Worker saved from serious injury by his thermal underwear
November 22, 2010 by Fred HosierPosted in: Bizarre Accident of the Week, In this week's e-newsletter, Injuries, Latest News & Views, Teen workers
PDF You might not list long johns as safety gear. But a teenager is glad he was wearing his at work — they saved him from serious injury.
Owain Bancroft, a 16-year-old apprentice at R & M Carpentry and Joiners in Penllergaer, Wales, was injured when an industrial sander got caught in his thigh.
His new thermal underwear bunched up inside the machine, stopping it just as it began cutting into his flesh.
When emergency service arrived, they decided to transport Owain to the hospital with the sander still attached.
Owain’s father brought along another sander to show medical staff how to dismantle it so they could remove it from the teen’s leg.
Luckily, Owain didn’t need surgery.
A spokesperson for R & M says it was unclear how the young man got trapped in the sander.
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Tags: apprentice, industrial sander, long johns, thermal underwear
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November 22nd, 2010 at 7:03 am
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November 23rd, 2010 at 1:56 pm
How the heck did an industrial sander get caught in his thigh?
November 30th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I know my long handles saved me from a bad burn. I was cleaning casting spoons in a copper smelter when a large chunk of built up copper fell into the casting ladle. I jumped back to avoid the splash and my aluminized jacket opened up (the snaps failed) and part of the splash struck my right thigh. It burned through my coveralls and Levis and scorched my long underwear. Needless to say when I walked into the Forman’s office to report the incident it caused quite a stir. I was voluntold to help redesign our jackets to avoid a reoccurrence. We installed a 2 inch wide strip of Velcro along with the snaps and eliminated the problem. I also got them to change from aluminized rayon to aluminized carbon Kevlar and kept the wool liner. It increased the weight and cost of the garment, but increased its useable lifespan 5 fold and saved a lot of money overall.