:: rawblogXport ::

:: Monday, March 29, 2004 ::

Horrific injury illustrates dangers By David Howell, The Edmonton Journal
At Thursday's launch of a Workers' Compensation Board workplace safety awareness campaign called Heads Up, Summers, 26, shared his cautionary tale.

He recounted a horrific workplace accident three years ago in an Edmonton galvanizing shop that left him critically injured. A rookie crane operator, Summers was struck in the head and back by two searing-hot metal plates weighing a total of 1,800 kilograms when a cable suspending the plates suddenly snapped.

The plate buckled and smashed into him, shooting his hard hat 15 metres across the shop floor. Co-workers pulled him out from under the plates, which had caused severe burns in each place they touched him.

'They had to cut out all the muscle in my back right down to my rib cage. Essentially it was cooked meat.'

His skull was fractured in 25 places. His doctors told him it looked like a hard-boiled egg rolled across a countertop. One cheekbone was shattered and a shoulder fractured in 13 places. His right ear was torn almost completely off. His left eardrum was perforated and three small bones essential for hearing were broken. He had sustained serious nerve damage to his left eye.

Guy Kerr, president and chief executive officer of the WCB, applauded Summers' courage in being able to share his experience in the hope it prompts other workers to be vigilant about their own safety on the job.

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