Sobering safety remnder

[Morpheus]

We had a reminder in safety this morning, the hard way.

One of our other dealers had an accident in the shop.

The technician has worked for that dealership for close to 10 years, has been in the automotive trade for over 20 from what I understand.

Fully licenced, class A technician, he was not new to the business.

He had completed a power steering leak repair, and had the car running, up in the air and inspecting his work to make sure there was no leaks. He raised his hand to touch the power steering line to make sure there was no oil coming out of the fitting, and either slipped, or misjudged and touched the serpentine belt.

At 750RPM's, his hand went through the crank pulley in less than a fraction of a second.

Why am I posting this? As a tech, I undersand that we can sometimes get complacent when working on our trucks, we might forget that they can change our life in an instant.

I've done it myself, a car is running, you're looking for a noise, you reach in the engine compartment and touch the alernator, or a/c compressor. etc..

Be safe when working on a vehicle, use safety stands when you are under it, shut the engine off when you need to, disconnect the battery when you're supposed to.

Hopefully they will be able to re-attach Charlie's fingers and he will be ok, We'll find out later today.

Mike

[Snafu]

Wow. I do hope they can reattach the fingers.

[the x kid]

Good reminder. Hope he will be okay.

[Bow_Tied]

Good post.

Seen a few accidents, been in one. All preventable.

Will the MOL be investigating?

[Morpheus]

Update is that there was nothing left to reattach.

He's out of the hospital, lost 1/2 of 2 fingers.

MOL was called, and attended the scene. No infractions, just an unfortunate mistake.

[Scotto]

It's amazing how fast things happen. I have horror stories from school. We use the utmost caution with kids - above and beyond - and stuff still happens.

Good reminder, Mike. We all start to get complacent and just do stuff. And very few of us have the training to work on our trucks safely.


Sent from my iThingy.

[Miner]

Thanks for sharing....we all need the reminders.

[PiDGE]

Ouch I hope it works out for the fella. I've ha my fair share of hand injurys. Although I don't know what it's like to lose a finger I've come close a few times. It's a good reminder Mike of stop and look before one leaps. We all want to come home at the end of the day to whomever, this unfortunate incident is a good reminder of how complacently can bite back. I try and preach to these young fellas to stop and think before they act. Ive been guilty too many times and now feel obligated to pull someone aside and explain the dangers of certain things. I feel bad for your buddy, I feel his pain. Hopefully he can return to work doing what he loves soon.

Pidge.

[Snafu]

Whether working or playing things happen quickly. Shawn (Tankhunter) lost part of his ring finger in a seemingly benign fence hop. Scary.

[Bow_Tied]

Thanks to this post I was extra careful evaluting the noise from the accessories on a running engine on Sunday.

[Snafu]

^so you only lost an ear?

[FrontyFlyer]

ouch! Sort of sad but true, but it often takes an incident like this to keep people aware. Hope your buddy is ok, cant imagine how terrible it would be for a mechanic especially to loose the most useful tools in his shop; fingers.

[Bow_Tied]

^so you only lost an ear?

Pardon? Couldn't hear you.