# Tool-related Injuries



## Tom738 (Jun 1, 2010)

What are the most significant tool or DIY-related injuries you've seen, and what could have been done differently to prevent them? Or what would have been terrible injuries, except someone did something right that kept it from being worse?

This is just a question two or three recent posts made me think about: one post on an exploding sander and one on a ladder stabilizer.


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## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

I saw a kid use a circular saw to cut his inner thigh where it took more than 50 stitches to put him back together again.

how it could have been avoided would be he used a sawhorse instead of his leg to rest the work piece on. 

Took a guy to a hospital after he cut the end of his finger off while using a machine. Remedy; a guard on the machine to prevent him sticking his finger where it could get cut off.


next to a guy that ran his hand (the web between the thumb and forefinger) into a table saw blade. Remedy; pay attention to what you are doing and use a push stick when you need to push something very close to the blade



watched an idiot using a table saw using the rip fence and the miter block in a way that left the cutoff piece rattling between the fence and blade. When the blade finally flipped it out it whacked the guy somewhere between the really bad place to get hit and his stomach area. After the second time I notified his foreman that his foreman had an idiot working for him and unless he does something, Darwin might make take another one.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

It's become too easy to blame the machine. The biggest cause of accidents are the operator, and complacency. Complacency is what happened to me wasn't paying attention, cut a couple fingers off. was not the saw's fault. Got'em sewed back on and can still count to ten.


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## Canarywood1 (May 5, 2012)

nap said:


> I saw a kid use a circular saw to cut his inner thigh where it took more than 50 stitches to put him back together again.
> 
> how it could have been avoided would be he used a sawhorse instead of his leg to rest the work piece on.
> 
> ...


 
I saw a 55 year old do the same thing the kid did, but he tied the blade guard back so the blade was constantly exposed.


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

The one tool that has gotten me seems like such an inocent thing. A drill-----

I had an auger bind when it hit a nail--the handle spun and broke 3 ribs----
Put my out of work for weeks----


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## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

oh'mike said:


> The one tool that has gotten me seems like such an inocent thing. A drill-----
> 
> I had an auger bind when it hit a nail--the handle spun and broke 3 ribs----
> Put my out of work for weeks----



Oh, that reminded me:

a woman friend of mine worked a job operating a drill press. It ran constantly. For some reason she bent forward. Her hair got caught up in the spinning bit. Ripped a heck of a chunk of hair right out of her head.



had a childhood friend working on a farm. Using a grain auger, he made the mistake of trying to go over rather than around. Auger got hold of his clothes, just about stripped him bare and then started peeling skin. While the clothes were being ripped off they essentially crushed parts of him as they tightened. He survived but never worked another day after that.


at work an apprentice was using a hammer drill to drill through a cmu (concrete block) wall. He was on the top or nearly on the top of the ladder and was still reaching. He didn't have his hard hat on. 

the bit caught in the block and since he was in such a poor position to do much, it spun around and the handle whacked him right on the top of the head cutting him open. Don't remember how many stitches.


Heck, just a couple weeks ago a tin knocker, who I never see without his hard hat on so I know he had not simply taken it off, got hit in the top of the head with a piece of 6" spiral duct. He had been on a ladder putting up the duct. Somewhere along the line his hardhat got knocked off. He went down the ladder to get it but had not secured the duct properly. It slipped and fell and he now has a scar about 6 inches long right across the crown of his head going side to side. 

how to prevent that? don't make us wear hard hats (just kidding) but don't make the rules so tough that one fears being booted off the job for 3 days (which is the penalty for not wearing the hat) that he felt compelled to stop working to get his hardhat. He would have been fine if he simply finished hanging the duct and then retrieved his hat.


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## TheEplumber (Jul 20, 2010)

Saw a guy run a drywall screw into has hand. Should not have been stabilizing the steel stud with his hand.

Another guy ran a worm drive saw up his leg. He had the guard pinned back while cutting joist tails and kicked up.

one time my apprentice had a 3.5" hole saw race across his cheek and lip. Multiple stitches. Luckily the bit was not under power and was winding down- it pinched in the hole and jumped out.

A fellow plumber turned his index fingure into hamburger when the saw-zall pinched. His finger ended up between the stud and the tools foot....

Watched a guy break his shoulder when erecting a tilt up panel. The upper corner broke off as the panel colided with the adjacent one. He was watching the bottom edge when the junk fell 16'

Almostall of these instances are lack of training, stupidity or not paying attention


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## TheEplumber (Jul 20, 2010)

Oh, 1 more... watched a plumber wrestle a pipe machine. The threader won too 
He was holding the end of the 20' pipe while his helper cut some threads on the other end- to lazy to get the pipe stand.
Instead, he rested the pipe on his arm so it wouldn't flop around while rotating in the threader.
His flannel sleeve cuff hooked the threads and bound up. In no time he flipped over the pipe to save his arm. Soon the machine fell over which kept the helper from getting to the switch (no foot pedal)
Keeping his wits, he reached for the cord and unplugged it.

After checking for injuries and finding only bruises, we all had a good laugh.....


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## ben's plumbing (Oct 6, 2011)

seen another plumber using a 16" drill bit on one side of a wall drill into his helpers eye.. on the otherside.....stupidy.. countless saw accidents including chopping of a whole hand at the wrist....all from not payng attention or not respecting the tool:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Scottg (Nov 5, 2012)

As a volunteer EMT, I've been to a variety of accident scenes.


* Table Saw: Had a guy who had run his left hand over the blade. Oddest thing was he was missing his index and ring fingers below the 2nd knuckle, but middle finger was fine. He must have held that up a bit. I thought it odd that he didn't pull away in time to avoid the 2nd finger coming off. Anyway, we bandaged him up and spent a few minutes looking for the parts. We found them across the shop where they had been flung. We wrapped them in damp gauze and put on ice. (You don't want to put on ice directly as that can kill cells as well.) Not sure if microsurgeon was able to re-attach, but that's why we took care with the parts.

* Snow Blowers: Snow blower hand injuries have become less frequent. Not sure if this is due to better awareness, safer machine or both. Probably both. It used to be we wouldn't go more than a couple of years without having a call, (in our somewhat large suburban coverage area of 40K+ families), without having someone stick a hand in a snow blower to clear a jam. Injuries run from badly broken to somewhat mangled to severed parts of various sorts. "It was off" we hear. But in some cases, it wasn't. Or blade(s) still under tension.

* Hand Tools / Knives: People make minor cuts with these all the time. (Minor to me means something maybe requiring a few stitches or less vs. something more deeply surgical.)

Personally, I try to cut away from myself where possible. Oftentimes, it's obviously much easier to cut towards. Try to be aware of where my 'other' hand is. And one thing I haven't done yet, but want to, is get some of those Kevlar gloves that a lot of meat cutters use for when working with sharp stuff. Won't solve everything, but can help.


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## NickTheGreat (Jul 25, 2014)

I've cut myself with my pocket knife before, but I try to be careful around power tools and blades for he most part!


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## Thurman (Feb 9, 2009)

Worked with a guy that had to make two special washers. He cut them from 10 ga. sheet metal, drilled the hole in the middle and decided to dress up the O.D. so they would look better. He put one of them on his index finger then proceeded to run the washer against a large vertical belt sander. It took almost two seconds for the spinning washer to cut him down to the bone. Luckily they stitched him up and he kept the finger. This is the same man who went deer hunting one Saturday, was sitting in a deer stand and his legs got tired. So--he stood up to stretch and it felt so good he decided to take a few steps to exercise his legs. When he came in to work Monday he didn't want to talk to anyone about his obvious injuries about his face and arms. One guy called his wife to ask about it and she told us the story. He hit every pine tree limb there was while going down.


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## Mort (Nov 26, 2008)

I cut myself the other day with a hand saw of all the dumb things. Table saw, never a scratch, but a stupid hand saw...


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## paintdrying (Jul 13, 2012)

Was stapling up some tar paper when my stapler jambed. Where did I bang it to see if staples came out? The palm of my hand


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

These are tough stories to read. I don't do well around blood.

Having said that, I witnessed a GC who was doing some frame nailing actually blow a nail into his wrist. That was awful enough, but, he kept going around asking other subs working on the project to PULL THE NAIL OUT for him. Believe it or not, someone did and he taped himself up with DUCT TAPE. Now, I don't know if he went to the hospital later in the day, but he was still working when I left for the day at 5 o'clock.


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

The most miraculous incident I have seen involved a chainsaw. We were clearing some trees and brush from along a roadside with a steep grade. My co-worker was cutting a limb with the chainsaw and slipped down the hill. The saw went right across his leg, about halfway between his waist and knee. He shut the saw down right away and I jumped over the guard-rail for what I assumed was going to be life-saving medical attention. The saw blade sliced through his jeans about 6-8" long, but didn't even scratch the skin. Soooooo lucky.

I personally seem to do ok with the more dangerous things. Perhaps I have a higher level of alertness when I know the table saw can take my hand.

My hammer, on the other hand, I don't know how I haven't pancaked all of my limbs with that tool at this point. Cordless drill... I'm looking at the black spot on my thumbnail as I type this from it slipping of the screw and jabbing me while hanging a curtain rod about a month ago.


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

One of my friends in high school wood shop cut off the end of his thumb on the bandsaw. I didn't see it happen, I was over in the metalcasting foundry at the time, but there was blood all over the place.

The shop teacher was outside having a smoke at the time. He was in _*deep *_doo doo, but he didn't get fired.


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## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Maybe not exactly a "tool" but the husband of a woman at work either fell into or otherwise got caught up in an operating manure spreader. That was all she wrote....


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## LanterDan (Jul 3, 2006)

I've been fortunate, I've had nothing that required more than a bandage. My worst incident was with a coping saw. A couple careless incidents with utility knifes as well. Lots of burns with soldering irons, but all superficial.

My company's safety manual states something to the effect "training is not required for hand tool use since it is general assumed the operator will stop pushing if a tool make inadvertent contact with them." I think that is among the stupidest things I've ever heard, but then I think my safety department is full of people who have never done any work.

I've been fortunate as well not to witness anything really bad. I think the only thing I've witnessed that required medical attention was in physics lab and young lady was working at lathe and had a long metal shaving curl up on the work piece slice her hand requiring a few stitches. She was new to machine shop work, but generally attentive and careful.

In high school I remember my shop teacher telling there was only one incident in his career that sent a student to the hospital. It involved one of those metal shears where you stomp on a foot pedal. One student stomped the pedal down on his other foot and broke it.


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## mathmonger (Dec 27, 2012)

I had a brief summer job doing some web development in college. I was in this back room where the air conditioning was not right and it was REALLY cold. Apparently your hands have to be a little bit warm to lubricate the tendons or whatever. I destroyed my hands in a few short weeks. All my career plans went out the window and now I'm a handyman. 20 years later, I still cannot use a computer without pain. 

Maybe not the point of the thread, but a computer is a tool. And I like to warn people every chance I get.


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## Tizzer (Jul 24, 2010)

I framed homes for 15 years before the housing crash and have seen a few.
A cut-man on one crew completely removed the bottom guard on his saw.
One guy rigged his air gun so you only had to pull the trigger to shoot - no depressor needed.


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