Garage Accident

So I went out to the garage today to work on my car and that lasted about five minutes. I started to cut out the cross brace and my angle grinder caught on something and whipped out of my hands. Of course I was sitting down so it landed on my lap still running. Took a big gash out above my knee before it fell off. Oh the burning pain and it looked gross the way it tore open. It actually coterized (sp?) it so it didn't bleed but the doctor had to cut away all the burnt skin. About that point I had to lay down. Seems okay now just a little tight, I guess it shows how fast something can happen if you get a little complacent.


Sean

Whoa!!!!!!! That could have been REALLY bad!! :eek: We've had them grab our shirts and wrap up in the material........makes you really think about what could have happened.

Glad you are semi ok, but sorry to hear it happened at all.

Don

Been there, done that. That's what I don't like about working alone. A guy could cut through an artery, go into shock and bleed to death before he could get help.

Close call, Sean. Thank the good Lord it didn't come out worse than that.

Sean just the thought of it makes me hurt. Take it easy and get well.

Get well soon, lucky you were, a friends brother had a grinder catch up in a loose shirt and cut through tendons in his wrist.

I worked in a small machine shop for a few years. Safety was never specified on any machine, they just wanter product as quick and cheap as possible. They would hire people with no experience to do the cutting and drilling. One lady was on a stomp shear (without the protector installed) They made thin cuts, too thin for the stop to be used, and wasted material by not being able to see over the guard. She was 20 feet away from me when she cut her index finger off at the 1st digit.

Another new guy was drilling a 4 inch channel section, 4 feet long, with a 2 1/2 hole saw, about 1 foot in. I first saw him holding the long end with his left hand crossed under his right hand pulling the chuck down. I showed him to move the long end against the drills upright to hold it in place, because when the bit catches it is gonna tear you open when it spins around. This wa a huge industrial drill press. I look over about 10 minutes later and hes back to his way, 2 minutes later I hear him yell, then a bang clang, (part hitting drill and floor) and he is lying on the floor with a mangled shirt. My first thought was this is gonna be bad. Lucky him, it just put a 7 inch deep bleeding scratch across his stomach, and ripped his shirt almost all the way off.

Another guy was drillind small parts with an air drill, hand held. He decided it would be faster if he did it on his lap and drilled an 1/8 hole a couple inches into his leg, (some people have to learn the hard way.

Sorry one more, I could go on all day with theese. . The same guy as the drill press guy, comes up to me during lunch and asked me if he could use my , as he puts it, clipper things, ends up he wanted my side cuts. Since we had to buy our own tools and this this guy could break a rubber mallet. He would not tell me what he was cutting during lunch, I would not give them to him until he told me what he was cutting. Well Einstein pulled his hand from behind his back and held it up, He had put a 12" Tyrap, some call them tie straps around his finger, and paniced when it would not come off, so he yanked it tighter and tighter. Needless to say his finger tip was now purple, I told him he was gonna kill himself in here if he did not start thinking before he did stuff. He did not come back to work from that day on.

Wow, Glad did not turn out any worse. Take care and thanks for sharing a lesson for us all. Thanks to all who added their experience as well.

Pat

Glad it was not worse! My buddy had the same thing happen the other day, cut a huge hole in his forarm. I was gonna post pics to remind us all what can happen. Ive gotten to the point i wear my welding leathers when cutting with an angle grinder in case it gets away.

ouch! get well soon ..

Sean to make you feel better I'll tell this one.
http://towd.smugmug.com/photos/133398557_BkX2F-M.jpg

I'm spot welding new floors in this 356 Porsche for a friend
you know 1/8" holes every inch with a sheet metal screw in every other one.
Lots of spot welds and all need a little grinding in them to make them all the same.
the owner said he will grind while I weld
I'm on one end and he is working the other.
about a hour into it the grinding stops
I keep on welding for a couple more minutes
I go over to see what going on
buddy is shaking his hand and flinging blood all over the place
cut through leather gauntlets and took the hide off two fingers
not too bad but could been worse after getting him cleaned up and headed down to the hospital to get it checked
I look at the grinder he choose to use
two handed old Black and Decker commerical 6" grinding machine
instead of the little die grinder or one of two different 4 " Makita grinders.
I looked at the grinding he had done
and most of the spot weld and metal around them were ground down so thin that it would all have to be done again.
now he just stops by to see how it looks and keeps his hands in his pockets, and has the check book handy


heal up fast
hank

Sorry you got hurt but glad it didn't turn out worse! Heal up fast!

-Chris

Sean, Glad to hear that as bad as it was, it was not worse. You're absolutely right about complacency. Bites you everytime.

Now stay out to the garage until you are healed. Don't want something else happening while you are still weak.

Those grinders always make me nervous ever since i seen what happened to a guy after a nine inch got caught in a guys shirt. They make hamburger out of ya fast.

Sorry to hear about your accident. Glad it wasn't worst than what happened. You have some big blood vessels in your leg and as Tec says, if you cut those you bleed to death real quick.

I had a stupid accident years ago working on my 65 chevy SS. Can't rember the actual details but I was standing on a pail to work on my 327 while the engine was running(had a back problem back then and it was easier for me to stand on something taller). The pail moved and my shirt got caught in the fan belt and lost a good deal of my little finger on the fan itself. Could have been alot worst.

Ahhhh one of the fun things about our car hobby/obsession - an occasional session with the doctor to stop that sticky red stuff from leaking all over our fresh work. In over 40 years I've been lucky enough to have only made a couple of necessary trips to get things sewed back together - and they were in the past 3-4 years. One was a failed (new) hack saw blade that slammed my wrist into my work, the other, a sharp edge on the underside of my car - two scars on my left arm to remind me to be more careful.

I'm sorry to hear that you hurt yourself hope you are well on your way to recovery

It doesn't seem to bother me but I thought I'd stay out of the garage for a few days so it doesn't get infected. Thanks for the good words. Instead we started out at 3am yesterday morning and climbed Castle Mountain, got home at 11pm. I was so tired last night and so sore today. The one picture is my friend Tom 52 years old going for the final pitch to the summit 4800' up.

Sean

Beautifull Area! I bet the grinded spot hurts a bit more after that climb. Glad to hear your ok.

That's why I painted the shop floor red, you can't tell where the blood has left a spot.
BradC

them dagone tools will get you.even the simplest hand tools used wrong.i knew a mechanic in denver who put his eye out with a phillips screwdriver puttin a water bed together.puttin the little corner bracket on.be careful all.got a grinder in the knee one time.not too bad.it also never bled.just burned a groove.dang that hurt.take care brad c.geezer69

Whew! Glad to hear you're on the mend. Machines should be treated as if they are out to get you, I think. I've been cut, ground, sawed, burned, and banged so many times, I can't remember all of them. When I read your first post, the first thing that came to mind, after the "OW-ITCH!", was a set of chainsaw chaps; safety clothing has come a long way in the last few years, and one cannot be too safe. Affording "safe" is a different story, though.

Rrumbler hit it on the head, those tools are out to get you.

Anyone remember a "Maul Grinder" a bodyshop standard circa 1950? The motor set in a gimble mounted on a wheeled stand. The grinder head was attached to the motor with 6' or 8' of heavy flex cable wrapped in a flexible armoured casing.
The on/off switch was conviently located on the motor, so if the grinder head hit a snag, it would fly & wrap around the operator like a flying straight razor from hell :eek: These were real death machines.