Best Injury/Closest Call

Off Topic Everything un-related to composites.
#1

Hey guys…

( i dont know if this should be posted in here 'coz its still related to composites :stuck_out_tongue: but its still off topic… )

Just looking at a scar on my knuckle given to me by an angle grinder with a diamond blade on it and thinking about how lucky it didnt completley take my fingers off i was wondering about any silly things, close calls or injuries you have had from working with fibreglass…

:lol: :lol: just thinking about some of the silly stuff i have done… heres a start…

i once slipped while holding the pot during a hand lay up and poured at least 2 and a half litres of resin down my side… see how quickly the resin absorbs into the fibres? it probably took less time to soak through the clothes and shoes i was wearing…

ive also had the grinder out ( mind you, with this huge blade the safe gaurd didnt fit on the grinder… ) and whilst i was grinding somehting it caught and kicked back and started grinding into my shoe but i jumped back and it stopped before it hit my foot… i think i stood there in shock for a while just staring at my shoe…

ive also had my work partner have a mould ( a grille) slip out of his hands while green trimming, but he was midway through cutting it and because it was REALLY ready to be trimmed he had used alot of force with his knife, and when the mould slipped he followed thru with the knife and it went straight into his other wrist… he ended up needing stitches for it, and it didnt bleed… and looking at it before we took him to the hospital you could see into it ( it was a V shape) and when he moved his fingers you could see things moving inside his cut…

and heaps more but ive only been in the industry a few years… im sure someone who has been in the industry for a while or everyone has a story or 2 to tell with working with this stuff…

#2

Was working on our chopper gun in class as the tip was plugged. It was very hot so I took my glasses off as I was sweating. I didn’t turn off the air pressure and as I was starting to use a small drill bit to clean the nozzle while I was looking directly at the nozzle, all I saw was 2x streams of resin twisting to my eyes…I had to have a student hand direct me to the eye wash sink and flush them for 15 minutes. last time that will happen again…at lest I hope.

#3

i use to work in a boat factory with over 600 people and i have seen some real dandies plenty of chemical fires from new hires but the worst one we had shut down the factory for 2 days as they were choping the acetone was also spraying they let off triger acetone continues static spark ignites acetone so they are basicaly holding a flame thrower finaly they drop the gun and evacuate factory lot of money parts molds and equipment was lost

i also seen a stringer fall just missing a guy as he was glueing unfortunatly it caught his foot and was pined until they lifted it up

they had large pools in the factory floor about 60 ft long a fork truck swirved to miss a guy walking from behind a boat and went right in the pool

#4

no injuries yet but how do you stop the dam itching from carbon dust etc

#5

To stop any itching…use baby powder first. Plugs the pores to prevent glass or other itchy stuff in.

#6

i was never unlucky enough at school to end up with gum in my hair but ive made up for that experience now :roll:
Its only a little bit on the tip of my hair but ive learnt my lesson (i hope - i dont want to be bold yet).

I think this job is the safest one to date ive had lol

#7

lol safest? half of us are lucky we arent dead yet… lol…

ive had resin in my eyes before, when i went to dip the brush into the pot and some of the bristles caught on the edge and flicked resin up into my eyes… it was horrible! if i had the choice of getting resin in my eyes or having a limb removed id go the limb removal… because i automatically shut my eyes, whem y eyelids came down i spread the resin all over my eyeball… i couldnt shut my eyes, i couldnt open my eyes… it was terrible! i ended up having to flush my eye for about an hour ( and kicking the shit out of the cupboard underneath coz it hurt so much… lol)
i mean ive had little flecks of resin in my eyes before and they werent too bad, just go rinse off and its okay but this was just… horrible!

mikey i know what u mean… most of my hair is covered coz i wear a baseball cap all day but i have a ponytail and when i spray gel or lay up and i get in close to have a look ive had my hair fall in the wet moulds… ( ive had to wash the bottom half of my hair before with acetone… im surprised it didnt kill it… but i wasnt going to let it set and try cut it out!)

gtfour theres also barrier creams you can get to put on yourself to so yount get itchy and it stops the dust getting into your skin… just be careful if you decide to blow it off with the air, it should be not to hard else it will actually push the glass deeper into your skin…
also if you are covered in dust brush downwards when you take it off, upwards also pushes it into your skin…

#8

Cold shower when you are done!