rambojoe
Senior Member
- Location
- phoenix az
- Occupation
- Wireman
last week I had one of my worst injurys in 19 years. I was rolling up about 100' of steel fish tape- the leading end was in the electric room so I was walking backwards pulling it into the warehouse. the cabinet guys had all of their material on pallets with nice aisles to walk through.
now the first time I was backing up there was a clear shot. im pretty sure a lot of us use the same technique for rolling up long lengths of tape, walking it out so its not going to snag under pallets or doors and such. so I got about half of it rolled up (while walking to the leader) and started backing up again to repeat the process. I did look over my shoulder but just a bit to get some bearing on the aisle. little did I know the millers slid a odd shaped square cabinet (id say 12" by 16" by 10') in the walkway to make room for a base cabinet on a dolley. it was on top of other stuff so this cabinet was at just below knee height. I hit it while backing up (and wearing fully loaded tool bags btw),fell and put out my right hand naturally for some stupid reason. because of the height of the cab and the weight of my bags my hand bent so far back that my finger nails almost touched the top of my forearm.
very much painful. it instantly swelled and had zero range of motion. I did the normal stuff like telling the foreman and made a report. was it my fault? hell yes. and ive only been with them for 2 weeks. to make matters worse they only had till Saturday to finish the job and turn over the keys. we know that crunch time is no time for accidents and such so I was worried sick for letting down the guys on the crew and being perceived as a liability and careless. which I did and was...
anyway I went to the doctor and xrays said nothing was broken although it sure felt that way. I couldn't pick up my tool bag or even turn the key in the car. I showed up next morning at start time and told the boss I'd have to miss at least 4 days to let it heal. of course I faked being ok at the doctor to get my clearance to go back. my girlfriend said my face went pale when she was testing the range...ouch again!
there isn't much purpose to this post except that it gets harder and harder to do the work, watch out for your co workers and not get killed your self.
and those millers never had any idea of the mess they helped create for myself, company and my family. its going to be the small stupid things that will be our undoing- be safe out there
now the first time I was backing up there was a clear shot. im pretty sure a lot of us use the same technique for rolling up long lengths of tape, walking it out so its not going to snag under pallets or doors and such. so I got about half of it rolled up (while walking to the leader) and started backing up again to repeat the process. I did look over my shoulder but just a bit to get some bearing on the aisle. little did I know the millers slid a odd shaped square cabinet (id say 12" by 16" by 10') in the walkway to make room for a base cabinet on a dolley. it was on top of other stuff so this cabinet was at just below knee height. I hit it while backing up (and wearing fully loaded tool bags btw),fell and put out my right hand naturally for some stupid reason. because of the height of the cab and the weight of my bags my hand bent so far back that my finger nails almost touched the top of my forearm.
very much painful. it instantly swelled and had zero range of motion. I did the normal stuff like telling the foreman and made a report. was it my fault? hell yes. and ive only been with them for 2 weeks. to make matters worse they only had till Saturday to finish the job and turn over the keys. we know that crunch time is no time for accidents and such so I was worried sick for letting down the guys on the crew and being perceived as a liability and careless. which I did and was...
anyway I went to the doctor and xrays said nothing was broken although it sure felt that way. I couldn't pick up my tool bag or even turn the key in the car. I showed up next morning at start time and told the boss I'd have to miss at least 4 days to let it heal. of course I faked being ok at the doctor to get my clearance to go back. my girlfriend said my face went pale when she was testing the range...ouch again!
there isn't much purpose to this post except that it gets harder and harder to do the work, watch out for your co workers and not get killed your self.
and those millers never had any idea of the mess they helped create for myself, company and my family. its going to be the small stupid things that will be our undoing- be safe out there