Bizarre accident: Trucker blows up like a balloon
June 3, 2011 by Fred HosierPosted in: Bizarre Accident of the Week, In this week's e-newsletter, Injuries, Latest News & Views, Transportation safety
Truck driver Steven McCormack says his recent workplace injury made him “feel like the Michelin Man.”
McCormack, a truck driver in New Zealand, slipped on the plate between his truck and trailer. His fall ripped a compressed air hose away from its reservoir, exposing a sharp brass nozzle. McCormack fell onto the nozzle, and it pierced his left buttock.
Some of his co-workers heard him scream as the compressed air started to blow up his body. They turned off the air and turned McCormack onto his side until an ambulance arrived.
“I had no choice but just to lie there, blowing up like a balloon,” McCormack said. “They went to put a drip in me, they put the needle in and it spat the needle out.”
Surgeon Barnaby Smith said McCormack’s life was at risk, with air in “all sorts of nooks and crannies. It’s certainly not one you find in the textbook.”
Air in the trucker’s chest was squeezing his heart. Fortunately it didn’t enter his bloodstream.
“I felt like It was going to explode from my foot,” McCormack said.
His Michelin Man comment shows he’s able to look back at this incident with some humor. But he admits that he’s lucky to be alive.
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Tags: compressed air, slip and fall, truck driver
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June 14th, 2011 at 10:42 am
Using for Safety meeting
June 15th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Somebody made this up, right?
June 28th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
I worked for a construction company years ago, and this mechanic they had made an air nozzle using about a foot and a half of brake line. When you walked in his shop he would slip the contraption down the back of his pants, and give it a blast. You guessed it, the sound was dead on a f#$t. You know the old saying; fool me once, blah blah. Well, he once took it a little to far and wound up in the emergency room with multiple organs damaged from the compressed air. Having witnessed such tom foolery, I believe the truck driver incident could happen!
Sincerely,
Blown Away!