Worker impaled by piece of wood
June 25, 2009 by Fred HosierPosted in: Bizarre Accident of the Week, In this week's e-newsletter, Injuries, Latest News & Views, OSHA news, Teen workers
PDF An employee of a woodworking business is hospitalized in intensive care after a piece of wood pierced his chest and exited his back.
The unidentified employee is expected to recover.
The employee of American Wood Source of Lebanon, OH, was transported via medical helicopter to undergo surgery. He appeared to be conscious as emergency personnel loaded him onto the helicopter, according to the Journal-News.
The worker suffered the injury while operating machinery. No other details on the accident are available.
OSHA is investigating.
There’s an important point workers and supervisors should know about impalement injuries: If an object pierces part of an employee’s body, it’s best to leave it alone — don’t try to remove it.
Often, removal will cause the person to bleed to death before help arrives. Letting it in place can seal the wound until it can be removed by doctors.
Proof: In 2007, 17-year-old Matt Robinson of Dexter, MO, accidentally shot a three-and-a-half inch nail through his heart at a construction job and lived to tell about it.
He said he wanted to take the nail out but didn’t because he was scared.
He made the right decision, according to doctors. A surgeon said if Robinson had tried to pull the nail out himself, he would have died.
The nail actually plugged the hole in his heart which kept him from bleeding to death.
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Tags: American Wood Source, impaled by piece of wood, impalement injuries
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June 29th, 2009 at 11:54 am
When I was in college, a wall in the woodworking shop behind the table saw had a piece of wood embedded in it. The shop teacher told us it landed there when the table saw “kicked back”. He left it there as a warning and reminder to students using the saw to respect the machine and use it properly with the utmost care.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
“There’s an important point workers and supervisors should know about impalement injuries: If an object pierces part of an employee’s body, it’s best to leave it alone — don’t try to remove it.”
Why is this an important point? In the story above, the wood exited the worker’s back.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:38 am
LEU, I think only part of the piece of wood exited the back. The rest was buried in the worker’s body and was probably long enough to also be sticking out the front. Thus, the wound was sealed and could not bleed out.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Thats a bad injury, but we still have not heard all of the facts. Was the machine working properly? Was the worker Qualified/Trained? Does the machinery have a guard in proper working order? So we could only guess and let our imagination get the best of us.