Most accidents happen in the home

[PBancroft]

Trod on a rake (on purpose)

Fallen down too many stairs to mention

Fingers trapped in door jambs

Closet fallen on top of me (OK, I was attempting to climb on top of it at the time)

Oh yes, and put my finger in the cigarette lighter of a car.





Some of these I was an Adult.

 

[vernon]

Here's one dredged up from my childhood.

I was brought up in a bit of Darlington that was still part of the nineteen forties in terms of housing standards and mindset of the inhabitants. The houses were terraced with outside toilets. No hot water, kitchen ranges for cooking, only one plug socket in the entire house, tin bath etc.

The plug socket was placed above the earthenware sink and I used to amuse myself by poking hairgrips into the live hole of the electricity socket - there was no integral safety barriers in round pin sockets. I could only gain access to the socket by sitting on the edge of the sink and stretching to reach the socket. One day, hair grip in the socket, enjoying the tingling I began to slip off the sink. A set of circumstances then came together to give my my first serious electric shock:

• Slipping from the sink caused the tightly gripped hair grip to scrape against the metal sleeve of the socket scraping the insulating lacquer from the hairgrip and establishing a good metal to metal contact.
• My hands were damp from my first scientific investigation involving running water from the tap - boring tale best left untold.
• I grabbed the tap to restore balance
• I was kicked by a horse and found myself several feet away from the sink.

I was seriously bewildered as I spun around looking for the source of my propulsion.

Looking back I count my blessings that I never got around to inserting uninsulated metallic objects into the socket in search of bigger thrills.

A couple of years later as folk were moving out from the houses in the street, the vacated homes provided an adventure playground for us curious kids. More often than not unwanted possessions were left behind. Exploring one of the outbuildings of a recently vacated house I found a large Ever Ready 9V battery with a lead.

Already knowing that licking battery terminals cause tingling I licked the two wires from the lead and was promptly hit around the head with an invisible plank accompanied by the appearance of multicoloured stars in front of my eyes.

The battery was not a 9V battery but a 90V high tension battery used in valve radios. I'd misread the 90V as 9.0V.

It was my first unforgettable lesson in numeracy.

 

[fossyant]

Dropped a 600 x 900 flag stone (i.e. the ones you have to 'shuffle' to move them) on the end of my finger - boy did that hurt. Made worse by the fact my kids were next to me....... no swearing, just ran and shoved finger under the tap. Still hurts 10 years later !

 

[661-Pete]

What about at school?

Nowadays, I suppose, do so much as split a fingernail in PE and the no-win-no-fee shysters will be along to tear the school apart brick by brick, but things were a bit more laid back and easy-going in the 1960s.

Personal protection such as goggles, in chemistry lessons? Bah, get away with you, we're real men here!

So this boy splashes a drop of conc. hydrochloric acid, straight into his eye.

I think the chemistry master deserved a medal. First of all he snatched up a squirt bottle of distilled water and sprayed it into the eye. Then he got the boy in a headlock and held him under the sink, cold tap running, for a good ten minutes. He probably saved that boy's eye.

 

[PaulB]

I was stil lin hospital this time last year and new snippets of info are revealed to me each day. The head nurse (in two senses of the word) told my wife (who's a senior nurse manager but she's never worked in anything associated with head injuries) that my injury would mean I had no inhibitions. And apparently, I didn't! I had no knowledge of why I was there and just wanted to be let out so I'd make frequent attempts to escape to the extent that when I go back in there now (professionally, BTW, not for follow-ups - I'm discharged completely) they tell me they nicknamed me Steve McQueen from 'The Great Escape'.

My wife also instructed them, in no uncertain terms, that my 'catastrophically low pulse rate' was absolutely normal and they'd better not give me adrenalin or anything they might have been planning. Thankfully, she knows her way around A&E units and hospitals and knew not to be intimidated by the consultant treating me.

And this all came from a simple fall in the kitchen of my own home. Funnily enough, my wife, in wiping up some oil from a pot of olives that had spilled out of the fridge, went down in the same spot I had and cracked her hip badly just last night. I think our kitchen is FAR more dangerous than the roads we ride our bikes on. Beware. Seriously, beware of your own home. It's the complacency that lulls us into a false sense of security and then BAM! It grabs you!

 

[vernon]

What about at school?

Nowadays, I suppose, do so much as split a fingernail in PE and the no-win-no-fee shysters will be along to tear the school apart brick by brick, but things were a bit more laid back and easy-going in the 1960s.

Too right theings were more laid back.

I remember there being cyanide poisoning antidote kits on the chemistry lab walls in my school.

Cyanide?

What was that needed for in an 11-16 school in 1969?

 

[ColinJ]

What about at school?

...

So this boy splashes a drop of conc. hydrochloric acid, straight into his eye.

Yikes!

An injury at school really made my eyes water, as did the remedy ...

RE/RI was the subject I most disliked at school. It seems that the other boys felt the same way. After a particularly gruelling lesson, the bell finally sounded - Praise The Lord!

33 of us leapt to our feet and ran for the door. Now, 33 teenage boys just can't get through one narrow door at the same time; there was an almighty crush. Despite being the tallest in the class, I got knocked clean off my feet. As I fell, I reached out to break my fall.

My right hand scraped down the door frame and discovered a huge lurking splinter which inserted itself so far under my middle fingernail that it emerged at the far end!

To say that it was the most pain I'd ever felt, would be greatly understating it. It was the most pain I am capable of feeling without fainting! Torturers clearly know their stuff. They say that a fingertip injury is so painful because there are thousands of nerve endings concentrated in that area; I'd just skewered 50% of mine. Even brushing against the injured finger had me doubled up in pain. It had been the last lesson of the day. I'd have to sort it out when I got home ...

There wasn't enough splinter sticking out to get a grip on so I had to expose more of it by cutting away some of the nail with a Stanley knife. The splinter broke! I cut away more nail. The splinter broke again! In the end, I had to cut the top half of the nail away to finally get the splinter out.

Let me tell you this - unless you love agonising pain

• Don't insert sharp wooden objects under your fingernails!
• Don't cut your fingernails off with a knife!

After that, whenever doddery old teachers told me not to run - I walked!

 

[asterix]

Beware. Seriously, beware of your own home. It's the complacency that lulls us into a false sense of security and then BAM! It grabs you!

Did you know that the nearer you approach home the more likely you are to have a road accident!

Clearly it must be complacency kicking in?

But maybe not..

After all on any journey the one bit of road you will always use is right outside your house and that must increase the chances even without complacency!

Perhaps the same is true actually in the home? Obviously not WRT road accidents unless you drive into your living room..

When I was school, there were only occasional deaths, nearly all of pupils. Is it different now?

 

[PaulB]

Did you know that the nearer you approach home the more likely you are to have a road accident!

I did know that so I park EXACTLY three miles from my front door and that way, I can drive like a loon all day long with comparatively little risk.

 

[ColinJ]

I was stil lin hospital this time last year and new snippets of info are revealed to me each day. The head nurse (in two senses of the word) told my wife (who's a senior nurse manager but she's never worked in anything associated with head injuries) that my injury would mean I had no inhibitions. And apparently, I didn't! I had no knowledge of why I was there and just wanted to be let out so I'd make frequent attempts to escape to the extent that when I go back in there now (professionally, BTW, not for follow-ups - I'm discharged completely) they tell me they nicknamed me Steve McQueen from 'The Great Escape'.

Ho ho!

I was thinking about your head injury while reading this thread.

My wife also instructed them, in no uncertain terms, that my 'catastrophically low pulse rate' was absolutely normal and they'd better not give me adrenalin or anything they might have been planning. Thankfully, she knows her way around A&E units and hospitals and knew not to be intimidated by the consultant treating me.

So, doctors do nasty things to you if they detect a low pulse rate? I ask because mine is pretty low even when I'm unfit (as now). It would be about 50 bpm. When I'm slim and fit though, it would be low 30s - about 33 bpm the last time I checked. Perhaps I should buy one of those medical bracelets and get my pulse rate info inscribed on that?

And this all came from a simple fall in the kitchen of my own home. Funnily enough, my wife, in wiping up some oil from a pot of olives that had spilled out of the fridge, went down in the same spot I had and cracked her hip badly just last night. I think our kitchen is FAR more dangerous than the roads we ride our bikes on. Beware. Seriously, beware of your own home. It's the complacency that lulls us into a false sense of security and then BAM! It grabs you!

Ouch! I hope your wife is okay Paul.

I must confess that there is currently a pile of cycling kit on the bend at the bottom of my stairs. The stairs here are already more dangerous than in a modern house - they are probably 40% steeper than would be allowed under current building regs. There is no need for me to make them even more dangerous.

Forget the "Should I wear a helmet when cycling?" question - leaving a helmet on one's stairs is definitely not an aid to safety!

 

[PaulB]

33 of us leapt to our feet and ran for the door. Now, 33 teenage boys just can't get through one narrow door at the same time; there was an almighty crush.

I know a story like that! Apparently, a good cycling squad from the Bilbao region of Spain were training together and staying away in a hotel in Tenerife. For two weeks solid, they were training very hard and on the last night, their manager told them they could all go out and enjoy the nightlife. Well, once they heard this, they charged down to the hotel entrance to get out and see as many of the local bars and discos as they could. They all rushed towards the rotating hotel doors and as they all crowded in at the same time, mayhem ensued. There were broken arms and legs, torn tendons, split head and all sorts. The message came back loud and clear; Don't put all your Basques in one exit.




I'll get me coat, shall I?

 

[surfdude]

hi .writing this from hospital as i just found out the dyson ball cleaner is not what i thought it was

 

[PaulB]

So, doctors do nasty things to you if they detect a low pulse rate? I ask because mine is pretty low even when I'm unfit (as now). It would be about 50 bpm. When I'm slim and fit though, it would be low 30s - about 33 bpm the last time I checked. Perhaps I should buy one of those medical bracelets and get my pulse rate info inscribed on that?


Ouch! I hope your wife is okay Paul.

She's very experienced in A&E units and saw that I was setting off the alarm on the monitor as you can't reduce it to lower than 45 and mine was 32. I have a friend who ended up in an A&E unit and they did give him adrenalin as he's super-fit and his pulse was less than 30! I would definitely recommend wearing a bracelet with this info on as, like Shaun that time, it's more likely you'll be treated alone.

And we are going on that Huddersfield to Stalybridge pub-crawl thing today on the train but my wife can't take us as her clutch leg is extremely sore after re-enacting my dive from last year in the kitchen last night. We've fathomed out a way of getting to Hudds by train so we're doing the James May/Oz Clarke's famous journey this afternoon. Looking forward to that even though we'll be in Yorkshire for most of the trip!

 

[asterix]

hi .writing this from hospital as i just found out the dyson ball cleaner is not what i thought it was

 

[661-Pete]

hi .writing this from hospital as i just found out the dyson ball cleaner is not what i thought it was

Could've been worse...
Don't click if you are (a) male (b) of a nervous disposition...