Mowing "Accidents"

[Manny]

Has anyone ever been injured badly while mowing the lawn? Fortunately, I have not, but I have a friend who pulled the mower back a little too far and chopped off his little toe! Ouuuuchhhh!

 

[junebug1701]

We used to have an older guy at work who was missing parts of several fingers. I asked my boss if that happened to him at work and he said, "No, Charlie was mowing his grass and picked up his mower with both hands so he could put it over a small fence. And it was running at the time!"

 

[JDgreen]

We used to have an older guy at work who was missing parts of several fingers. I asked my boss if that happened to him at work and he said, "No, Charlie was mowing his grass and picked up his mower with both hands so he could put it over a small fence. And it was running at the time!"

IMO "Charlie" was missing some brain cells before he lost some fingertips...."

 

[SeniorCitizen]

Has anyone ever been injured badly while mowing the lawn? Fortunately, I have not, but I have a friend who pulled the mower back a little too far and chopped off his little toe! Ouuuuchhhh!

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Accidents seem to have no limits. I know a fellow that also cut his toe off using a push mower. He was from a foreign country and new to lawn maintenance. It seems as if there was a paper coffee cup (yes paper in those days) behind the mower and he lifted the rear so the cup could be kicked underneath to see if it would shred said cup. Yes it did shred said cup, along with the shoe toe and longest toe inside the shoe.

He had a PhD in economics and taught at a university.

There was a study on accidents, in which I believe, a professor of mine achieved his PhD in industrial arts education. And if I recall correctly this work was done at the University of Missouri.

There were 5 things that were responsible for most accidents and maybe I can recall at least four of them and possibly all five.

1) A lack of safety knowledge

2) A lack of safety skill

3) An improper safety attitude

4) Emotional instability

5) Mechanical failure

6) Physical Being

Let me explain some of these 4) , 5) and 6)

5) Mechanical Failure - Can often be traced back to difficulty observing Nos 1,2, 3

4) Emotional Instability - Not necessarily in tears. In this study Emotional Instability was defined as any instance a person is distracted from concentrating on the task being preformed at any given time.

6) Physical Being - What is your condition? Do you have an arm in a sling, a patch over one eye, a headache, a finger splinted or just wore smack out from a long day's work?

Example worst case: Emotional Instability - I'm running my table saw and while cutting someone intentionally tries to distract me by shouting, making a loud noise of some sort or even laying a hand on my shoulder. At that moment, for self preservation, I'm using all my senses - touch, hearing, sight, smell and any others I can find and don't need even one of them being pulled from the line up even for an instant. I like to visit as well as anyone but it'll be done after the saw has shut down to a complete stop.

The human mind can not concentrate on more than one thing at a time. A lot of people believe they can and will argue the point until sun down but if they are trying two or more only one can be concentrated on at any given instant. One of the best recent examples is driving while texting.I know some won't agree but that's OK with me.


Now for normal tasks like the spit and whittle club would encounter we can visit and whittle all day.:biggrin:

 

[touree]

Well, I think these sort of accidents happen because of not taking much care and caution. With proper mechanisms, all these injuries can be avoided.

Your friend's experience must have been a painful one.

 

[abeja_reina_1989]

I have heard of people cutting off their fingers with their mower and I really don't understand how they do it. I mean, it just doesn't make sense. People should be more careful.

 

[brucesdeere]

That is crazy. Who picks up a running machine with blades with it still going? I think he was definitely missing some sense upstairs, the lights were on but no one was home.

 

[JDgreen]

SandburRanch....TERIFFIC POST...YOU SAID IT SO WELL :thumbsup:

 

[SeniorCitizen]

Thanks JDgreen and I just knew I couldn't remember all of them in one setting from that many years ago so I added the No. 6 - Physical Being.

 

[brucesdeere]

I personally think that if you do not know how to use something you should leave it alone until you figure it out, don't try to use a tool that you are unfamiliar with, especially if it is mechanical.