What's your WORST workplace accident seen / experienced? Was it carelessness? Human error? Negligence? Equipment malfunction? What was the outcome?

Question

WhiteSteve · Accepted Answer

Personally, I was breaking up a near-fight when I was bouncing back in my 20s. It was happening on a balcony/mezzanine outside the front door. It was some 50+ guy with his buddies on some kind of outing, they left in a limo, vs some kinda scrawny looking college kid. Older guy would’ve destroyed him, probably, the young kid looked like more of a reader, lmao.

Anyway, I diffused the situation enough to get the older guy on his way, and he walked down the stairs to the sidewalk, towards his limo. He had a pint glass in hand, because we had brewed a special “Graduation Ale” for college graduation season, and for an extra cost, you could get it in a pint glass with our brewery’s logo and the Graduation Ale and all that printed on it, and keep the glass as a memento, presumably for graduates.

The young kid got ballsy once the guy was down at street level, and starts mouthing off to him, telling him to grow up, asking him how old is he is, etc. I’m kind of just there monitoring it, but also rolling my eyes. The older guys seemed to be the asshole, but the young guy is a clown for talking shit from a safe distance as the older guys seemed left.

I really should’ve seen the next move coming. The older guy winds up and throws the pint glass at the kid, but went too low, and it hit the mezzanine railing and shattered. The glass shards hit me right in the face, I had several small scratches that bled, and a pretty good one RIGHT beneath one of my eyes. The one by my eye freaked me out, so…. there was a scene, lmao.

I lost my shit and went after the guy, but he hopped in his limo and the driver took off. I was blacked out by then, I just remember coming too on the sidewalk with a bunch of my coworkers trying to restrain me, apparently from nobody, by that point😅😂 But I was just going full gorilla-shit, lmao. (People used to always joke that they “need a bouncer for their bouncer” (me)😂)

I actually calmed down because I was being hug-held by my bartender Chloe, and she was wearing a nice new white Red Sox jersey (she must’ve been off duty, doubt she’d bartend in that, haha), so I didn’t want to get blood on her, and that sort of took the wind out of my sails.

Ultimately I was totally fine, just mad, but I was centimeters away from a real problem with my eye.

Worst one for someone else…. my beloved Ana, our matronly El Salvadoran dishwasher, just one of the most beautiful souls you could ever hope to meet, despite being largely unable to communicate with each other verbally. Her English was bad, and my Spanish is even worse, haha. But she was just the sweetest lady, in any language.

She got a pretty bad burn from the water being too hot from her spray-hose. I don’t think it was quite second-degree but it was enough to peel her skin. I took her to the ER and stayed with her til she got out, I couldn’t just leave her there. We had a funny moment where the nurse was asking about vaccinations, and she asked about a tetanus shot. I was trying to describe tetanus in the most basic English I could, but she didn’t understand. We came to find out the Spanish word was almost the same, I think it’s “tetanos”, so we laughed about that, after all that effort.

I don’t really remember anything else. I think we had a prep cook slice his hand with a knife and need stitches, but I missed that. Nothing else immediately comes to mind, so probably nothing too bad.

OneViewpoint · Accepted Answer

Training jump at Fort Bragg NC. Two guys came out of a C130 on static lines too close together. Their parachutes tangled and couldn't open. We were too low to use a backup chute. Probably wouldn't have worked anyway. They were the first ones on the ground. They didn't get up from that one. I watched it happen. A lot of us did.

Jump master's fault? First guy hesitated? Second guy didn't listen to the jumpmaster? Equipment failure? I never heard. Just another Tuesday at the office.

Bricealan · Answer

@drpepper12 While working at Firestone, I had a 'side' job of expediting or following up on "TIRE MOLD MANUFACTURING from various mold manufacturing companies in the area.  At one company, a worker was blowing the metal chips from a mold in process as it was being 'turned' on a  vertical boring mill.  He was using a high pressure air hose that he was holding like a fireman holding a water hose with the hose being held around his body. The vertical mill turns at high speed as the mold is cut by cutting tools. The hose was caught by a part of the mill and mold, and the man was pulled into the mill. His body was so badly torn when the boring mill was shut down there was not enough to be buried ! A horrible tragic workplace death.  IT WAS OF COURSE NEGLIGENCE ON THE OPERATORS PART AS HE SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAD THE HOSE WRAPPED AROUND HIS BODY WHILE TRYING TO BLOW THE CHIPS OF METAL OUT OF THE REVOLVING MILL.  TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE.  I am sure the family sued Admiral Machine for the death but don't know the outcome.

Ladsin2 · Answer

I'm trying to think. Mainly accidents are just floods and/or poo leaking. I had an accident and had to throw out my underwears one time.

Probably the worst was my first job. I'm not entirely sure the story is fully true, or a series of coincidences that made me feel terrible. I used to work in a locked door psychiatric facility and be fairly liberal. One morning I was hanging out with some patients and watching the news. There was some sort of public shooting where a lot of people died and the news mentioned that the guns were obtained legally. I was frustrated and tired and mentioned that the phrase, "it was obtained legally" was bullshit and he probably purchased the guns legally from a private seller and thus it wasn't actually legitimate. One of my patient's perked up and got really excited asking if private seller's didn't have to check for identification. I remember saying that no, private sellers don't have the same restrictions as gun stores. After saying this I remembered where I was at so made a note to my supervisor that this conversation should be reported to his doctor (patient has the intent to become armed despite being a felony prohibited possessor). Irregardless the doctor's let him out a few days later and he bought a gun and killed his sister and her two children. I remember specifically because the police came to my door and woke me up due to him being holed up in the apartment complex across the street from me.

Like I said, I'm not sure how much of the story was true or is just me being neurotic. He definitely killed his sister and her children and was definitely a patient of mine. Whether or not he used or bought a gun via a private seller is questionable. I presume not, doesn't stop making me think about it every so often.

exitseven · Answer

When i sold police uniforms there was a heavy duty stitching machine we used for leather jackets. One of the ladies that worked in the shop was shortening she sleeves on a jacket and the needle went through one of her fingers. It actually went right through the nail of her index finger and broke off. leaving it in her finger. The boss took her to the hospital and it was x-rayed and the needle was completely removed. I guess it was not as bad as it looked because in a couple of days she was back at work.

Dongie · Answer

I can't recall a accident that rates mentioning. Doing a remodel on a heart surgeon's home in Longview, 1996, Buster fell through the sheet rock in the attic and landed on an antique baby grand piano valued at 120k. It broke one of the legs but Buster was unharmed. Troy, boss and owner of the company glued the broken leg and then had an expert refinish it. Good as new! 😅🎶

DryGermanGuy · Answer

Did not witness it (thank god) but was told years later. Apparently a machinist at the smelter/foundry routinely did not want to use the stairs to get down from his workplace, but he jumped over a rail and used the lid of the molten metal containers to „platform“ down. One day there was no lid and he jumped right into the hot smelting. I was told they put a larger piece of that metal in the coffin, as there was practically nothing left of him.

Maybe_Maybe_not · Answer

The closest I have seen is an employer ordering employees to compensate for malfunctioning equipment instead of paying for repairs. I had to use labour inspectors to interfere, which didn't impress the employer at all, to my surprise. So I offered him an unauthorized strike later, which was the move he needed to actually pay for repairs.

Anonymous · Answer

My coffee cup fell off my desk back in 2019. I didn’t tell anyone and moved it under my desk where no one could see it. After normal work hours I came back to the office and put the remains in a small duffel bag and put it in my trunk. Over the weekend I drove 500+ miles away and threw it off a bridge in a neighboring state.

So far I have only seen one article in a local newspaper about the “incident” but years have passed an I’m confident I’m in the clear. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Anonymous · Answer

Food poisoning in a restaurant i was working, some of the practices In regards to food hygiene was what was causing it.

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What's your WORST workplace accident seen / experienced? Was it carelessness? Human error? Negligence? Equipment malfunction? What was the outcome?

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