t-posts and gloves

[bigballer]

yesterday morning i was working on doing some (pre) cleanup around my latest project and picked up a couple t-posts, carrying them horizontally (one in each hand) i tossed the first one into the pile for cleanup later. as i tossed the post, the metal plate towards the bottom (with the points on it) slid forward and hooked onto the palm of my hand and ripped a 3" gash in my hand, a very loud expletive rolled off my lips and i knew i was in trouble. i gave it a quick glance before squeezing my palm shut and lifting above my head. it was a jagged deep cut that would definately need a good cleaning and stitching. a couple hours later i was back home with 10 stitches, a sore arm from a tetnus shot, a bottle of anitbiotics, and a bottle of vicodin.. luckily so far it appears i have escaped serious nerve damage but it is quite painful.

lesson learned: no matter how "light" the work seems, ALWAYS wear good pair of leather gloves when dealing with fencing (or any other outside work that involves sharp objects). the rub is that i had a pair of thick leather gloves sitting there but thought, I don't need them yet as I am not doing anything too dangerous.. i thought wrong apparently..

 

[Defective]

An extra hint for you...

Think about how you release things when you throw them. The gloves will definitely help, but if there is a sharp edge, it can go right through the leather too. (I got you on the stitch count by 12...and I had my gloves on at the time.) Don't just rely on your safety gear to protect you.

Take it easy & let it heal.

 

[Soundguy]

Take it easy on that hand. Hey.. at least they gave you the happy pills. My doc is reluctant to isue happy pills the last few times i got hurt on the farm.

Soundguy

yesterday morning i was working on doing some (pre) cleanup around my latest project and picked up a couple t-posts, carrying them horizontally (one in each hand) i tossed the first one into the pile for cleanup later. as i tossed the post, the metal plate towards the bottom (with the points on it) slid forward and hooked onto the palm of my hand and ripped a 3" gash in my hand, a very loud expletive rolled off my lips and i knew i was in trouble. i gave it a quick glance before squeezing my palm shut and lifting above my head. it was a jagged deep cut that would definately need a good cleaning and stitching. a couple hours later i was back home with 10 stitches, a sore arm from a tetnus shot, a bottle of anitbiotics, and a bottle of vicodin.. luckily so far it appears i have escaped serious nerve damage but it is quite painful.

lesson learned: no matter how "light" the work seems, ALWAYS wear good pair of leather gloves when dealing with fencing (or any other outside work that involves sharp objects). the rub is that i had a pair of thick leather gloves sitting there but thought, I don't need them yet as I am not doing anything too dangerous.. i thought wrong apparently..

 

[MikeD74T]

Our company just instituted a new safety policy that requires all employees to have gloves in their possession anywhere that hardhat & safety glasses are required. Obviously gloves are free & a wide variety availible depending on use. Trying to cut down a high incidence of minor hand injuries to prempt more serious ones. The theory was that some employees were injured as they stopped to do an unplanned task while passing by without gloves on. Now the employees worry that senior management will touch things just because they have gloves with them. Looks a little dumb to see a touring group of visitors with new hardhats, safety glasses and GLOVES !!! MikeD74T

 

[Rara Avis]

Hope you feel better...
Your accident was just another example of lack of attention to job at hand...(sorry about the pun)...That most of us on this forum have been guilty of more than once and just been luckier than you were...

 

[bigballer]

i appreciate the well wishes and i agree the gloves may not have necessarily prevented the injury but they may have prevented me from having to go to the ER. i also agree that paying closer attention to the task at hand is advisable. sometimes i (we) are in too much of a hurry, our mind wanders or we are thinking 3 steps ahead when we should focus on what we are doing. i guess that's the world we live in too much to do and seemingly never enough time to do it. as a co-worker once said, "your inbox (email at work) will be full until the day you die so take it one step at a time".

on a side note, i always wear gloves, heavy boots, muffs, and glasses while chainsawing but am thinking chaps and a helmet would be a good addition.

be safe out there..

 

[JC-jetro]

yesterday morning i was working on doing some (pre) cleanup around my latest project and picked up a couple t-posts, carrying them horizontally (one in each hand) i tossed the first one into the pile for cleanup later. as i tossed the post, the metal plate towards the bottom (with the points on it) slid forward and hooked onto the palm of my hand and ripped a 3" gash in my hand, a very loud expletive rolled off my lips and i knew i was in trouble. i gave it a quick glance before squeezing my palm shut and lifting above my head. it was a jagged deep cut that would definately need a good cleaning and stitching. a couple hours later i was back home with 10 stitches, a sore arm from a tetnus shot, a bottle of anitbiotics, and a bottle of vicodin.. luckily so far it appears i have escaped serious nerve damage but it is quite painful.

lesson learned: no matter how "light" the work seems, ALWAYS wear good pair of leather gloves when dealing with fencing (or any other outside work that involves sharp objects). the rub is that i had a pair of thick leather gloves sitting there but thought, I don't need them yet as I am not doing anything too dangerous.. i thought wrong apparently..

Sorry for your misfortune We all try to do the right thing most of the time but unfortunately it is so darned difficult to scape totally from the laws of probabilities. it's never possible to entirely remove all the risk unless you stop all you are doing and then ... Bam .. you die of boardem.

Wish you a speedy recovery.

JC,

 

[Soundguy]

Here's a tip good for what it's worth.. and it is a good 'reminder' about thinking about the job at hand.

I was putting up a tube fram tarp structure on this past new years eve on my farm. A friend came over early in the day to help out with chores and then we went out that night to party it up a bit.

In the process of putting sheet metal screws in with a power driver I use dmy hand to 'back-up the 2 pipe fittings i was joining.. .. should had the hand a few inches under the area where i was screwing.

Long story short.. i had to manually unscrew a self tapping sheel metal screw from the palm ( thumb meat area )... Hand swelled up like a dead raccoon on the side of the road in july by that night.. next day went to the doc.. 'Yep' he said.. that sure looks consistant with a screw thru the hand... take these antibiotics.. try not to do it again...

Was fun partying that night with an ace bandage on my hand... As a bonus, after te wound healed, about ever 2 weeks a small piece of metal would make its way to the surface to be dug out!.. did that for about 7 months... I figure i finally got all the metal out that's coming out.. havn't seen any in a month or so..

soundguy

 

[RegL]

Take it easy on that hand. Hey.. at least they gave you the happy pills. My doc is reluctant to isue happy pills the last few times i got hurt on the farm.

Soundguy

He probably thinks your getting hurt a little to often.

 

[Bird]

In the process of putting sheet metal screws in with a power driver I use dmy hand to 'back-up the 2 pipe fittings i was joining.. .. should had the hand a few inches under the area where i was screwing.

Long story short.. i had to manually unscrew a self tapping sheel metal screw from the palm

Dang, Chris, I thought maybe I was the only one to do dumb things like that. Small difference is about all. I was using a power driver putting coarse thread drywall screws through a piece of drywall into a 1' board and had my left hand holding the back side of the board. I drove a screw into the end of the ring finger on my left hand; right under the finger nail. But I'll have to admit I was lucky. I never went to the doctor and it hasn't bothered me nearly as much as I expected it to. That happened on September 15 and the damaged nail only has to grow another quarter inch or so for all the visible damage to disappear. I figure another month and a half should do it.