TRCM
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Newport News,VA
This is my 1st time posting in here, but not on this site.......I put the 'important' icon on this post, as it is something we all need to think of from time to time. My main reason for posting this is to get everyone to realize they need to stop and take the time to enjoy life and be thankful for what they have, and in some cases, even still being here.
I won't go into all the details, but I was involved in an accident at work yesterday, that literally should have ripped my head off. We were doing some system testing, and a 4" OD hose that contained 1400+ psi /600 gpm water burst. When it did, it was less than 6" from my neck and slightly below my chin level. I remember the hose starting to sag from the water weight, and the next thing I know, I am trying to pick myself up off the deck in ~ 2" of blood colored standing water. I managed to stand up, but it still took until someone made me sit down to even begin to realize what happened.
As I sat there, with 1 person holding a big towel on the back of my head and forcing me to stay seated, and another holding one under my chin, I see that hose, looking like someone cut clean thru it with a razor knife 3' from the metal connection laying on the deck about 15' from where it should have been and on the opposite of me from where it was just 5 minutes ago, and the 4-5 lb metal fixture on the end of it was mutilated pretty good. The clamp that held the 90 deg fitting to the valve it was attached to was straightened out, and the actual metal piping the joint attached to was no longer round at the point it come off of. The metal door to an electrical panel (navy guys know what I am talking about, ~ 1/8" thick steel panel) that was in front of me is bent pretty bad at the bottom, and one spot in the middle of it looked like someone went bonkers on it with a ball peen hammer.
Imagine you are in a normal sized house hallway, with metal breaker boxes on both sides that stick out from the wall 12", and you are standing between those breaker boxes, 1 of them has the door open, and then there is this 4" OD hose right in front of you between you and the open door of the breaker box. That is roughly how much room there was, and how close that 4-5 lb metal elbow came to going thru me as it passed from my right side to my left when the hose burst.
They say I was unconscious for 1-2 minutes, so when I came to, there had been enough time for the water to drip down 3 levels (~ 2 stories) and for them to realize they had a problem, and when they could not contact me on the comms we had set up, they shut the pump off and came up to see what was going on. That was about when I came to. I am thinking more like 3-4 minutes.
The best anyone can figure, the metal end of that hose hit my chin and knocked me back into the metal cabinet behind me, knocking me unconscious, where I then fell to the deck.
Even though I could walk, they insisted since I was unconscious, they had to take me out on a backboard. Well, I am no small person (300+), and anyone who has been on a navy ship, knows there generally isn't a lot of room to get someone out that way in a machinery space, especially one that is still being built. They managed, but my bosses bosses boss (yeah, 3 levels up) showed up to help, and he requested I go on a diet before I need to be extricated again like that.
I ended up spending almost all yesterday in the ER, and was rewarded with 13 staples in the back of my head, and 14 stitches under my chin. I also have a spot under my chin where it looks almost like someone hit me with a belt sander from where the rough outer skin of the hose chaffed it. Both gashes went to the bone, and required x-rays to make sure there were no chips or other damage, as well as a CT scan due to being knocked out. MY tongue looks like hamburger, as I apparently chomped down on it at least 2 times, and I have a large chunk missing on one side now. What is bothering me the most today though is the unforeseen muscle strains/bumps/bruises and such that have showed up since yesterday. Walking and generally getting around is painful, but I am seriously thankul I have the pain to feel. It means I am still alive.
I know this may seem gruesome, but I know how much pressue was in that hose, and I know how little room there was where I was standing, and I realize how easily that hose could have taken my head right off, or come very close. Had I not been wearing my hardhat and a set of earphones with a metal head strap around the back of my head, I have no doubt my head injuries would have been much worse, and I may not even be here to type this. I am not so sure the head strap isn't what actually cut my head back there because IT took the brunt of the impact against the metal cabinets behind me instead of my skull.
The point I want to get across isn't look at me, feel sorry for me, or anything like that....but that things can happen in a split second that can change you and/or your life forever, so take time to let others know how you feel, be aware of your surroundings, and don't forget, no matter how safe you think you are, sometimes, things just happen, like yesterday did to me.
I won't go into all the details, but I was involved in an accident at work yesterday, that literally should have ripped my head off. We were doing some system testing, and a 4" OD hose that contained 1400+ psi /600 gpm water burst. When it did, it was less than 6" from my neck and slightly below my chin level. I remember the hose starting to sag from the water weight, and the next thing I know, I am trying to pick myself up off the deck in ~ 2" of blood colored standing water. I managed to stand up, but it still took until someone made me sit down to even begin to realize what happened.
As I sat there, with 1 person holding a big towel on the back of my head and forcing me to stay seated, and another holding one under my chin, I see that hose, looking like someone cut clean thru it with a razor knife 3' from the metal connection laying on the deck about 15' from where it should have been and on the opposite of me from where it was just 5 minutes ago, and the 4-5 lb metal fixture on the end of it was mutilated pretty good. The clamp that held the 90 deg fitting to the valve it was attached to was straightened out, and the actual metal piping the joint attached to was no longer round at the point it come off of. The metal door to an electrical panel (navy guys know what I am talking about, ~ 1/8" thick steel panel) that was in front of me is bent pretty bad at the bottom, and one spot in the middle of it looked like someone went bonkers on it with a ball peen hammer.
Imagine you are in a normal sized house hallway, with metal breaker boxes on both sides that stick out from the wall 12", and you are standing between those breaker boxes, 1 of them has the door open, and then there is this 4" OD hose right in front of you between you and the open door of the breaker box. That is roughly how much room there was, and how close that 4-5 lb metal elbow came to going thru me as it passed from my right side to my left when the hose burst.
They say I was unconscious for 1-2 minutes, so when I came to, there had been enough time for the water to drip down 3 levels (~ 2 stories) and for them to realize they had a problem, and when they could not contact me on the comms we had set up, they shut the pump off and came up to see what was going on. That was about when I came to. I am thinking more like 3-4 minutes.
The best anyone can figure, the metal end of that hose hit my chin and knocked me back into the metal cabinet behind me, knocking me unconscious, where I then fell to the deck.
Even though I could walk, they insisted since I was unconscious, they had to take me out on a backboard. Well, I am no small person (300+), and anyone who has been on a navy ship, knows there generally isn't a lot of room to get someone out that way in a machinery space, especially one that is still being built. They managed, but my bosses bosses boss (yeah, 3 levels up) showed up to help, and he requested I go on a diet before I need to be extricated again like that.
I ended up spending almost all yesterday in the ER, and was rewarded with 13 staples in the back of my head, and 14 stitches under my chin. I also have a spot under my chin where it looks almost like someone hit me with a belt sander from where the rough outer skin of the hose chaffed it. Both gashes went to the bone, and required x-rays to make sure there were no chips or other damage, as well as a CT scan due to being knocked out. MY tongue looks like hamburger, as I apparently chomped down on it at least 2 times, and I have a large chunk missing on one side now. What is bothering me the most today though is the unforeseen muscle strains/bumps/bruises and such that have showed up since yesterday. Walking and generally getting around is painful, but I am seriously thankul I have the pain to feel. It means I am still alive.
I know this may seem gruesome, but I know how much pressue was in that hose, and I know how little room there was where I was standing, and I realize how easily that hose could have taken my head right off, or come very close. Had I not been wearing my hardhat and a set of earphones with a metal head strap around the back of my head, I have no doubt my head injuries would have been much worse, and I may not even be here to type this. I am not so sure the head strap isn't what actually cut my head back there because IT took the brunt of the impact against the metal cabinets behind me instead of my skull.
The point I want to get across isn't look at me, feel sorry for me, or anything like that....but that things can happen in a split second that can change you and/or your life forever, so take time to let others know how you feel, be aware of your surroundings, and don't forget, no matter how safe you think you are, sometimes, things just happen, like yesterday did to me.
