Langham: A Nose for Weird News| Workers Compensation News – WorkCompCentral
The world of workplace safety saw an odd occurrence in Indonesia.
Judge David Langham
A lady was apparently entertaining herself by "sticking her nose through [an office] chair’s mesh frame." She either did not consider the implications for her nose ring or had a momentary lapse of caution. Either way, she found herself with a captured nose ring and was unable to break free.
Her co-workers eventually summoned the fire department. However, first, they tried to extricate her themselves, according to the New York Post, by "wheeling the chair across the room and yanking on her head as she [cried] in pain."
You ever hear that aphorism "with friends like that …"?
So the fire department showed up and failed in a "myriad attempts." These rescuers decided the best course was to transport the woman, her nose ring and the chair in a van "to the local fire station with a colleague in tow." One wonders if this co-worker was one of those who was yanking on her head earlier.
Trying to be humorous, the "fire brigade" attempted "to ease her tensions at the station by busting out a chainsaw, ax and other heavy-duty tools and pretending to cut her free." I suspect that was about as reassuring as being wheeled across the room and yanking on her hair. Who wants a rescuer who is more interested in comic relief than the actual relief?
Is anyone else wondering why they didn't just cut the mesh on the chair?
Well, after "an excruciating 10 minutes," the firefighters managed to free this hapless chair surfer with a pair of pliers. Pliers.
There is an obvious answer for such a conundrum. Is it plausible that the fire crew had no surgical pliers or forceps in their kit? Did they have no scalpel or knife for the mesh? Or did it take some driving time to the station to envision using pliers?
Safety experts have noted for years that employees "can reduce the chance of such an injury by controlling long hair, not wearing loose clothing and being aware of the hazards of wearing jewelry at work."
I can recall several safety meetings where the warnings to contain hair were similarly discussed. And I remember an unnerving injury that involved momentarily disobeying that instruction. She was horribly injured when a machine began ingesting hair and pulling her into its depths. She was fortunate that a co-worker had the composure to hit the emergency stop, which saved her life and much of her hair. The injury was nonetheless significant and eye-opening for the co-workers.
As to jewelry, the best advice is that it "can cause serious injuries at work." It gets "caught on moving machinery," leading to "an amputation, deep cut, laceration or even strangulation." Or you might get it caught in the mesh of a workplace chair.
Many recommend that tape should cover piercings in the workplace for this reason. In short, piercings can be dangerous, and that is easily managed.
We have been very successful with workplace safety in America. The frequency of work accidents has continued to decrease in recent decades. There have been some exceptional periods, but the overall trend has been down. This comes from safety equipment, professionals and awareness.
Too often, injury comes from momentary lapses in judgment that are worthy of review and reflection.
David Langham is deputy chief judge of the Florida Office of Judges of Compensation Claims. This column is reprinted, with his permission, from his Florida Workers' Comp Adjudication blog.
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