Injured by Hand Tools

[electricalperson]

Then again there is something about those simple slices like a paper cut that hurts SOOOOOO bad especially in the palm or between thumb and index finger.

When I took the finger tips off I was afraid to look at it, when I finally did I remember thinking, damn you really screwed up this time. Then the pain set in.

i remember when i broke my leg. it didnt hurt at all when it happened i just couldnt believe i was seeing my leg bent in half at the shin. the pain usually sets in later

 

[peter d]

Yeah, that wouldn't have happened, since that one has a clutch.

Only in low speed.

 

[steved]

those hole hawgs are brutal.

I had to use a Makita drill while our Milwaukee was in the shop for repairs. The Makita was quite a bit smaller and less powerful, but ran at higher rpms. That little Makita beat me up 10 times worse than the Milwaukee ever did.

 

[Rampage_Rick]

What is it about seeing you own blood spill that makes a person dizzy?

I know your body has something along the lines of a "low oil pressure" idiot light. It senses a drop in blood pressure and makes an effort to save your belly jelly.

I think my body reacts somewhat stronger than most. I get it from breaking an ankle or even from getting a blood sample taken. If I'm sitting or standing I'll start seeing static after 30 seconds (feels like when you're hand's asleep, but in my eyes) and then get nauseous on the way to lights out.

If I lay down for the first 90 seconds I'm perfectly fine to get up and walk around normally (well except for the time I broke my ankle stepping off a 14-foot ledge) I think whatever injury mechanism kicks in just needs time to stabilize. If I'm laying down, I have no problem watching my blood sample fill up.

 

[LittleD]

I was up on a ladder drilling steel structure and the bit bound up and the drill twisted, flew right out of my hand & fell to the ground. Thankfully no one was standing below.

I did climb down, in pain & casually walk to my work truck to get a tissue because I wanted to cry (but didn't :smile: )! I would have taken a beaten (all in fun, of course) - THERE'S NO CRYING IN SUBSTATIONS!!! LOL

Another time I was stripping cables (with gloves on) and I noticed what looked like rust on the ground so I looked up to see if something was leaking down. Nothing. Then I noticed rust on my glove...........took my glove off and ............... yes, blood.

I can handle the bleeding but I have this incredible fear of contracting that flesh eating disease!!!

 

[The Iceman]

I watched a guy pull a hammer out of another guys tool belt and smack him in the head with it.

 

[brian john]

When I was an apprentice there was a fight between the carpenters and rod men on the deck, a carpenter took a hand saw to a rod mans head, All this happened as we (electricians and plumbers ) ran for the stairs.

 

[cadpoint]

I was up on a ladder drilling steel structure and the bit bound up and the drill twisted, flew right out of my hand & fell to the ground. Thankfully no one was standing below.

Not to question a drill binding up, but usually a drill at maximum RPM's is not the way for one to use a drill bit !

The drilling should produce "C" chips as it works metal with a standard bit. In most cases, and I see this being done all the time. The user is trying to press the bit through the work with high speed RPM and heavy force, which are both incorrect.

The operator should adjust the RPM speed down to create "C" chips and
be maintaining only the force to hold the drill on target.
Besides it also helps to spray or grease the bit as well ...

 

[LittleD]

Not to question a drill binding up, but usually a drill at maximum RPM's is not the way for one to use a drill bit !

The drilling should produce "C" chips as it works metal with a standard bit. In most cases, and I see this being done all the time. The user is trying to press the bit through the work with high speed RPM and heavy force, which are both incorrect.

The operator should adjust the RPM speed down to create "C" chips and
be maintaining only the force to hold the drill on target.
Besides it also helps to spray or grease the bit as well ...

Yeah! I learned this the hard way!!!!!!!!!!

Hand saw & hammer to the head............WOW, talk about a bad temper!

 

[roger3829]

Hammer smashed thumb.
Razor knife cuts.
Blood blister from pinched linesmans, strippers......

Best one....

Kneeling between two shevles, holding myself up with one hand, putting a screw (old school flathead screw) into the wall to hold up a piece on pipe, screw driver slips off hits me in the mouth, breaks tooth in half.

What fun is.....

 

[George Stolz]

Over a month ago I was drilling a KO on a staggered strip fixture (the cheap KO couldn't be knocked out by Mike Tyson, it had to be drilled ). Being of sound mind, I held the piece while I was drilling it, bracing it against the leg of the ladder. I did that successfully twice.

The last time I tried it that way, with the clutch on the drill in countersink (as always) the holesaw caught and the endcap became a bowlless food processor.

I didn't lose the nail, but it hurt real bad, bled all over the place, and now my nail has a ridge in it marking the occasion.

Edit: My elbow healed up good though.

I did hit my knee with a hammer last weekend building a gate, limping up to the fourth floor all week was made all the more fun by that.

 

[76nemo]

I helped a friend awhile back hang his exhaust flue. He was on the ladder and started to lose the pipe, so I hopped up real quick like on the step ladder next to him going about 200 miles an hour. Well, if you are like me, you hop right up on the first step and then look up. BLAMMMMM 18V Milwaukee drill with a Phillips head bit sticking out of it falling 3ft. down onto my forehead. You fella's know how heavy those rugged ol' Milwaukees are? Opened my forehead right up two inches above my right eye. If the drill would of fallen bit first, and two inches lower to my eye, Oh My God. It didn't knock me out, just down.
Think I had a cold beer or two after that one?????????? The drill was just laying at the right angle so I couldn't see it. After I got the bleeding to stop, I thought of what could of happened. THAT gave he hard cold chills. Once the buddy realized I wasn't severely hurt, and I got over the shock, we laughed our tails off. I had to, laughter is the best remedy.

 

[76nemo]

Ahh, thee ol' angle grinder. I was at a buddies house once removing his sewage vent, (the old cast iron), with a fan blowing. This is pretty sad, extremely dumb. It's about a hundred degrees on this day, so I have a big fan going. I'm almost all the way through, so a take a peek just a little closer at full RPM. A gust of strong wind came through the window changing the wind direction. Now I have a pretty long beard, the wheel caught my beard and my shirt, ripped half of the shirt off of my back, ripped half of the beard out, and the ol' eyes welled right up, THAT HURT!!!!!!!
Beard grew back, bought another shirt, pride is lost Story is kind of funny because where I was working day shift at the time, they made me tuck my beard in my shirt, and I always thought that was the dumbest thing I ever heard. Wrong again

 

[mattsilkwood]

i watched a guy using one of the old 1/2" drills you know the ones with a metal case that weighed about 1/2 a ton. so any way he was drilling through a column on a six foot ladder and he had an old worn out bit so he was really pushing. the guy had a beard down to his belly and it got caught up in the chuck. now you guys know those old drills diddnt stop right away so it ripped out a big chunk of beard and hit him in the chin so hard it knocked him off the ladder. as he laid there on the ground bloody and dazed he made sounds that id never heard a human make


not long ago showed up to work the gc called and said he wouldnt be there to unlock for a while but no worries because the north door was old and you could jimmy the lock with a screwdriver.
so here i go its not quite daylight so ive got my head pretty close to see what im doing and whammo my screwstick slipped out and gave me a nice little badge of stupidity on the forehead.
you would be supprised at the look people give you when you tell them you stabbed yourself in the head with a screwdriver

 

[SiddMartin]

I was on a 6 ft ladder tapcon'n a box to a solid cement ceiling, drill torque'd and the battery swung around and hit me in the eye, knockin me off the ladder. When I came to, I was bloody and black eye... fun explainin that one...

 

[iaov]

I've hit my fingers with a hammer to many times to count. I seem always to get nicks and scrapes to my hands during the course of a day. Many years ago I was cutting a wedge for a hammer head with a stanley knife and cut my thumb right beside the thumb nail. It was a small cut but it opened the artery there and i watched a small stream of blood shoot out with every beat of my heart. I've been extremely carefull with razor knives since!!When I worked in the paper mill I finally got tired of banging my head on pipes and started wearing a hard hat. Got tired of being billed for damage to the pipes!

 

[masterinbama]

Pulling 750 AL out of a LB forgot that AL has no memory. WHAP right in the middle of the forehead. Woke up on the sidewalk with the parking meter guy asking if I was alright

 

[sawdust454]

Too many to list but here is a dumb one. Pulling on fish tape with linemans pliers above my head. Pliers slip and smacks me right between the eyes. Sat on the ground for a long time after that. Hey maybe that is whats been wrong with me all these years:grin:

 

[MF Dagger]

Had a hammer fall of a 5 footer right onto the top of my head. Knocked me down to the ground but not out. Ground rod driver to the knee before, screwdriver to the palm, lineman's to the nose. I was in a crawl space once with an old milwaukee hammer drill and it bound up, didn't get hurt at all but had to watch it spin until it pulled loose from the extension cord. Razor knife to the thumb and then the mad dash with your thumb in your shirt to keep from messing up the customer;s carpet is a good time.

 

[frizbeedog]

Those pesky razor knifes......

We should outlaw them if they only weren't so crucial....

Journeyman I know stabbed himself in the chest strpping conductors on a ladder. Strip in a motion away from the body I think.

I have experience with field repairs to flesh wounds. A co-worker of mine tried to keep from passing out as I cleaned and dressed his wound with water, paper towels and electrical tape. I used my scissors to cut away some skin...it was getting in the way. Ahh, the healing power of the body.

Tip...White tape leaves less residue than the black tape. And the doctor will appreciate this.

I'm a cool cat dealing with the wounds of others, but my own blood.....game over.