Fucked Up My Leg
Yesterday at work I came across my first serious workplace accident, and it happened to me.
And now, a re-enactment:
I was working on the transfer car. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a big trolley that moves up and down the aisle past every machine. On this trolley are rollers. Basically you line it up with another set of rollers and you can roll stacks of cardboard on to and off of the transfer car. These stacks can then be taken to any machine and made into a box.
What happened was, I was putting stacks of cardboard on to the car when an extra box started moving on. Here's a picture.
This stack of cardboard was half on the transfer car and half on the line. Since there was no room for it on the transfer car, I had to push it off and come back for it later. To do this, you have to step down between the two rollers and turn off an air valve. The rollers are air powered, so this pushes the stacks of cardboard to the edge of the lines. When you turn off the air, this allows you to push the stacks of cardboard backwards down the line. Here's another picture.
So I stepped down between the rollers and turned off the air. As soon as I did this, the transfer car started moving backwards. As enough of the weight of the half-on-half-off stack was on the transfer car, the stack moved with it. I didn't have enough time to get both my legs out, and my left leg got trapped between the moving stack of cardboard and the next line of rollers, squeezing it hard. Keep in mind that one of these stacks weighs an estimated 400 pounds.
I don't know why the transfer car started to move. Nobody was behind the controls to move it, so it really makes no sense. Also, inexplicably, the car also stopped. If it had continued moving, I have no doubt that I would be missing half a leg right about now.
So at this point I start screaming for help, and I mean SCREAMING. If you've ever heard the Uberduke song "Die" you might have a clue about what I'm talking about. Even with this, nobody heard me to begin with. Eventually, though, two guys came running. And a few seconds later there were about ten guys there lifting the boxes off. One of the scariest parts was waiting for that last bundle of boxes to be lifted off, and wondering what my leg was going to look like underneath it. Luckily, nothing was mangled too badly. I had a cut on the back of my thigh, which was bleeding pretty badly. They bandaged it up on the scene and we waited for an ambulance.
Twenty-five minutes later the ambulance finally arrived. They checked me out and loaded me on to a stretcher. It's kind of humiliating being wheeled out on a stretcher in front of all your co-workers. Then it was off to the ER. While there they put one stitch in my leg to stop the bleeding (without freezing, but I didn't even feel it). Then I got X-rays taken to check if anything was broken. Luckily, those came back negative. No broken bones. They took the stitch out and it started bleeding profusely again. It's basically a puncture wound. Something must have stabbed straight into my leg, because it's pretty deep, but only in one spot. Odd...
As of now, I can't really walk. I'm on crutches for the time being. And the cut is probably still bleeding a little bit. I can't really tell, though, as it is under a bandage.
The bad news: I'm going to be a little slow for the next week or two.
The good news: I got off work at 6:00pm yesterday, and I was extremely fucking lucky.
I know I planned a brunch for today. As far as I'm concerned, it's still on, even if I'm not there. I'm going to try my best to be there, but I can't guarantee anything.
On a somewhat brighter note, depending on how you want to look at it, I registered for my courses this morning. However, I'm not really looking forward to this school year. Who knows... maybe I will be by the time September rolls around.
And now, a re-enactment:
I was working on the transfer car. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a big trolley that moves up and down the aisle past every machine. On this trolley are rollers. Basically you line it up with another set of rollers and you can roll stacks of cardboard on to and off of the transfer car. These stacks can then be taken to any machine and made into a box.
What happened was, I was putting stacks of cardboard on to the car when an extra box started moving on. Here's a picture.
This stack of cardboard was half on the transfer car and half on the line. Since there was no room for it on the transfer car, I had to push it off and come back for it later. To do this, you have to step down between the two rollers and turn off an air valve. The rollers are air powered, so this pushes the stacks of cardboard to the edge of the lines. When you turn off the air, this allows you to push the stacks of cardboard backwards down the line. Here's another picture.
So I stepped down between the rollers and turned off the air. As soon as I did this, the transfer car started moving backwards. As enough of the weight of the half-on-half-off stack was on the transfer car, the stack moved with it. I didn't have enough time to get both my legs out, and my left leg got trapped between the moving stack of cardboard and the next line of rollers, squeezing it hard. Keep in mind that one of these stacks weighs an estimated 400 pounds.
I don't know why the transfer car started to move. Nobody was behind the controls to move it, so it really makes no sense. Also, inexplicably, the car also stopped. If it had continued moving, I have no doubt that I would be missing half a leg right about now.
So at this point I start screaming for help, and I mean SCREAMING. If you've ever heard the Uberduke song "Die" you might have a clue about what I'm talking about. Even with this, nobody heard me to begin with. Eventually, though, two guys came running. And a few seconds later there were about ten guys there lifting the boxes off. One of the scariest parts was waiting for that last bundle of boxes to be lifted off, and wondering what my leg was going to look like underneath it. Luckily, nothing was mangled too badly. I had a cut on the back of my thigh, which was bleeding pretty badly. They bandaged it up on the scene and we waited for an ambulance.
Twenty-five minutes later the ambulance finally arrived. They checked me out and loaded me on to a stretcher. It's kind of humiliating being wheeled out on a stretcher in front of all your co-workers. Then it was off to the ER. While there they put one stitch in my leg to stop the bleeding (without freezing, but I didn't even feel it). Then I got X-rays taken to check if anything was broken. Luckily, those came back negative. No broken bones. They took the stitch out and it started bleeding profusely again. It's basically a puncture wound. Something must have stabbed straight into my leg, because it's pretty deep, but only in one spot. Odd...
As of now, I can't really walk. I'm on crutches for the time being. And the cut is probably still bleeding a little bit. I can't really tell, though, as it is under a bandage.
The bad news: I'm going to be a little slow for the next week or two.
The good news: I got off work at 6:00pm yesterday, and I was extremely fucking lucky.
I know I planned a brunch for today. As far as I'm concerned, it's still on, even if I'm not there. I'm going to try my best to be there, but I can't guarantee anything.
On a somewhat brighter note, depending on how you want to look at it, I registered for my courses this morning. However, I'm not really looking forward to this school year. Who knows... maybe I will be by the time September rolls around.