Did You Ever Take A Guy To The Hospital?

Gus Dering

Back in 81 I had a job building homes for a hot headed super named Rico. I say hot headed but he was equally bull headed and stubborn.

First ting in the morning I was to help this old guy ,also named Gus, put the tracks back on this little dozer small enough to push dirt in a framed garage. The old guy had put new gears in the rear end and had the butt end up in the air a bit.

I was told he undid the tracks and used the blade to push the front end up as high as it would go. Then stuck some wood between the rollers and the tracks and released the pressure on the blade. The result tipped the butt up in the air so he could work on the gears.
Time to reverse the order. He fires up the dozer and mashes the blade down. Not nearly enough to remove the wood. I'm standing there doing nothing. The old guy keeps trying but no go. I'm still standing, a huge no no if Rico was to drive up.

I say " I have a jack in my truck that can lift the but end of this thing" Old Gus lets me go to it. I had to gather up a collection of concrete blocks and framing scraps to get the little hydrolic jack up to height but I was there and Rico drives up.

Old Gus is telling Rico that there seems to be something else wrong with the machine and I'm getting the thing off the blocks.
Rico starts growling that you just have to let the pressure build up and storms out of his truck to give it a go.

He is standing next to the dozer and messing with the blade with aggression. " Rico! You're wiggleing the jack!" More growling. "Look out!"

The whole machine tips off the jack in his direction. He jumps and turns but not far nor fast enough. The plate of steel that keeps rocks from getting in the rollers landed directly on his foot. I took a quick peek around the side of the machine and see his boot under that plate and no room for toes. He is screaming for a shovel. Old gus is spinning in circles.

I rerig the jack at it's new and lower elevation and lift the machine just enough for him to remove his foot. Seems like that took forever with Rico screaming for a shovel the whole time. He couldn't see what I was doing.

I'll spare the gore. But I take him to the hospital. Get him past the waiting room and he is sitting in a wheel chair. We are starting to recount the event and he says to me " you know as heavy as that machine is and as hard as that gravel drive was, I was still able to pull my foot out from under it. Adrenalin I guess"

I don't think I had the heart to tell him he didn't have super human stregnth. He probably wouln't believe it anyway.

Somewhere there is a guy with several toes missing that believes he is really strong when it matters.

I'm just a guy with a jack

skyhook

I had a guy lose the skin off the back of his hand, I know from personal experience that the Doctor is gonna want that skin, but the dog ate it.
Got him to the hospital in short time.

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precisionbuild

1. One time, we were framing and one of my guys had an open drink sitting at the sawhorses (he was the cutman). He took a drink and it all went downhill from there.

We thought it was a bee that had stung him in the throat. Turns out, he had a splinter lodged in his throat and him sticking his fingers down his throat pushed it in further.

2. We were smashing up a cast iron tub in a bathroom we were redoing. This was one guy's first time doing this. There was a lot of shards piled up where he was hitting and I told him to sweep them up so they didn't fly everywhere. He went to brush them up and at the same time I yelled, "not with your...". Too late. He used his hands. Right through the gloves.

He was kinda sissyfied and had never had stitches, had a bone broken, or anything, and he went into shock.

3. I took a guy to the hospital for a piece of metal in his eye from using a grinder. (No glasses).

And myself, I have taken several times.

Sasquatch

A couple of years ago we were building a deck on this spec house and one of the boys was cutting some composite decking. Well he was squaring an end off, and a little piece got caught between the blade guard and jammed it open. He was not paying attention and he puts the saw down a little to close to his leg and serp! You will never look at a stuffed pork chop the same way ever again. The boss always taught us to be careful with the tools. Some people get complacent.

hughjazz

nasty, the dog thing.

I've seen many gross things on the volunteer fire dept.

when people are really hurt, they are usually quiet.

when they are extremely hurt they are DEAD quiet

IHI

First year in business my then partner and i were doing a bath remodel, just tiled the walk in shower, he was inside with some nasty toxic sealer he was using a spray bottle to apply it and wipe it down, pretty soon he said he was having trouble breathing....rush him to the ER, long story short he had chemical bronchitus and was up there for a week hooked upto O2 before he got better.

Two years ago, we were building a garage just before winter so ground was frozen solid, neighbors had a NASTY privacey fence 3' off the garages foundation, spear shaped/pointey if you know what i mean. I had just gotten done raising the pallet of shingles upto the roof for the guys to stage, was cleaning up and i kept hearing what sounded like "retard voices" i figured the guys were up there joking around...couple minutes went by and the one guy came running around the garage, "i think your brother fell off the roof" i thought i was going to see him impaled since we talked about that happening since the first day of the build...so we run around the 3 sides of the garage and the moaning got louder and louder so i was preparing to see the worst, but luckily, no brother impaled on a fence..whew...so i grab the top of the fence and pull myself up and see him writhering around on the ground.

Hop the fence, no bones sticking out, all arms/legs/fingers worked. Brother said he had just bent over to put down the first shingle of the first course, moved his foot and it landed on the air hose, and you all know how that goes...well he knew the fence was there so he had mind enough to push himself off the roof as hard as he could knowing he was going down regardless and took a 10' down, 8' away from the garage spill landing with all 200lbs on his right shoulder....luckily at the ER nothing was broken, just jarred terribly. kept him on salary for three months business as usual and he finally told me he was all done and was going to get a normal job LOL!! even to this day his shoulder still bothers him.

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Gus Dering

That might not be funny to everyone but I got a tear laughing.

Good dog

Brock

Had a noob nailing off the roof sheathing. 6 penny straight through the tongue of his tennis shoe. It countersunk perfect in the leather. Almost if he had used a nail punch to set it perfect. We were turned down by two minor emergency facilities. Apparently there are more nerves or bones in the human foot that anywhere else on the body because everyone was afraid to take it out. Finally we get to a hospital and fortunately there was a plastic surgeon that officed across the street that volunteered to remove it. Later we added up the time and it was just a hair over 1 1/2 hours from the time of the accident to removal. He had a little swelling to say the least.

RayGoerdt

Was building a pole barn in "76", normal cutting of 6x6 posts was with chain saw. one of the guys decided he could cut a 2x4 propped up on his foot......... right between the big and second toe....... ouch 20 minutes to the hospital. He healed up with no major damage, but never did come back to work!

Meetre

I had a business partner a few years back. We were working on a weekend, and he decided that he could rip a 2x4 with cordless saw in one hand, 2x4 in the other. Saw kicked back, landed on the palm of his left hand, the meaty part that moves the thumb. Lucky for him the battery was near dead, it stopped when it hit the bone. Did look like a shark bite, but no lasting damage.

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Brock

I have that sharkbite scar. Was cutting stakes out of two by fours as fast as I could with skillsaw. Forgot I had the guard pinned back with a shim. My upper right thigh stopped the blade cold. Have three distinct red scars from the teeth shaped like big teardrops. I don't pin the guard back anymore.

skyhook

My neighbor called me and asked if I could bring over my Dremel tool and cut the barb off of the hook (big fish hook) in his hand so he could push it through.
That didn't work so off to the ER. He said the Doc even had a hard time getting it out.

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Bodger

I once shot a 4d finish nail out of a Senco right through my left middle fingernail, and into the skirt of a nightstand I was building. I was in essence, nailed to the nightstand.

I dragged the nightstand through the garage, into the living room, to the phone. I didn't have to go to the hospital, but trust me, paramedics don't know how to use lineman dykes very delicately.

camaroman2125

I had to run my dad to the ER after he did the same exact thing. Then I also had to run my uncle to the ER after he call all of his fingers off on a compound miter saw. If ya cant' tell my family doesn't have the best of luck while working with power tools.

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SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES - NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.

simplejack

I've driven Myself to the doctor.. when I was a Cub, we were demoing few restroom's, and the fastest way to get the ceramic tile off the wall was with a hammer. we had been swinging for two days breaking the ceramic tile off the wall and then sweeping it off the floor and another group was demoing the green board. any way I reached a point where the drywall had water damage and was brittle so when I swung the hammer, my hand went right in the wall and came out sliced and bloody! I wasn't wearing my gloves because I went to break and left them in the truck...

I almost passed out from the fright! I felt sick when I went to wash my cut I swear I could see bone on my pointer fingers second Knuckle! I jumped in my truck and drove 40 min to the clinic, 20 stitches and 16 years later I still can't fully close my finger when making a fist!

But the WORST I've seen was with a Glazer! this guy was unloading a Plate glass window when it broke and sliced through his forearms...Dude I panicked, but thankfully my then Boss (R.I.P Richard!) ran to him and wrapped his shirt around his elbows tight, he threw me his "BRICK" cell phone to call 911! He was bleeding to death right in the parking lot! after about 5 min the Paramedics came and took him away.

The glazer was never able to work in construction again his arms where toast, skin graphs and several Major operations later...they kept him in the office for about 3 years and then let him go.

I'd like to say that this happened when I was still Green, and that I would react differently today, but In both situations I was no good to anyone...although I did pull someone out of their Flipped over SUV off of California's Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) at 5 in the morning! Guy fell a sleep (I guess) right in front of me while I was driving and rolled the Suburban maybe 3 times, and ended up on the oncoming lanes... I pulled over and ran to the drivers side and took his seat belt off from the back seat..unfortunatly dropping him on his head, and dragged him out to the shoulder, he was OUT the whole time!

I guess maybe it's the sight of blood that freaks me out...I dunno but I hope I never find out!

Bodger

Blunt trauma only for you then, no sucking chest wounds!

Good job on the conked out Suburban guy though, that's never easy.

I had a motorcycle accident once and a lady stopped to help and all she could do was stand over me and scream.

I wasn't hurt all that bad, and I felt like telling her that I appreciated her pulling over, but could she please leave now? I thought maybe my skull was opened up or something and I couldn't feel it.

Wolfgang

Was driving home one day and noticed a framer up on the roof of a new construction job holding his leg. I turned around, got up, and yelled if he needed any help. Said he "shot himself in the leg". Climbed up the ladder, and sure enough he rapid-fired three framing nails in his knee. Back down the ladder, got two small pieces of 2x4 and some clean rags and immobilized his leg. Carried him down the ladder, into the truck and to the hospital.

Two weeks later, I'm finishing a job and go out to start pulling out my equipment. Get home to unload and notice a ripped screen on my kitchen window. Pull out a 4' step ladder to reach the screen. I'm on the second step from the bottom and my knee goes out. Landed on the concrete driveway just right. Split the fibula from my knee joint down 8". Son of a gun that hurt. I yell for the wife, she comes out and asks if she should call the amb/fire dept? Hell no! I could just hear these guys saying some idiot had fallen off the second step of a ladder. We strapped a 2x6 to my leg, loaded into the back of my dad's pickup, and went to the ER. Of course he takes the "scenic route". Ended up with four 4" stainless steel lag bolts and two 2' screws holding my leg together. Still have two of the lag bolts and the 2" screws to this day. Oh yeah, I found out I was allergic to all the "good" pain-killers at that time. Four weeks of total pain.

JBBS

While I never had to drive someone to the hospital (knock on simulated wood grain plastic made in china) I should have.

My first job on my own was replacing the Dryvit on an Arbys. Since the restaurant was open, we had the pleasure of working around customers vehicles and everything else that got on the way. When it came time to finish the Drive-Thru I told my guys to build a 2 tier rolling scaffold that we could wheel in and out between the lunch rush. A few minutes later I see the brightest flash I have ever seen. It was like an arc from a welder. I look over to see 2 guys holding on to the built roller scaffold tangled in the power line feeding the Arbys. In slow motion the one guy looks at me and says "What do I do?!" I say..."LET GO OF THE &$*(#) THING!" How they didn't get killed or at least seriously shocked is beyond me. To add more drama to the situation the line was now on fire traveling towards the restaurant, luckily it went out!

After talking to them to see what happened, it seems they built the scaffold in the parking lot and was wheeling it over to the drive thru and were looking ahead for cars and never looked up. The power line was just low enough to get hooked over one of the "peter pins" on top and thats when the fireworks began. This all happened convieniently at 11:30 when the luch crowd was on their way.

I thought for sure my first job was going to be my last. We were all extremely lucky. Penelec had the line fixed in an hour or so and I never did get charged for the down time of the Restaurant. I paid out of pocket for the repair rather than testing out my brand new insurance policy (it was only $130) and more importantly, nobody got hurt. I still have the half melted peter pin around here somewhere.

Aggie67

This past summer we were on a job were a fire water pipeline had to get tapped into. The sub was in a trench with a K-12 saw, cutting the line. He was down to the last fraction of an inch when the pipe shifted and bound up the blade. The saw kicked up, and those things have some torque, so when freed up it rotated and caught him right across the face. Knocked his face shield and hard hat right off him. Blade dug into safety glasses, right across the eye. The blade didn't start cutting into his flesh until it got to the edge of his safety glasses. Then it put a half moon slice in his face, from right where his upper and lower eyelids meet, down his cheek. And those abrasive blades don't slice, they abrade away, so the cut was actually a gap. After he got stitched up and came back, one side of his face was the 40-some-odd year old with crows feet wrinkles at the corner of his eye, the other side was a taught 18 year-old with no wrinkles. He got a free face lift.

KentWhitten

Never taken anyone, but I've been taken myself because of someone elses actions.

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