Gone through side of my thumb, across my nail and all the way to the bone with really old, rusty, blunt and slippery backsaw few years ago. Screamed high pitch with diaphragm vibrato like Iron Maiden greatest hits for good ten minutes. Left Dexter worthy splash patterns on newly wallpapered walls and everything. Forgot how long tetanus shots hurt afterwards.
DIY Accidents
- Thread starter Nightglow
- Start date
Read an article in the Readers Digest in A&E while waiting for nephew a few ago, & I'm amazed at the number of idiots who hold a piece of wood with one hand, then using circular saw precede to run it through their hand, cuttings off a few digits in the process.
Had a neighbour who many years ago cut off several toes with a grinder.
A quick look at RoSPA, & it's make rather interesting reading the number & type of accident each year.
Injuries from tools and machinery are estimated to account for 87,000 of the 220,000 DIY enthusiasts turning up at hospital each year.
Ladder and stepladder accidents send 41,000 people to hospital annually - often resulting in some of the most serious injuries and even death when people fall from high up.
Splinters, grit, dust, dirt and other particles result in another 60,000 people seeking treatment in casualty.
The most dangerous tools according to the Home Accident Surveillance System (2002) are:
1. Knives and scalpels (21,300 accidents in the UK each year)
2. Saws (15,100)
3. Grinders (6,400)
4. Hammers (5,800)
5. Chisels (3,900)
6. Screwdrivers (3,400)
7. Power Drills (3,000)
8. Axes (2,200)
9. Planes (2,100)
10. Welding Equipment (2,000).
The top ten DIY materials to take care with are:
1. Wood, chipboard etc. (29,400 accidents)
2. Paving/Concrete Blocks (21,200)
3. Metal bars, sheets etc. (12,800)
4. Nails (15,400)
5. Bricks (8,000)
6. Paint and paint pots (3,900)
7. Glue, paste etc. (3,100)
8. Screws and floor/wall tiles (2,500)
10. Wallpaper (1,600).
Common DIY accidents include cuts from knives while cutting cable and carpets, slips with saws when cutting wood, paint dripping into eyes from ceilings and slabs falling onto hands and feet.
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Read an article in the Readers Digest in A&E while waiting for nephew a few ago, & I'm amazed at the number of idiots who hold a piece of wood with one hand, then using circular saw precede to run it through their hand, cuttings off a few digits in the process.
Had a neighbour who many years ago cut off several toes with a grinder.
A quick look at RoSPA, & it's make rather interesting reading the number & type of accident each year, couldn't find newer figures.
Injuries from tools and machinery are estimated to account for 87,000 of the 220,000 DIY enthusiasts turning up at hospital each year.
Ladder and stepladder accidents send 41,000 people to hospital annually - often resulting in some of the most serious injuries and even death when people fall from high up.
Splinters, grit, dust, dirt and other particles result in another 60,000 people seeking treatment in casualty.
The most dangerous tools according to the Home Accident Surveillance System (2002) are:
1. Knives and scalpels (21,300 accidents in the UK each year)
2. Saws (15,100)
3. Grinders (6,400)
4. Hammers (5,800)
5. Chisels (3,900)
6. Screwdrivers (3,400)
7. Power Drills (3,000)
8. Axes (2,200)
9. Planes (2,100)
10. Welding Equipment (2,000).
The top ten DIY materials to take care with are:
1. Wood, chipboard etc. (29,400 accidents)
2. Paving/Concrete Blocks (21,200)
3. Metal bars, sheets etc. (12,800)
4. Nails (15,400)
5. Bricks (8,000)
6. Paint and paint pots (3,900)
7. Glue, paste etc. (3,100)
8. Screws and floor/wall tiles (2,500)
10. Wallpaper (1,600).
Common DIY accidents include cuts from knives while cutting cable and carpets, slips with saws when cutting wood, paint dripping into eyes from ceilings and slabs falling onto hands and feet.
Common posting accidents include, quoting yourself
Learnt early on that a blunt tool is a dangerous one.
I avoid most nailing issues by using screws for everything.
I can't be normal then, Never fallen off steps or a ladder in 30+ years yet, not even electrocuted myself, or injured myself with a power tool.
Always wear safety footwear, & use safety specs when sanding, stripping & painting.
Had the usual hit thumb with hammer, odd cuts, but nothing major.
I wish more people would wear safety glasses as a routine thing, I wear glasses anyway but they have saved my eyes several times from hot solder, chemical splashes, broken rubble and flying chucks of swarf.
It's true, for every injury I've had, I've not been following the specs. Often DIY is treated differently from 'work', but it's the same tools.
It's true, for every injury I've had, I've not been following the specs. Often DIY is treated differently from 'work', but it's the same tools.
Changing a light fitting with my dad about 10 years ago and managed to get the normal amount of mains electricity though me (7 wires in one fitting took a bit of guess work to find the live ones and I paid the price).
Glued my fingers to my eyes/eye lids a few times but hot water fixes that (and a little bit of pulling), same for fingers being glued together.
Thankfully more cautious now!
Glued my fingers to my eyes/eye lids a few times but hot water fixes that (and a little bit of pulling), same for fingers being glued together.
Thankfully more cautious now!
Invest a few quid in a multimeter, seriously, a lot easier than guessing even if you don't care about safety!
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From day one I got used to using grinders with safety specs and gloves. A lot of people try and argue how it's safer without, but I've lost count of the times the grinder has slipped or my fingers got too close and the gloves took the hit instead of my fingers.
Worst ones for me are generally with kitchen knives, but I've been electrocuted a couple of times, the usual hand stabbings with screwdrivers and nails, hammered fingers etc. God knows what I was thinking but I was holding something in my hand once while drilling and my finger was at the back of what I was drilling. Of course, the drill went through and I drilled a 3.5mm hole in the end of my finger. That bled like I've never seen before, I remember pulling out the little plug of drilled flesh and to this day there's a little hard lump in my finger where I drilled it
Worst electrocution was 110V DC across the chest through both hands. I carefully picked up an electronics project I was working on, so as not to disturb it, and must have grabbed the two +/- rails. I properly locked onto it and couldn't let go, which was pretty frightening. Hurt for days afterwards
Worst ones for me are generally with kitchen knives, but I've been electrocuted a couple of times, the usual hand stabbings with screwdrivers and nails, hammered fingers etc. God knows what I was thinking but I was holding something in my hand once while drilling and my finger was at the back of what I was drilling. Of course, the drill went through and I drilled a 3.5mm hole in the end of my finger. That bled like I've never seen before, I remember pulling out the little plug of drilled flesh and to this day there's a little hard lump in my finger where I drilled it
Worst electrocution was 110V DC across the chest through both hands. I carefully picked up an electronics project I was working on, so as not to disturb it, and must have grabbed the two +/- rails. I properly locked onto it and couldn't let go, which was pretty frightening. Hurt for days afterwards
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- Stoke, no, wait, Wilmslow
Worst I've ever done was cutting a hole for a waste pipe with a 4kg hammer drill, half way up a ladder, the core suddenly caught and sent the whole drill spinning around it's chuck whacking me square in the front of the head. Miraculously it didn't knock me off or even break the skin, I was dazed for a while though.
Invest a few quid in a multimeter, seriously, a lot easier than guessing even if you don't care about safety!
Haha! Surpassingly enough I did afterwards
Thankfully haven't had to undo mental wiring like that since so it hasn't been quite as useful...
One of the guys I used to work with had to have some time off because he dropped a chainsaw on his foot whilst he was wearing sandals...
It was made even funnier by that fact he was supposed to be our departments health and safety rep!
It was made even funnier by that fact he was supposed to be our departments health and safety rep!