later to pick up the frame, we found it weighed about five hundred pounds. In fact the welder who was going to cut it up couldn't move it at all, and I could lift it a bit at one end, but barely. But man, when it was on her leg, I picked it up so easily I hardly noticed it. The next day, my hamstrings were torn to bits, my back hurt, and my biceps as well. But at the time I didn't even realize I was lifting a heavy object on account of the adrenaline.
So be careful out there, guys. You could be doing something that seems very routine and dull, but it may be more dangerous than you think, by far. And the worst part is, you might not get hurt yourself, you might just have to watch someone else get hurt, and then think about why you didn't take the extra precautions that would have protected them.
you did the right thing, by keepinhg her calm and distracted from her injury..:thumbup:
