The right tool for the job is not a bungee!

[sgnas]

As we have not had a full on (injury involved) story from HFH of late I'll present mt little offering.

At the moment I am changing the bulkhead on my 90. I have most of the bits required and am really close to being able to start re-assembly.

The passenger side outrigger was replaced before I decided the bulkhead itself needed replacing too. I still have the drivers side to do.

I decided that I needed to put the old, stripped, bulkhead back on to get some datum points. Then cut out the rot and replace using the datums to make sure it was in the right place.

The clever bit was that as I'm working single handed I did not want to take the bulkhead on and off. So I left it connected on the passenger side and pivoted it out of the way on the passenger outrigger bolt.

The roof, and roofrack, are still on the car. The plan was to tie it up to this and then I could work on the outrigger.

I looked for some rope but could not find any. All too conveniently there was still a bungee on the front of the roofrack. So I lifted the bulkhead and pulled the bungee down to meet it. Now this isn't a cheap bungee and has some considerable stretch in it so I needed to pull it really taught. As I did so the, unchecked, secure end undid itself. I'm not sure if I noticed the sudden release of tension and turned away but the upshot is the bungee and hook hit me hard on the left of my face. Some how I managed to lower, not drop, the bulkhead then went down to a squat with hands to face. There was quite a bit of blood which I was sure was mostly from my nose. However I was also sure the hook had done some damage on the way and was also bleeding somewhere around my eye. Managed to pull myself up and stagger blindly the 50m or so back to the house and kick on the front door to get my wife. Aside from some little panicky moment she did well but I told her to call an ambulance as we could always cancel it if necessary.

While she was doing this I was getting pretty certain I would be taking a ride in the ambulance and he nearest big hospital is 20+mins away.

Small aside moment.

Part of the flight or fright response shuts down all unecessary systems. Panic over these systems kick back in. One of the responses is you throw up or need to go to the toilet. Well, I needed a c"£p. I hadn't been on the loo 30 seconds before the ambulance arrived. So I'm on the loo and 2 female ambulance staff are arriving! Luckily managed to squeeze it out, restarting nosebleed in process, before they got to me.

After some clean up the ambulance staff decided I was going to hospital, but which one?

Local minor injuries unit is open 'till 9.30

Winchester, if the local cannot handle?

or straight to Southampton or Salisbury as it is a facial injury?

Fortunately, from the description, the local decided they could handle it.

The results

Black eye

Red eyeball

A few cuts in the eyelid

possible broken nose.

All sounds worse than it currently looks and I think I got off lightly.

Even if the cuts had extended to where the eylahes grow it would have been a trip to the plastic surgeon! and the damage could easily been worse.

Moral of the story.

Spend longer looking for the right tool if you know you have it.

If you already think it is not an entirely safe option then don't do it.

Seeing the damage a "no weight" bungee with 30kg of force in it can do I don't think I'll be buying a KERR anytime soon.

[Greenmobile]

Ow and ow and ow!

Glad you got off (relatively) lightly, considering the alternatives.

Any pics........?

[Happyoldgit]

My old man had a nasty accident with a bungee years ago which very, very nearly resulted in the loss of an eye. Glad you are relatively ok.

[Anderzander]

Hope you mend quickly and of course, you outrigger aligns correctly....

is the bungee reusable?

I'll get my coat .....

[smo]

Sounds painful, hope you recover soon

I had an accident working on the d-lander the other day, the new floor panel (3mm thick cheq plate...and large) sprung down into place trapping my thumb against the edge of the chassis, this caused extreme pain but most of all when trying to pull it free complete panic as i realised that actually i couldnt move, i didnt have my phone on me, i couldnt reach any tools to lever it up and was well out of shouting distance.....

It took a few (painful) mins but i managed to get my other hand under one edge and lever it up releasing one crushed and bleeding thumb, all good fun!

[white90]

Pics

This is worthless without Pics

[Les Brock]

For Tony...

[V8 Freak]

Nooooo. Tony we all know what a bungee looks like !

I can't do the blood thing. Description is all I needed....

Glad to hear you survived the moment... Nige would have hammed it up a lot more than you have done of course !

Neil

[dantd5]

Pics

This is worthless without Pics

Would like to see some pics though but in such agony one never think of pics ,do we? This sounds painful. I have had topics related to Safety lately. I also think there are many people here who have in one way or the other behaved unsafe. We all get away with it. I normally leave the clock out when I am getting a heavy project done. I also take many breaks for fresh air as this gives you new and fresh energy to continue!

Get well soon mate...(Pics )

[western]

good to read it wasn't very serious & hope it all heals without any scars.

we will be sending the local health & safety inspector to do a full audit on your workshop & you ----------------------------------------------------------- NOT

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Luckily managed to squeeze it out, restarting nosebleed in process, before they got to me

True Quality

Glad your OK

Nige

PS are we related

[JST]

not as stupid as sticking your finger inside a running lawnmower bed!

[Steve 90]

not as stupid as sticking your finger inside a running lawnmower bed!

No, you'd have to be a real idiot to do that!

Sounds nasty, Glad its all OK.

[ciderman]

not as stupid as sticking your finger inside a running lawnmower bed!

Everyone knows lawn mower blades are for cutting the lawn .

[dantd5]

Everyone knows lawn mower blades are for cutting the lawn .

I thought they were for fingerlicking.

[Mo Murphy]

Nasty injuries from a simple bungee ! Amazing what stored energy can do Imagine the damage a KERR rope could do !

get well soon

Mo

[SteveRK]

You had 50metres to travel before getting help - that must have been a long walk when injured like that - I live alone so thanks for the story as its a reminder for us when working alone- I will make sure I have a phone handy in the garage just in case.

I've had one ot 2 nasty impact injuryies over the years and it basically makes you feel Mildly miffed - totally out of sorts and unaware of your surroundings - that in itself can be dangerous.

Thinking about it - I already have a big fire extinguisher but will make a note to add a first aid kit as well.

To some people it sounds stupid but I don't won't my 15 minutes of fame on 999 rescue!

Hope you don't end up with a 'Joe-Buggner' nose

[101sean]

Similar thread running on the EMLRA forum titled 'Old enough to have known better'

Bloodiest tale was holding a V8 exhaust gasket with thumb through port and drilling burr out of bolt hole. Drill grabbed gasket which spun it nearly severing thumb

Winner so far is not bothering to disconnect battery, welding spanner to starter, knocking themselves unconcious and breaking ankle in panic to get from under Land Rover!

There but for the grace of God, I can only confess to near misses

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

I haven't exactly been accident free this year, but nothing major - but could have been

I ALWAYS now wear goggles grinding ...after I have spent a happy 2 hours in A&E some

while back with my head clamped in a vice, purple dye squirted in my eye and a bloke

with a long needley thing poking about in me eye while he was asking where I was going on

holiday this year - FFS PAY ATTENTION TO MY EYE AND STFU PLEASE was going through my mind....

So, I should really have known better

Needed a quick turning down of tube on lathe, shoved in chuck, started,

LOWERED SCREEN over chunk engaed feed drive and watched.....

On about the 6th pass I suddenly saw a sliver of swarf aiming for me,

and in the blink of an eye - literally it hit me

I was impressed that my eyes had blinked so fast, even more impressed when

I could feel the hot swarf on the eye lid, less impressed and oh so slighlt worried

when I couldn't open 1 eye, a trip in doors saw SWMBO shreek and some 10 mins

later her and her tweasers had maanged to rip out (not remove) the swarf that had

burnt / bonded my top and bottom eye lids

Sting a tad I should F say so, some TCP mixed with bolied water and surgical

spirit doshed on didn't help much in the stinging dept, and next day I had a

burn mark / scabs on top and botton eye lids

So, now wear goggles for milling and lathing too, bear the above in mind,

if you also do this sort of work for your hobby and don't wear goggles....

I guess here I was very very very lucky

nige

[western]

good idea to wear googles/safety specs or a face shield when drilling too. B)

[pete3000]

The right tool for the job is not a........very small 13mm spanner when trying to remove a corroded in wading plug from the timing cover on a 2.5NAD.

Result punched the sump edge as it came undone. didn't look too bad initially until the blood realised someone had opened the door to let it out.

lots of blood....a cut down down to the knuckle on little finger on left hand and a distorted tendon. I couldn't stop it bleeding, so wrapped hand in kitchen towel/masking tape. Topped off with a food bag..... mmmm nice.

Needed 4 stiches in A&E and flushing under local anesthetic. Not the best thing to watch. It still hurts now in the freezing cold and knuckle/tendon has strange scar/movement.

[kev.rev]

good idea to wear googles/safety specs or a face shield when drilling too. B)

I always wear goggles when grinding but a few months ago while happily grinding away a spark hit me on the cheek just under the goggles, bounced off, went under the goggles, hit the lens inside and bounced off straight in my eye!

Off I went to A&E with land rover magazine under arm, waited about an hour and saw a young man who put some yellow stuff in my eye and said "yes there is something in there"! **** I told them there was somthing in it an hour ago and I didnt need yellow dye, anyway he sent me to see the eye doctor. Two hours waiting I get strapped into "the chair" what a horrible experiance. They put some numbing stuff in my eye then I had to rest my chin on this contraption with a bright light beamed into my eyes she scraped this needle thing across my eyeball to remove the little bit of swarf that burned itself to my eye. The weirdest bit seeing my eye move but not feeling it? Anyway 3 and Half hours later I was home getting on with a job that should of taken about 1/2 hour! Maybe if I had not been wearing goggles I would of been ok? Maybe I should get some better goggles?

[sgnas]

I didn't have the presence of mind to take photos at the time.

I expected to look like one of those old women beat up in a robbery but I don't bruise easily. About 4-5 days in the bruise was quite yellow but that's as bad as it got lookswise. Sat/Sun I drove to Devon and back!

Nearly ten days in

defo broken nose, still hurts now everything else has settled down!

Blurry vision in one eye, apparently nothing lasting wrong with it, could take a month (or more) to settle down.

Still cannot tell quite how big/close the cut was as the glue has not all fallen off yet.

Being a brave little soldier, I only missed one day at work.

5 mins of tidying up and I found 3 small ratchet straps, each easily capable of supporting the bulkhead. The bungee took me a lot longer to find. Looked all over the floor/under/in boxes. Even resorted to looking in the rafters. Just as I was giving up I spotted it tangled in the injector fuel lines.

Replaced the offending outrigger tonight (1st day/hour back on the Landrover) and a smack in the face has improved my welding 100%. Even the positional overhead looks great. Hmmm, perhaps I should shut the dodgy eye and take another look.

[discomikey]

Needed 4 stiches in A&E and flushing under local anesthetic. Not the best thing to watch. It still hurts now in the freezing cold and knuckle/tendon has strange scar/movement.

a couple of years ago, i was in woodwork class a school, using a stanley knife to cut grooves into the MDF i was working on, exactly how i was showed to do it.

knife slips

cuts end of finger clean off,

could see the bone, and blood was like in a cartoon, spurting out with every heartbeat.

but the wierd thing was my reaction, it wasnt owwwwwwwwwww f***********

first it was, oh nooo my finger will be deformed forever now

then it was, i might need a palstr for that. no jokes, this was actually my reactions!!!!!!!

I think in those situations, it is the shock that takes over and you dont really feel the pain, so i tried to carry on with my work until after 30 seconds it had been died red. so i went to hospital etc, and all the doctor said, was "that looks like you were using a sharp blade"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO you dont say

lol mikey

[Night Train]

Many years ago I was moving a stone gatepost, about 400kg or there abouts. It was one of a pair I 'nicked' from next door by pulling it out the ground with my 110 V8. I made a little two wheel trolley to lay it on for moving it about. The trolley had small pnumatic tyres as the ground was a bit rough and it would be easier that way.

So my friend and I jack up one end of the post and slide the trolley under it in the centre so it balances and we manage to wheel it across towards where we are going to plant it in the ground. My end of the post is on the ground and I reach under it to sweep some large bits of gravel out of the way and my friend thinks we are about to move the post again and so he leans on his end causing the post to 'seesaw' his way. I shout 'No!', as my hand is still under the post, and he lets go.

The post comes down and lands on my little finger. But as the tyres are pnumatic they allow a little bounce and so the post comes down twice on my finger just to compound the damage.

To say it hurt would be an understatement. It hurt so much that my friend commented that it was the first time he had ever heard me swear!

I carefully removed my glove, now full of blood, and found a finger end burst open like a ripe tomato, finger nail off to one side and visible bone and meaty bits.

A&E said that there was no point stitching it or giving me a local as the repair would be quick and simple but awkward to stitch or inject. They just pushed all the bits back under fingernail and taped it up in roughly a finger shape.

It is now fine as they did quite a good job of it. All the scaring is under and around the edges of the finger nail and the only sign of injury is that it is a little fatter then the finger on the other hand.